Donald Peterson
San Alejandro School for the Arts, Havana
“I am a self-taught amateur who has always been fascinated by photography.
My first real experience with the medium was at age twelve when my parents gave me a Brownie Holiday Flash Camera to document my first out-of-state camping trip. I used it with vigor and delight.
It was my father, painter by avocation and commercial artist by vocation, who first taught me how to see through the lens. He introduced me to the concept of composition and the critical use of light, color, shade and shadow. Encouraging my creativity, he gently critiqued my images ultimately asking, ‘What is the story here?’
I have always taken pictures. But it’s been in the last few years that the craft of photography has become a critical element in my commitment to produce fine art.
People, place and time heavily influence my work.
Truchas NM, a Spanish land grant town frozen in 1952, is dream-like and seemingly floats above the high desert. For over a decade, I visited to study, reflect, paint and photograph with my recently deceased dear friend and mentor, Alvaro Cardona-Hine. His memory is a constant in my art.
I live on the coast of Maine, a place of amazing beauty and stark contradiction. Always changing yet ever steady.
Increasingly and with age, I appreciate time and how it offers perspective. As a result, my art has become more introspective and personal. I work with intent, sometimes abandon, but always enthusiasm. My purpose is to open a dialogue, to offer a starting point.
Make of it what you will and what your imagination will allow.” ~ Donald Peterson
Education
Master of Architecture+Urban Design, Princeton University
Bachelor of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Continuing Studies, Maine College of Art
Solo Exhibitions
Fall 2011 - Watermark, Salt Exchange, Portland, ME
Summer 2010 - Inside/Out, Salt Exchange, Portland, ME
Fall 2009 - South Jersey Boys / Dad+Me, Salt Exchange, Portland, ME
Group Exhibitions
November 2019/January 2020 - RiverArts, Damariscotta, ME
November 2019 - Union of Maine Visual Artists, Portland, ME
February 2019 - Art+Soul Artist’s Residency, Grapevine Gallery, Truth or Consequence, NM
January 2019 - Seven Artists Collective, Art House Gallery, Portland ME
February 2018 - Seven Artists Collective, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
May 2017 - Seven Artists Collective, Brockman Gallery, Brunswick ME
January 2017 - Seven Artists Collective, Zero Station, Portland, ME
September 2016 - Create V MECA, Portland, ME
