gary peterson biography

Résumé of Gary R. Peterson

Objective:
A former Senior Designer of retail-interiors, I now draw on a lifetime of creative endeavors to inform my art.

Profile:
A fine artist in oils, acrylics, watercolors, pencil, ink, pastels, screen printing and photography, I'm also a published author, musician, and guitar builder.

Experience:
25+ years of retail-interior design includes rendering, detailing, graphics, millwork, materials specifications, lighting plans, presentations, photography, catalogs, ads & articles for trade magazines.

Won first place award for residential interior design and featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Published two books: Humor Scene Investigation – An Operator’s Manual for the Laf-Graf Model 1300 Humor Analyzer (iUniverse, 2004) is a philosophical treatise on art, science and the creative process and was critically acclaimed by Peter Derks, College of William and Mary. Rhapsody In Overdrive (2003) is a novel. Also numerous essays, book reviews, and artwork published in humor (JIR), science journals (ISHS), trade magazines (Grocery Headquarters), as well as Playboy, and Art in America.

Drawings and paintings exhibited in art galleries and the Troy Public Library. My art cards are available in The Museum Shop at The Detroit Institute of Arts. A pen & ink drawing was auctioned at Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Hand built over 70 acoustic guitars for customers including Graham Nash (as in Crosby, Stills &…) As a composer / musician I’ve performed on stage and made numerous recordings. My Uncle Wilbert taught me how to play.

Currently offering my popular screen-printed 3rd edition of a vintage TV test pattern to collectors.

Inventor: Electromagnetic brakes for in-line skates; Synchro-tracer eyepiece for artists; A wave tank that reveals acoustic properties of a vibrating plate; An algorithm for single image random dot stereograms, and most recently - The BLOX: A percussion instrument.

An amateur stock market analyst humbled by the recent meltdown.

Lifelong freelance artist, writer, musician.

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, with a faculty that 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 early fine-art guidance from my Aunt Flora, a well-cited art teacher at Winona (Michigan) School, and musical training from Uncle wilbert, a renowned guitarist in the Copper Country club circuit.

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

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

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

1968 – Received first set of oil paints.

1969 – “Slate River Falls” (20” X 30”) plein-air oil painting commissioned by Houghton, MI resident (also "Boy In Farmhouse Window" 20" X 30").

1970 - Talked to Jimi Hendrix.

1971-73 - Worked as carpenter on custom homes in Michigan and condominiums in Colorado.

1973 – Large 3-panel “Mediterranean” themed wall mural for Virginia Slims Tennis Tour (Ponchartrain Hotel, Detroit). Performed on guitar in many coffee houses in detroit area including Saga Joes, The Back Seat, and Bitter Grounds.

1974 – Airbrush artworks commissioned for custom motorcycles and electric guitars.

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

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

1975-78 – Peterson Guitars: Hand built +/- 70 custom acoustic guitars using most every type of exotic wood known to man and coveted by the likes of Graham Nash and other notable musicians and collectors nationwide.

1977 – Regular solo performer (guitar & vocals) for happy-hour at Dillons on Woodward, and at various other bars and coffeehouses.

1978 – Two large painted portraits (latex on wood panels) commissioned for Uncle Deano’s Saloon in Commerce Twp., MI; “Calamity Jane” @ 48” X 84” & “Deano Day” (radio personality) @ 36” X 60.” Made a musical guest appearance at The Dirty Duck Saloon.

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

1979 – Unique resist method stenciled 3’ X 3’ acrylic paint color graphics series developed for Felice Food Market in Pontiac, MI.

1980 – Enamel on acrylic panels: Great Lakes ship series created for Cap’n Jerry’s market.

1981 – Custom food-photo mural series created for Design Fabrications' catalog - the first of many.

1982 – “Hoedown of Critters” (36” X 48”) watercolor for my kids and now on loan to Brookside School at Cranbrook Academy.

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

1984 – Series of pencil sketches for Troy Historical Museum.

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

1987 – Solo art show at the Troy Public Library (including T.V. interview).

1987 – “Indian Head” TV Test Pattern screen print with mahogany frame and custom mat; 2 editions sold out after being featured in Playboy Feb. ‘87.

1988 – 18” X 24” pencil sketches exhibited 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 on Harp” approx. 60” X 60” x 12” cast iron and sheet metal sculpture erected on my property, stopping traffic for 20 years and no complaints.

1990 – Developed a unique dual-mirror eye piece drawing aid for sketch artists. I’m using it a lot lately.

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

1992 – “Anthropomorph,” a pen and ink drawing published in a journal of gothic poetry, St. Clair Shores, MI

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

1996-2001 – More than 20 original pen and ink drawings (and many articles) published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results Vols. #41 – 46.

1996 – Founded The Peterson Institute of Arts and Sciences Research Laboratory & Gift Shop; Gary R. Peterson, Dean of Behavioral Sciences.

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 (not to mention writing and recording the music in those albums).

2003 – Illustrated book cover for novel, “Rhapsody In Overdrive” (Writer’s Guild Press / iUniverse).;

2004 – Illustrated book cover for non-fiction, “Humor Scene Investigation,” iUniverse.

2006 – Created series of watercolor sketches while in Italy (Venice, Spoleto, Tuscany), with prints now in several private collections.

2007-2009 - Contributing Editor, Avanti Press, Detroit.

2007 – Series of 12 pen and ink drawings based on famous artworks from The Detroit Institute of Arts collection. Small art-card versions are sold in the DIA Museum Shop. Originals are still available - hurry.

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

2008 - Launched garypetersonart.com online art gallery.

2009 - Invented The Blox: a unique percussion device for drummers now available.

Biography