An excerpt from InformArt Magazine, Fall 2003, By Pam Dean-Cable:
Black River Art Gallery |
The Black River Art Gallery has been honored to have the work of Charles Peterson available to our customers. However, with only a few more New Releases "The Memories Collection" that has been Charles Peterson's most popular grouping will be done. We would like to encourage all of our customer to visit the gallery soon.
An excerpt from InformArt Magazine, Fall 2003, By Pam Dean-Cable:
Passages. In life, they are inevitable. As life's seasons evolve it is the passages that define our most vivid memories. The first day of school, the self-conscious first date and kiss, graduation, marriage, the births of children, the passing of loved ones. There are passages too in one's career, and Charles "Chick" Peterson, much admired artist of The Memories Collection, will move through another at the end of 2004 when the sixtieth print in the series marks the finale.
In the meantime, there are five more images for collectors to anticipate, and Peterson confides he has just chosen his next composition. "I can't reveal what it is," he says conspiratorially, "but I've narrowed it down to the one that most interests me for its compositional possibilities in terms of color and tone. I haven't treated this subject for the last several years." Peterson's youthful enthusiasm as he talks about art and life is belied by the fact that he will be seventy-eight when his last Memories image comes off the easel. One cannot help but be swept along by his exuberance. "I'm grateful that the zest for painting remains with me," he says.
Peterson's images are highly personal, for he has taken many of his ideas for his paintings from his childhood and shared them with us. At the same time, he steers away from too much sentimentality. He avoids all-American events, leaving that to Rockwell who did them so well. It is the everyday activities that he memorializes: the farmer in his field, a young man giving a hand to the woman of his affections, a square dance in an old barn. Though these nostalgic themes have captured American hearts, Peterson is quick to remind us that his vision isn't particularly unique.
Before the new beginning, an important passage event will occur. During the holiday season of 2004 Peterson will present his collectors with his sixtieth image, the last Memory. As this important chapter in Peterson's life concludes, it will be rightly feted as a "retirement celebration" at which qualifying dealers and collectors will gather to pay tribute to the man and his art. Sponsored by Peterson's publisher and friend Mark Quale, the event promises to send the artist off in style. To retirement? Hardly. "How could I retire? I'd just get up the next morning and head out to the studio. I can't wait to wake up in the morning and paint." (Of Time And Place)
Monday - Friday: 10am-6pm
Saturday: 10am-4pm
Sunday: Closed
178 South Main St.
P.O. Box 265
Medford, WI 54451
Phone: 715-748-6611
Toll-Free: 888-255-5676
E-mail: blackriverartgallery@tds.net