Submitted by the San Juan Islands Museum of Art.
Joining the board of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) are Lisa Brooks, Barb Snider and Rob Ray who all share of love of the arts. Join us in welcoming them to our art museum board.
Lisa Brooks is a 3rd generation Seattleite who was introduced at a young age to Pacific Northwest art by her collector parents, which is where her affinity began. She studied interior design at Washington State University, after college Lisa was involved with the Seattle Art Museum Supports. As a part of this group she was able to view some of the most important collections, both private and public. Being a part of this group brought great inspiration, which lead Lisa and her late husband Greg to create their own personal collection of NW art.
Lisa has deep roots on San Juan Island. Her family has been on San Juan Island for 90 years. She has always had a deep sense of “place” on San Juan, spending endless summers and family holidays here. She worked at Roche Harbor during her college summers. Such incredible and formative memories over the past years have brought her back to live here full time.
“The opportunity to work with the SJIMA is a great honor. I will be able to contribute my retail and organizational skills along with my love and passion of Pacific NW Art to help take our beautiful Gem of a Museum to next levels of appreciation in our community and beyond.”
Her creative outlets over the years have been home building, knitting, creating beautiful gardens, and helping others do the same. She also has experience in the retail field at Starbucks and Nordstrom.
Barb Snider is passionate about textiles making her a prolific quilter. She with others created a variety of artistic masks as a fundraising effort for SJIMA during the peak of the pandemic. Snider has served as VP and president of the Rainshadow Quilting Arts
Guild and is presently their program chair. Barb has worked once a year on the quilt retreat for the Guild. She is a member of CATS which supports the San Juan Community Theatre and the SJICF Women’s Fund. She also serves on the Peace Island Hospital Board.
She is a native Washingtonian, born in Seattle and attended WSU. Married to Hank Snider they have two children and 5 grandchildren. Barb served as secretary, treasurer, VP and president of the Hollywood Hill Saddle Club. Owning and operating a commercial horse farm on Hollywood Hill for 18 years Barb rode on the “A” Circuit Hunter/Jumpers for 24 years.
Rob Ray joined the board most recently in November 2021. He has directed Special Collections departments in academic libraries for over 25 years. In those positions he has developed and installed a range of museum exhibits. Examples include the history of science, how to utilize primary sources, works of art on paper, photographs, graphic arts, drawn books and the history of surfing, Rob has also worked on projects of original works illustrating science fiction literature and speculative fiction. In 2019-20, he developed Revisiting Visionary Utopia, a retrospective of the art, architecture, and artists at the early 20th century theosophical community of Lomaland, near San Diego.
He has visited San Juan Island for several years and has now made it his permanent home.
Contributed photo Lisa Brooks.
