Peter Olson

Peter Olson has for the last several years harmonized photography and ceramics, two mediums that have forced their way into the fine art canon.  In doing so, he has drawn upon the 17th century tradition of fired decals and Theodore Colenbrander’s 19th century lidded jars, which were one of the precursors to Modernism as we understand it today. The result, however, is new, different, and all Olson’s.

Olson is a successful photographer whose work adorns corporate collections across the globe. Yet, for years he has found his greatest artistic satisfaction as a street photographer trying to say something about the everyday, mostly urban, world through which he moves.  His ceramic work has given him a stage upon which to present those images to the world.

Bands of imagery spin around the thrown and assembled ceramic garnitures creating a feeling that time is passing, people are revealing themselves, and a story is being told.  The meaning is not immediately clear, giving each piece an air of mystery confined within the daily lives of the subjects and Olson’s choice of cultural and religious objects, which form the background patterns for each piece. 

Olson’s street photos anchor each piece’s imagery and are held in place by architectural, cultural, and decorative images photographed by him, often in museums. “There’s nothing on them that hasn’t gone through my camera,” he says of his ceramics.  The photo-illustrations circle every centimeter of the ceramics, including the interiors, making it impossible to comprehend any piece quickly.  For this reason, Olson calls his pieces “cylindrical worlds.”  

Olson’s career as a ceramicist has been brief for one whose work has already garnered much attention and major exhibitions, but it is informed by many years spent developing a “professional” eye. He and his work provide “… a link to traditions that can be traced back thousands of years,” (New Ceramics Magazine) yet the results are fresh and contemporary.

Education: University of the Arts BFA, Photography 1977 Ceramics – Self Taught, Collections: Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection 2024:  Purchased for the Permanent Collection (From the Craig Krull Gallery L.A.) Asheville Museum of Art 2023: Piece acquired for the Permanent Collection The Scripps Collection 2023;  A pair of vessels from the Saints of Times Square Series purchased for the  Permanent Collection.  The Crocker Museum:  Nine piece garniture in the Permanent Collection, plus one individual piece.Amazon Films: Set Pieces for on going series (Mr & Mrs Smith)The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art; Three pieces acquired for the Permanent CollectionThe New Mexico Museum of Art: Purchased for the Permanent CollectionAmerican Museum of Ceramic Art: Three pieces purchased for the Permanent CollectionFuller Craft Museum: Purchase for the Permanent Collection: A Pair of VesselsThe Athenaeum of Philadelphia:  The Peter Olson Collection: 500 Large Format PhotographsExhibitions:Michelangelo Foundation, Homo Faber Journey of Life,Venice Italy: Fall 2024Craig Krull Gallery Los Angeles: Solo Summer 2024American Museum of Ceramic Art:Fahrenheit 2024, January-September 2024 Blue Spiral Asheville,N.C.: July 5-August 2024..The Nod: Pastiche ArtThe Ohr-O’ Keefe Museum of Art: Solo Spring 2023 Asheville Museum of Art: Feb-May 2023 The Legacy of Pattern and DecorationBlue Spiral Asheville. N.C: Pattern Show 2022 Fuller Craft Museum, Boston:  Biennial Exhibition 2022 Jonathan Ferrara Gallery NOLA – Art in DoomBlue Spiral Asheville. N.C.: Human-Nature: Photographic Explorations 2022The Crocker Museum  Cool Clay nine piece garniture inthe permanent collection on display 2022Fuller Craft Museum:  Object Lessons The New Mexico Museum of Art:  Breath Taking images of a Covid-19 World, 2021American Museum of Ceramic Art “A to Z Permanent Collection” Philadelphia Clay Studio:  100 Years 100 Women 2020Michael Warren Contemporary: Wall of Shame 2020Fuller Craft Museum “Uncommon Exposures: Photography in Craft Based Media”Fuller Craft Museum:Shelter, Place, Social, Distance: Contemporary Dialogues from the Permanent Collection 2020Blue Spiral: Solo 2019Cluj Ceramics Biennale ( Romania) 2020LUX Center for the Arts: Dynamic RangeLawrence Arts Center Kansas “The Image and the Vessel a Survey of Contemporary Pottery” American Museum of Ceramic Art:  Fahrenheit  AMOCA – “We the People”  08.-12.2018Art Fairs: Sofa Chicago: Icon for the showGerald Peters Gallery Santa Fe: Solo  2017Zanesville ,Ohio Prize: Winners exhibition  2017AMOCA: Solo 2017Cluj Ceramics Biennale ( Romania 2017)Works on site:Craig Krull Gallery – Los AngelesBlue Spiral – Ashevile Jonathan Ferrara Gallery – New Orleans