Carmen Vetter and Sammy Peters: Surface Language

SAMMY PETERS & CARMEN VETTER SURFACE LANGUAGE

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Sammy Peters & Carmen Vetter Surface Language

On View March 24 - April 23.2017 Artists’ Reception March 31.2017, 5:00- 7:00 PM

LewAllenGalleries 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com cover: Woe IV, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 42 x 42 in

Sammy Peters and Carmen Vetter Surface Language Surface Language explores the dynamic relationship between two of fine art’s most interesting forms, mixed media on canvas and studio glass. Featuring the work of two long-time masters of surface texture — Sammy Peters working in mixed media and Carmen Vetter who makes layered kiln-formed glass wall pieces — this exhibit illustrates the aesthetic tensions between flatness and three-dimensionality.

Sammy Peters creates highly textured canvases that feature a sophisticated interplay of painting, and collage. Uninterested in clean, uniform surfaces, Peters arranges fields of expressive brushwork, paper and fabric in subtle allusions to patterning and iconography.

With a background in signage and set design, Peters has a vast understanding of diverse methods of image-making, resulting in layered fields of assorted texture and color. Peters’ fascinating engagement with materials and surface references the full effects of collage – its intricacies as well as its depth of association. Over the years, he has earned many accolades, including awards in competitive exhibitions, fellowships and solo exhibitions in major cities.

Drawn to the wide-ranging properties of surface, glass artist Carmen Vetter is inspired by its ability to convey history through touch. Vetter’s fused glass panels are just as likely to suggest aerial views of cities or eroding land as they are to recall glacial ice or cellular structures. “The relationship between these surfaces and the things that underlie them – their unique histories, the unseen events that preceded them and created them, the mystery of what they are becoming – is what truly interests me,” Vetter writes. “I seek the intrinsic.” A rising star of the glass world, Carmen Vetter has been working with kilnformed glass since 1999.

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Meaning: relentless; resistance, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 72 x 60 in 3

Determined: illusory; opposition, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36 in

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Consequence: ingenious; reaction, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 72 x 60 in 5

Appearance: controlled; purpose, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 48 x 48 in 6

Appearance: neglected; existence, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 in 7

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Excavation: embattled; return, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 68 x 90 in 9

Uncontrolled: fabricated; artiface, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 12 x 16 in 10

Reconciled: poetic; context, Sammy Peters, 2016, oil & mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 in 11

Emergence: natural: beginning, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 in 12

Reference: bounds; incomplete, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 48 x 48 in 13

Essence: perpetual; finality, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 14 x 11 in 14

Formula: ethical; definition, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 16 x 12 in 15

Occurrence: inseparable; objective, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 14 x 11 in 16

Retreat: vital; persona, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 16 x 20 in 17

Alternate: relative; conception, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 16 x 12 in 18

Distraction: impractical; realm, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 16 x 12 in 19

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Flow III, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 21 x 42 in

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Breccia, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 21 x 42 in

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Flux VI, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 21 x 42 in

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Flux IV, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 21 x 63 in

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Stain, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 42 x 42 in

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Bloom, Carmen Vetter, 2016, kiln-formed glass, 42 x 42 in

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Objective: aligned; metaphor, Sammy Peters, 2017, oil & mixed media on canvas, 36 x 48 in 28

SAMMY PETERS

b. 1939, Shreveport, Louisiana

EDUCATION

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

2016

Mason Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

Little Rock University, Little Rock, AR

2015

LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM

Arkansas Arts Center School of Arts & Drama,

2014

Greg Thompson Fine Art, Little Rock, AR

Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR

2012

Greg Thompson Fine Art, Little Rock, AR

2011

Winthrop Rockefeller Legacy Exhibition,

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Morrilton, AR

2016 Then and Now, Memphis College of Art, Hyde

2010

Stremmel Gallery, Reno, NV

Gallery; University of Arkansas-Fort Smith,

2009

Kouros Gallery, New York, NY

Windgate Gallery, Fort Smith, AR

2007

Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock, AR

2015

LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM; also 2013,

2006

Gail Harvey Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2011, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1999

Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

2014

Arkansas Tech University, Russelville, AR

LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2013

Alan Avery Art Company, Atlanta, GA

2005

Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX

2008

The Heights Gallery, Little Rock, AR

2002

Perry Nicole Gallery, Memphis, TN

2007

Multiple Impressions, New York, NY

2000

The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR

2005

Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

1999

Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY

2004

Contemporanea, Hot Springs, AR

1994

Paintings from America’s Heart, Berlin &

Craighead/Green Gallery, Dallas, TX

Bremen, Germany

2003

Hendrix College, Conway, AR

1993

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa,

2002

New Gallery, Houston, TX,

Tuscaloosa, AL

Perry Nicole Gallery, Memphis, TN

Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY

1998

Cindric Meyer Gallery, Boca Raton, FL

1996

Allene Lapides Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

1995

The New Gallery, Houston, TX

2003 VSC Press Printmaking Fellowship

1994

The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2001 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship

University of Central Ark., Conway, AR

2000 MacDowell Fellowship

The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR

1992 M-AAA/NEA Fellowship

Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX

1967 Juror’s Award, 10th Delta Annual

1992

The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1965 Juror’s Top Award, 10th Annual Mid-South

1991

Shidoni Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Little Rock, AR

San Francisco Mime Troupe, San Francisco, CA

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Exhibition

Emanate, Carmen Vetter, 2017, kiln-formed glass, 42 x 42 in 30

CARMEN VETTER b. 1957, Dallas, Oregon EDUCATION

2009

Fading Gray: Patterns on Polarization, Traver

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Gallery, Tacoma, WA

Bemis Foundation, Omaha, NE

2004

Assimilation, Vetri International Glass,

Bullseye Glass Factory, Portland, OR

Seattle, WA

Table Top and Tile, Artist Exchange Residency

2001

Group Glass Show, Rock Creek Gallery, PCC,

Portland, OR

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1999

Table Top and Tile, Bullseye Connection,

2016

Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

Portland, OR

Emerge/Evolve, Bullseye Projects, Portland, OR

2014

Folding/Faulting, Circa Gallery,

AWARDS

Minneapolis, MN

2008 Finalist, Bullseye Emerge Competition

After Before, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

2006 Finalist, Bullseye Emerge Competition

2012 Unforgiving Edge/What Remains, Bullseye

Gallery, Portland, OR

PUBLICATIONS

2011

Fill, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

2015

Minneapolis Star Tribune, “Made by Hand Art

2009

Fading Gray: Patterns on Polarization, Traver

at Three Minneapolis Galleries,” Mary Abbe

Gallery, Tacoma, WA

Art and Antiques, April issue, “Crystallizing

2004

Assimilation, Vetri International Glass,

an Idea”

Seattle, WA

2012

New Glass Review 33, Corning Museum

Assimilation, Firehouse #12, Vancouver, WA

2010

New Glass Review 31, Corning Museum

2003

Salishan, Lincoln City, OR

2009

Tacoma Weekly – Review, February 26, 2009

2000

Bedeviled, Brian Marki Fine Art, Portland, OR

The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington –

Review, February 16, 2009

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2016

Artem Vitro, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

2015

Fired: Iron, Ceramics, and Glass, Arvada Center

2012

Instructor for weekly introductory art class,

for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO

Operation Night Watch, Portland, Oregon;

2014

Shades of White, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA

also 2009-2011

2012

Chromatic Fusion: The Art of Fused Glass, New

2010 Presenter, “Finding My Depth: Bas Relief with

Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM

Frits and Powders,” G.A.S. Conference,

2011

Clear and Present: Works in Glass; LewAllen

Louisville, KY

Galleries, Santa Fe, NM

2009 Guest Presenter for Alicia Lomne, Pilchuck

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Glass School

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1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com Š 2017 LewAllen Contemporary LLC 34 Artwork Š Sammy Peters and Carmen Vetter