Peter Samuel '72 Exhibits at George School

Peter Samuel ’72, an artist from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, will exhibit The Art to Eat in Walton Gallery from Tuesday, September 1 through Thursday, October 8, 2015. A gallery talk and reception will be held on Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.

Peter’s recent work has focused primarily on food, a transition from his earlier focus on landscapes. His recent exploration began with still-life representations of pears and apples and eventually evolved into larger fruit paintings, then vegetables, then whole meals, and more recently take-out dishes from ethnic restaurants.

“This interest in food stems from my passion for gardening, cooking, and eating as it connects to life in the studio,” shared Peter. “Food images are the most accessible way to communicate about who we are as a people and a culture, and have been a large part of art throughout history.”

Each piece is constructed of at least thirty different images which he manipulates on the computer.

“I am wed to a strict schedule of creating a picture a day and combining those pieces into a painting per month,” said Peter. “I identify a theme for the year, like vegetables, meals, take-out, and proceed with twelve monthly images related to that. The thirty daily images that comprise the monthly painting are regularly scanned, and posted to an online blog site. Once the images are brought together on a canvas or panel they are painted and sometimes 3D elements are added.”

Peter thinks of art as an exploration and uses a different medium each month for his work.

“My pictures can include anything from paint on canvas, wood, or aluminum to images on glass or plaster.”

Each photograph is of an actual object, and occasionally, they are left as representations of the whole, but more often Peter transforms and abstracts the original to create something new.

“My interest throughout the process is in experimenting with the notion of space and scale, color, motion, and the symbolic power of the familiar.”

Peter earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Marlboro College and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He works as a project manager and planner for the Division of Preservation Assistance and Heritage Areas for the National Park Service. Learn more about Peter and his work on petersamuel.org.

For more information, contact Amedeo Salamoni at 215.579.6695.

Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from more than twenty-two states, fifty-two foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own. George School was one of the first schools in the United States to implement an International Baccalaureate diploma program.