An Island of Peace Painting

Todd Peterson My earliest art memory is of my mother setting my four brothers and myself down at the dining room table on rainy days. She would put a record from the “home library of classical music” on the HiFi, set out paper and crayons ,and tell us to draw what the music made us think of. I still like to have music playing while I work. My father had attended two years of art school, and I received my first lessons from him. I was only able to take High School art classes my junior year, due in part to my family moving frequently during those years. I didn’t further my education, so I have no formal art training. There was my father, and any other artist I came in contact with that taught me along the way. Some of those artists were through books I would find in junk shops and garage sales. My early influences were Vincent Van Gogh, Gustaf Tengrenn, Franz Marc, and Oskar Kokashika. I work in several styles, and seldom work in a series of more than two or three, before switching. My work is inspired by my life in general, people I know, things they say, books I’ve read, stories from my childhood, movies ,dreams and current events. I quit producing artwork in my late twenties, and concentrated on learning the art of antique furniture restoration. I didn’t start expressing myself seriously through my art again until my mid fifties. At that time my granddaughters discovered some of my old work while “exploring” my basement, and urged me to start creating artwork again. Luckily a curator for the Soap Factory in North East Minneapolis saw my work on the Minnesota Artist website, and asked me to show a couple of pieces in an exhibit she was putting together…..I was hooked. I then became very active in the North East art community. I was the Artist’s liaison for a non-profit arts advocate : Altered Esthetics for six years. I had a short run as a gallery owner when I opened “Look Art Below” in 2009. After some health issues made me realize running a gallery by yourself is a lot of work, I applied for membership with the AZ Gallery artists and was accepted. I was the Vice President of AZ gallery until the spring of 2016 when once again for health reasons I stepped aside. In 2010 with the help of the AZ members I created the Lowertown Art Show, which yearly showcased the work of over sixty artists that made up the downtown Saint Paul art community. From 2010 to 2016 I organized and curated the Lowertown Art Show each fall.