M ICHAEL PETERSON
Photo: Jean Peterson
While his vertically stacked sculptures appear to the untrained eye as though waves might have tossed pieces of driftwood and stones helter-skelter on the shore, the actuality is very different. Peterson ponders at length on the way his individual objects relate to external space as well to the internal spaces between individual components...The unity and simplicity of the sculptural forms he creates allows them to serve as compelling visual metaphors for the essential order and clarity desirable in a balanced life. - Michael W. Monroe, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Bellevue Arts Museum.
Peterson’s work has evolved from turning bowls on a lathe to his current, monumental sculptures inspired by the geographic environment of the Pacific Northwest. Peterson’s organic abstract pieces are powerful in their artistic grasp of sculptural form and expressive texture. These sculptures are impressive examples of contemporary design, while also reflecting the artist’s reverence for the natural world. The artist’s selection and sourcing of wood is a significant step in his process of making. Every few months during the logging season in Southern Oregon (November – May) Peterson and his wife will travel from their home in Lopez Island, Washington (roughly 500 miles) to find the perfect pieces of wood. Peterson describes, ‘I’m committing to this material. I don’t want somebody to just send me wood – I really have to make that connection.’ From the pieces of wood the artist has personally selected, he uses a range of tools, such as chainsaws, gouges and special surface treatments to draw forth striking organic sculptures from the grain and structure of the Madrone Burl wood he works with.
Michael Peterson and Nic Webb at COLLECT 2018, Saatchi Gallery. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Blocked Hollowed Split , 2017 Carved, Sandblasted, Bleached, Pigmented Madrone Burl. 2 elements: (left) H 68.50 x W 68.50 x D 20.30 cm (right) H 68.50 x W 54.60 x D 25.40 cm
Photo: Jean Peterson
San Juan Islands Museum of Art, San Juan Island, Washington, 2017
Standing Forms, 2016 Madrone Burl, sandblasted, bleached, pigmented (H)67 x (W)46 x (D)23 cm
Coastal Objects Series, 2016 Madrone Burl, sandblasted, bleached, pigmented 43H x 86.5W x 39.5D cm
Photo: Jean Peterson
Coastal Stack XIII, 2016 Madrone Burl, sandblasted, bleached, pigmented (H)79 x (W)51 x (D)48 cm
Michael Peterson’s 2009 solo show at the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington USA
Public collections: Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg,Tennessee Asheville Museum of Art, Asheville, North Carolina Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio Columbus Museum, Georgia Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MIchigan Edmonds Arts Festival Museum, Edmonds, Washington. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts Greg Museum of Art and Design, Raleigh, North Carolina GTE Telephone Operations, Irvine, Texas Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York Museum of Contemporary Art, Honolulu, Hawaii Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC The Woodturning Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
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