Ric Peterson
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Woodworker
"This work for me is the intersection of nature's beauty being used for function and decoration in everyday life."
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Live Edge Birch
Live Edge Birch
Nested Set
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Douglas Fir Burl
Douglas Fir Burl
Bird's Nest Bowl
Birds Nest Bowl
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Locust Vessel
Maple Bowl
Maple Bowl
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Artist Statement
"I have always had a deep felt love for nature. My earliest memory is seeing Mount Rainier out the kitchen window as an infant, I grew up in the woods or on the water; I learned to cook over a wood fire. Throughout my suburban childhood and urban adulthood, My vacations almost always included a backcountry permit tied to a backpack. My woodworking pursuits are fairly recent, but a great blend of passionate pursuits got me to this point in time. I have been a working artist since the early 80’s. If I couldn’t get to the outdoors, I tried to live as though I was; sitting under trees, contemplation of a greater landscape while studying a leaf, reading many of the classic wilderness writers or homesteading books, cooking over woodfires in my backyard, keeping my knife sharp.
For me woodturning is an art, a craft and an act of recycling. Creating a functional form in a bowl for serving, eating, collecting, storing, is craft. Trying to create beauty in form, function, design, shape, texture and visual aesthetic is art. Utilizing trees that have been downed for numerous reasons and repurposing that wood into a functional art form is recycling and preserving one of nature’s great gifts. This work for me is the intersection of natures beauty being used for function and decoration in everyday life."
"I have always had a deep felt love for nature. My earliest memory is seeing Mount Rainier out the kitchen window as an infant, I grew up in the woods or on the water; I learned to cook over a wood fire. Throughout my suburban childhood and urban adulthood, My vacations almost always included a backcountry permit tied to a backpack. My woodworking pursuits are fairly recent, but a great blend of passionate pursuits got me to this point in time. I have been a working artist since the early 80’s. If I couldn’t get to the outdoors, I tried to live as though I was; sitting under trees, contemplation of a greater landscape while studying a leaf, reading many of the classic wilderness writers or homesteading books, cooking over woodfires in my backyard, keeping my knife sharp.
For me woodturning is an art, a craft and an act of recycling. Creating a functional form in a bowl for serving, eating, collecting, storing, is craft. Trying to create beauty in form, function, design, shape, texture and visual aesthetic is art. Utilizing trees that have been downed for numerous reasons and repurposing that wood into a functional art form is recycling and preserving one of nature’s great gifts. This work for me is the intersection of natures beauty being used for function and decoration in everyday life."