Pete Driessen

Pete Driessen is a Minneapolis based painter, visual artist and educator whose current artwork blends painting, collage, mixed media, and critical theory into a polemic narrative. These disciplines allow me to develop ideas of capitalism and empire, human rights and injustice, and power and powerlessness. The sociopolitical paintings and constructions utilize both symbol and metaphor and refer to foreign policy and current events, art history and iconography, color symbolism and optical illusion for structure and content.

Grounded in the living web of wholeness and balance, my rhythmic artwork reflects a seamless array of scientific, philosophical, and sociopolitical themes such as animism, synchronicity, torture, genocide, and corporate responsibility. The paintings and mixed media works question authoritarian dominance and repressive power structures, and they seek dissident political alternatives that empower and engage both the mind and the eye of a spectrum of audiences.

Pete Driessen/Visual ArtistResume/ November, 2008

Studio: 681 17th Avenue NE, #117, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 55413

Selected Education
96-98 Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art/Painting, Vermont College of Union Institute, Montpelier, VT
86-88Post-Graduate Diploma in Graphic Design, Portfolio Center, Atlanta, GA
83-85Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
80-82Major in Visual Communications, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN

Selected Professional Experience
85-Present Visual Artist, Painter, Art Director & Graphic Designer, Minneapolis, MN
00-05Adjunct Instructor, Foundations/Color Theory, College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MN
98-00Art Educator, Teaching Assistant & Substitute, Breck School, Golden Valley, MN

Selected Awards/Honors
01-05Bush Faculty Development Grants, College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MN -(Seven grants)
01Prairie Lakes Reg. Arts Council, Carnegie Arts Center, Mankato, MN -Juror
00Metropolitan Regional Arts Council/Small Arts Grant - (as artist/producer)
00Minneapolis Arts Commission/Neighbourhood Arts New Presenters Grant - (as artist/producer)
00Minnesota State Arts Board - Artist Assistance ...