Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, Western Australia
9 April - 20 September 2009
Following the unique trajectory of Lopez Island wood carver Michael Peterson’s career over the past 20 years, this exhibition traces the artist's evolution from early lathe turned bowls to his current, revolutionary sculptures created without the use of the lathe.
Turning, carving, sandblasting, bleaching and pigmenting the burl portion of trees (such as madrones, maples and grass trees), Peterson creates sculptural works of elegance, simplicity and purity.
He starts out with wet chunks of wood which are carved and hollowed out using chainsaws.
As the pieces dry, they shrink and warp in unpredictable ways and in so doing, their grain patterns are heightened creating unique textures.
He then smoothes the edges and sometimes bleaches the pieces prior to layering them with subtle coats of pigments which he often wipes away to create the illusion of depth, much the same way painters do when using chiaroscuro techniques.
Some of the sculptures are composed of individual hollowed-out units, that when stacked vertically, are reminiscent of how waves would toss driftwood into erratic positions on the beach.
An artist with a growing national reputation, Michael Peterson draws heavily from the physical environment of Lopez Island where he has lived for over 15 years.
Bellevue Arts Museum was the first museum in the Pacific Northwest to feature one of his works in 2005, fulfilling part of our mission to introduce the local arts community to regional craft artists.
Evolution | Revolution highlights over 30 of Peterson’s wood sculptures spanning two decades of artistic development.
Peterson’s work can also be found in many public collections, including the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC among others.
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