Artist Statement & Bio
I was born in the Midwest but left home for Santa Cruz, California the day after high school graduation. I met the love of my life in Durango, Colorado while visiting from Santa Cruz. In 1980, my husband taught me to rove the mountains of Colorado, while searching for “Gold in dem there hills,” literally and figuratively. I discovered the art of painting on china, my true calling, in a sleepy little mining town of Platoro, high in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. The Reservoir Keeper’s wife brought her kiln every summer to Platoro. She was a patient teacher, and willing to share the secrets of her art. It was there that the addictive aromas of china painting medium began to fuel a life-long passion.
When silver and gold prices fell, the mining jobs started to disappear, and making a living meant being constantly on the move. My family and I decided to go to college. I graduated with a BA in Fine Arts in 1992. While in college, I learned to paint with oil and watercolors. I have combined this knowledge and technique with the art of painting on china. That same year I got my first big kiln and decided I wanted try my hand at painting on glass. It wasn’t long before I found my niche of painting globes to match and replace on broken old lamps. I have a degree in Fine Arts but have always considered myself a “working artist.”
Turning Fifty has inspired me as an artist to worry less about being famous, and more content working at my art and the process,. which in turn, causes tranquility and peace in my life. By aging I have gained wisdom. And with wisdom comes power. I may not be able to change the world, but I believe working artists can influence the world by example. I also believe that as artists it is our duty to create an emotion, to make people think, and to inspire. By using Art Forms of color, movement, and balance in all of different types of mediums I use I have communicated an emotion of serenity. The subject matter is in my mind’s eye. It is a place I can go to recharge my energy, to relax, and find peacefulness.
I often say that “art is my therapy.” While painting I almost always go into a Zen like- state. Age has taught me to enjoy the process of creating art. It has also taught me to keep my priorities straight;
Tranquility is to release one’s self into total oblivion.
To empty ones mind… to be free from every day life.
A feeling that starts with the brain but flows to the heart,
to my very soul. (PMP)
I am influenced greatly by the Impressionist movement, and the viewpoint of fellow porcelain artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir , who asked the world “Why Shouldn’t art be pretty?” While my art gives me tranquility, it is also an extra bonus is I can make the viewer feel this emotion also.
Pegi McLain Peterson