Résumé of Gary R. Peterson

Objective:
To draw on a lifetime of creative endeavors to inform my art and hone my skills as an intellectual handyman.

Profile:
An artist in traditional and digital media, I'm also an author, musician, and inventor as well as a student of philosophy.

Background:
Retail Interior Design | Architectural & Industrial Art | Audio/Visual Communications | Research & Development | Analysis & Critiques | Patent Drawings & Specifications

Computer:
Autocad | Corel | Cakewalk | HTML | LISP

Experience:
25+ years of retail-interior design includes art direction, drafting, materials specifications, millwork manufacturing, lighting, marketing, writing.

First place winner of residential interior design award and featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Published three books: Humor Scene Investigation – An Operator’s Manual for the Laf-Graf Model 1300 Humor Analyzer (iUniverse, 2004); Rhapsody In Overdrive (2003),a novel; and The Intellectual Handyman On Art. Also numerous essays, reviews, and artwork published in journals and trade magazines as well as Playboy and Art in America.

My artwork has been exhibited in local galleries and library, and auctioned at Cranbrook Academy of Art. My art cards are in The Museum Shop at The Detroit Institute of Arts.

I've hand-built over 70 acoustic guitars for customers including Graham Nash. I compose music and have performed on stage and made many recordings.

My popular vintage TV test pattern art, a screen-print sought by collectors worldwide, is now in its 3rd edition.

Inventor: Electromagnetic brakes for in-line skates; Synchro-tracer eyepiece for artists; A wave tank that reveals acoustic properties of a guitar; An algorithm for single image random dot stereograms, Laf-Graf Humor Analyzer, The BLOX musical percussion instrument, and the Fine-Tune belt buckle.

Employment History:
DESIGN FABRICATIONS, INC. – Madison Heights, MI Art Director, Senior Designer, Consultant, 1978 to 2007

PETERSON GUITARS – Berkley, MI Designer, Builder, Proprietor, 1975 to 1978

MUSIC, STRINGS & THINGS – Birmingham, MI Sales, instrument repair, 1974

BARGY CONSTRUCTION – Troy, MI Carpenter (custom homes), 1973

DELANO CONSTRUCTION – Denver, CO General Labor (concrete), 1972

BERZ AIRPORT – Troy, MI 1971

WARREN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC – Warren, MI Music Teacher, guitar (the faculty included members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), 1970

GRINNELL’S MUSIC, 1969

PETERSON HARDWARE – Detroit, 1967-69

Education:
LAWRENCE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY – Southfield, MI Architecture, 1973 to 1976

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS & DIRTY SOCKS, 1970-73

KIMBALL HIGH SCHOOL – Royal Oak, MI Graduated 1970

SELF-TAUGHT: With art lessons from Aunt Flora and guitar guidance from Uncle Wilbert.

SELF-APPOINTED: Peterson Institute of Arts & Sciences Research Laboratory and Gift Shop
- Dean of Behavioral Sciences, 1995-current.

Selected Art Objects & Recollections:
1956 – Aunt Flora teaches me how to draw.

1960 – Poem and cartoon published in Children’s Highlights magazine.

1961 – My mother teaches me how to play piano.

1966 – Uncle Wilbert teaches me how to play guitar.

1968 – Received first set of oil paints.

1969 – “Slate River Falls” (20” X 30”) plein-air oil painting commissioned by local art patron (also "Boy In Window"); Hitchhiked across the country.

1970 - Talked to Jimi Hendrix.

1971-73 - Worked as carpenter in Michigan and Colorado.

1973 – Large wall mural for Virginia Slims Tennis Tour (Ponchartrain Hotel, Detroit). Played guitar in Detroit area coffee houses including Saga Joes, The Back Seat, and Bitter Grounds.

1974 – Airbrush art commissions for custom motorcycles and electric guitars.

1975 – Painted “Rhino in the House” (48” X 48”) enamel on wood panel for student gallery at Lawrence Institute of Technology.

1975 - Designed and manufactured acoustic guitar kits for Friend's Music Catalog

1975-78 – Peterson Guitars: Hand built over 70 custom acoustic guitars for notable musicians and collectors nationwide.

1977 – Regular solo performer for happy-hour at Dillons on Woodward.

1978 – Two large portraits - latex on wood panels - commissioned for Uncle Deano’s Saloon in Commerce, MI; “Calamity Jane” 48” X 84” & “Deano Day” 36” X 60.” Was a musical guest performer at The Dirty Duck Saloon.

1978-84 - Custom-designed furniture for clients of master woodworkers, John Diaek of Pontiac and Paul Campbell (formerly Royal Oak, MI).

1979 – Unique resist method graphic series developed for Felice Food Markets in Pontiac, MI.

1980 – Great Lakes Ships graphic series created for Cap’n Jerry’s, 3' X 3' enamel on acrylic panels.

1981 – Custom food-photo series created for Design Fabrications' catalog.

1982 – “Critter's Hoedown” watercolor (36” X 48”), now on loan to Brookside School at Cranbrook Academy.

1983 – “Quincy Copper Mine” (18” X 24”) watercolor sold to collector in Royal Oak, MI. Also stain-glass windows.

1984 – Series of six pencil sketches (18” X 24”) for Troy Historical Museum.

1985 - Met Roy Lichtenstein.

1986 – “Pacific Seascape” (16” X 20”) acrylic painting commissioned by private collector.

1987 – Solo art show at the Troy Public Library. TV interview.

1987 – Framed “Indian Head” TV Test Pattern screen print with custom mat, now in 3rd edition after being featured in Playboy Feb. ‘87.

1988 – Pencil sketches exhibited (between a Philip Pearlstein and a Milton Avery!) at Artspace Gallery, Birmingham, MI.

1988 – First place cash award and publication in Better Homes & Gardens, Jan. ‘88 for bathroom design and remodel.

1989 – “Blackbird Perched on Harp” approx. 60” X 60” x 12” cast iron and sheet metal sculpture.

1990 – Developed a dual-mirror drawing aid for sketch artists.

1991 – “Stack o’ Cameras” pencil sketch (16” X 22” prints) sold at Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, MI

1992 – “Anthropomorph,” a pen and ink drawing published in some weird journal of gothic poetry.

1993 – “Mannequin Descending a Staircase” pen and ink drawing published in Orbit Magazine, Detroit.

1995 - Developed Laf-Graf^TM humor analyzer.

1996-2001 – Dozens of pen and ink drawings, and written articles published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results Vols. #41 – 46.

1996 – Founded The Peterson Institute of Arts and Sciences Research Laboratory & Gift Shop.

1996-2002 - Completed 4 illustrated books (unpublished), including humor, art criticism, a cartoon collection, and a children’s book.

2001 - Went to France.

2003-2006 - Illustrated 4 album (CD) covers for G.R.P. & The Nowhere Men (also wrote, performed and recording the music in those albums).

2003 – Wrote the novel, Rhapsody In Overdrive with illustrated cover (Writer’s Guild Press/iUniverse).;

2004 – Wrote and published the critically acclaimed book of philosophy, Humor Scene Investigation with cover illustration. (iUniverse)

2006 – Went to Italy and painted watercolor sketches in Venice, Spoleto, Tuscany. Prints are in several private collections.

2007-current - Contributing Editor, Avanti Press, Detroit.

2007 – Series of 12 large pen and ink drawings based on famous artworks from The Detroit Institute of Arts collection. Art-card versions sold in the DIA Museum Shop.

2008 – Pen and ink drawing after Seurat’s “Sunday on Jatte Island” was auctioned at the Brookside School of Cranbrook Art Academy. Screenprint edition available.

2008 - Launched garypetersonart.com online art gallery.

2009 - Invented and patented The Blox^TM - a percussion device for drummers.

2010 - Invented the Fine-Tune^TM Belt Buckle - patent ready for licensee.

2011 - Published book of essays with illustrations, The Intellectual Handyman On Art (iUniverse)