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Michael Nevill Seward Snow, (born Manchester 27 June 1930 died Hillerton Cross, Devon 15 July 2012) was a British painter and teacher closely connected with the modern movement in St Ives. Snow often included the name Seward to distinguish himself from a Canadian artist, Michael Snow
Snow attended the Lawrence Sheriff School at Rugby and started work as a librarian in Manchester. He had no formal art training, but began to develop interests in literature, poetry and plastic arts. Whilst in Manchester, Snow co-founded the Peterloo Group with Tony Connor, Malcolm Bishop and Robin Skelton in 1957. Soon afterwards, Skelton married Michael's first wife, Sylvia and Robin's wife, Margaret married Michael. They all remained on good terms for the remainder of their lives.
Snow was attracted to the St Ives artists' movement following a visit to an exhibition of St Ives art in Liverpool. He moved to Cornwall in 1951 and was elected a member of the Penwith Society of Arts in 1953, becoming its' secretary in 1954. In Cornwall, he became friends with many influential artists of the time, such as Terry Frost John Wells Wilhelmina Barns-Graham as well as the poet WS Graham Michael and Margaret Snow edited 'The Nightfisherman: Selected Letters of WS Graham' which was published in 1999 to critical acclaim.
Snow was an accomplished artist in his own right. His early works, such as Myriad (1959) led to larger and more decorative forms, reminiscent of landscapes yet without particular references - examples being Earthship and Earth Pillar (1963) and Kenidjac and Edge (1964). Snow was inspired by his interests including geology and cosmology - these fields influencing works such as Sun and Moon (1959) and Blue Planet (1961).
He taught for twenty years, between 1965 and 1985 at Exeter College of Art, where he became Director of the Combined Honours course.
He shunned publicity and believed strongly in quality over quantity of his works.
His wife Margaret died in 2009 and he is survived by their son, Justin.