Revealing the Surface

Saturday, October 7th from 1:30 to 3:30, upstairs at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, Michael Peterson presents “Revealing the Surface”, an overview of surface development and his chainsaw sculpting techniques. Admission is FREE.

Michael uses a chainsaw as his primary carving tool, cutting and hollowing multiple forms from Pacific Madrone burl, then carving, gouging, sandblasting​​​​​, ​hand sanding, waxing, staining, pigmenting​​ and bleaching​, after​ ​natural drying cause​s​ the wood to bend, curl, split, and contract.

The larger forces in Nature​ -​ energy, growth, movement, decay – play an active role in each final work. The works exhibit a profound reverence for nature, and trust. Nature is a partner in Michael’s work and the sculpture defines itself under his hands:​ ​parallels between forces shaping unseasoned wood, and geologic forces operating on a grander scale are both expressions of nature’s unstoppable energy ​which fill him with wonder.​ His profoundly worked surfaces expose the clear kinship between artist, natural source, and time.​

Introduced to wood in 1975, building a strong foundation in his approach to surface and organic form, revealing the transformative qualities of unseasoned madrone burl, ​sculptor Michael Peterson has developed a body of work that has grown to include Evolution/Revolution, a traveling solo exhibition curated by the Bellevue Art Museum touring to a wide national audience; A Revolution in Wood at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Craft Spoken Here at Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Michael Peterson’s work is in numerous private and public collections throughout the US and England​,​ including​:​ the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte NC, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, WA DC, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

In 2014, Michael Peterson was recipient of a Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship Award.

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