Stephen Snake is an Ojibwe Canadian artist. He was born at the Rama Reserve near Orillia, Ontario, in 1966. Snake began to draw at an early age; his talents nurtured by his mother Carol, herself an artist. Snake’s first cousin was renowned Ojibwe artist Arthur Shilling, who mentored him and introduced him to the works of Norval Morrisseau.

After Snake’s family moved to Midland, Ontario, he continued to draw. Life in Midland was very different from life on the Reserve: Snake was to make images of grain elevators and rural life rather than traditional or symbolic images. 

In 1989, Snake held his first exhibition at The Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario. In the spring of 1991, Stephen met Norval Morrisseau, who became a great influence. In 2008, Snake painted an oil portrait of Morrisseau, which was part of an exhibition at the Maslak McLeod Gallery in Yorkville, Toronto.

Portraits of Indigenous chiefs, warriors and artists have become Snake’s signature. Notable subjects include Shilling, Richard Bedwash, Del Ashkewe, Hugh McKenzie and Floyd Kuptana. 

Snake’s work is housed in many private and public collections around the world, including the Orillia Chamber of Commerce in Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the Canadian Embassy in Hungary.

Stephen has a studio in Rama and one on Bear Island, Lake Temagami where he paints majestic landscapes of the north with his own distinctive, impressionistic style that resonates the Spirituality of the land.