Salina Art Center

Salina Art Center welcomes Artist-in-Residence Jason Peters

Salina, Kansas– The Salina Art Center welcomes Brooklyn, New York, artist Jason Petersto the Art Center Warehouse, 149 S. 4th Street, Salina, Kansas.  Peters will be living in Salina and working at the Warehouse as part of the Art Center’s Artist-in-Residence program from May 4 – July 24, 2009. 

Open Studio Hours:  May 12 – July 16
Tuesdays, noon – 3:00 pm
Thursdays, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
(except June 2, 4, 9 & 11)
The public is invited to stop by the Warehouse to visit with the artist and see his work in progress during open studio hours

During my residency, I plan to create some new work and return to ideas that have been with me for the last ten years.  A process I use in making my work is that of seeing what a given environment and opportunity allow me to create.  The influences in life can shape so much, and it is by being open to experience and detours that the unique can happen.  Much of my work has been made up of lots of the same object, using these as a building block. Each object in turn, depending on its shape, has an inherent way of creating a form reflective of its properties.  Chairs, buckets, cushions, etc. are all materials I have used.  I invite the community of Salina to submit things that might be lying around in numbers, that are tucked away or in warehouses, that no one knows what to do with. Maybe it’s something that would inspire me. I want to try and create some work that is inspired by the environment of Salina. – Jason Peters

In conjunction with his residency, Jason Peters will be creating a work that will be on view in Oakdale Park during the Smoky Hill River Festival, June 11 – 14, 2009. The trees of the park will be the relational boundary and potential support for the creation of this site-specific artwork, Meandering, Depending on the space in which they are constructed, Peters’ sculptures grow tighter or more exuberant in their movement, configuration, shape and calligraphy, so this natural setting will determine the outcome as the work progresses.

Open And as Pointed as Possible

in the Salina Art Center galleries June 5 – August 16, 2009
Opening Reception:  Thursday, June 4, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Remarks by the artist at 5:30 pm

Philosophically, all objects are ‘becoming’ in a continuous process of birth and death, because nothing is permanent.  -Jason Peters

During his residency, Jason Peters will make art with objects we use every day: plastic buckets, tires, chairs, and surprise materials found in Salina industry and agribusiness. These will become modules of larger forms relating organically to the Art Center’s exhibition space, made to a scale bigger than we are, but not so big as to be out of reach.  Peters’ sculptures have been called dystopic, futuristic, spectacular, and just plain beautiful. They undulate, twist, and climb up and over each other, seemingly with energy of their own. Newest are light-emitting forms such as his recent installation in St. Louis. He aims to first create an emotion or an impact, which the viewer can later analyze and perhaps remember when using a bucket to wash a floor.
Currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY, Peters received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and a Minor in Asian Art History from the Maryland Institute College of Art.  Since then, Peters has participated in residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE and the Mattress Factory, Pittsburg, PA. His most recent work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO, at Slowdown, Omaha, NE, and at the Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. Peters’ work was also featured as part of The Light Project at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO.

The Salina Art Center’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the R.C. Kemper Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a. Corporate Trustee.
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For more information regarding Jason Peters’ residency, River Festival project or exhibition contact the Salina Art Center at 785-827-1431 or visit salinaartcenter.org. The Salina Art Center galleries are open Wednesday through Saturday from noon – 5:00 pm, and Sunday from 1:00 – 5:00 pm.  Business office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.