Peter Millett: Seattle Artist

Silver Girl, 2010
64 x 19 x 19  galvanized steel 

Lynette Haggard (LH): Peter, can you please tell us a little about yourself?
Peter Millett: This week I'm putting together a large steel sculpture. I've been working on the interior structure. I spend as much time figuring out what you won't see as what you will see.


I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, middle child of an architect father and a musician mother. We all grew up drawing on the backs of blue-prints,visiting buildings, listening to and playing music. In high school I enjoyed designing and making theater sets. After finishing RISD ( BFA sculpture 71 ) I traveled West and found myself in Seattle. I loved the water. The fishing was great and so were the blackberries. Space was really cheap and I really wanted to isolate myself and just have a lot of time to make artwork.

3, 4, 5
galvanized steel, 2010

LH:  Please describe a bit about your work and your studio practice.
Peter: I make sculpture in wood or metal from simple geometric shapes. This language allows me to render experiences I've had in a visual and tactile way. With form I search for the essence of the experience. In an abstracted way I can revisit places and reference objects. A curator once called my work “deconstructed architecture” I'm not sure what exactly that means, but I like the sounds of it. In some ways my work is like writing music, trying to evoke a feeling from a melody. I constantly rearrange shapes until I find some kind of surprise, something I never expected, some chord that resonates.

Best Laid Plans

38x40x6 steel 08

LH:  Can you tell us a bit about where how you work in your studio and any other artist community/support activities you're involved in?
Peter: We live in a great space designed by my brother Mark. Sherry has a studio upstairs. Mine is downstairs with a nice big garage door. Our son, Jacob works all over the place. I enjoy getting out for a little teaching. I like working with the people at the Frye Museum offering a series of drawing workshops responding to the exhibitions.

Carpet 20
11 x 66 x 48 steel

LH: What are your most recent projects, and/or shows?
Peter: After laying low in 2009, just finishing some projects, I opened a show this last July with Greg Kucera in Seattle. I showed work in wood, rusted steel, and some new pieces made of galvanized steel. In September I composed an exhibition for the Chiaroscuro Gallery  in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gate
72 x 28 x 12 steel 2008

Addendum: at the end of December, Peter sent me this paragraph to describe a job that he has part time, in addition to making art and teaching:

Court drawing by Peter Millett

This has been an interesting couple of months. I work as a freelance news artist for TV and the Associated Press. I do courtroom artwork when they won't allow cameras in the courtroom. You have to be quick and tell the story of what goes on in the courtroom. I don't work often, but it is always interesting and I get a birds eye view of what's happening in the federal courts. I covered the “don't ask don't tell” reinstatement of Major Margaret Witt into the Air Force. This led to the congressional action to repeal the policy. I was there for the arraignment of the so called “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris Moore, the bad boy feral child from Camano Island. He was a big deal out here. The most intense and tragic stories this last November have been the court-martial hearings down at Fort Lewis. These are investigations into war crimes that have been committed in Afghanistan by U.S. Soldiers based here . They are holding these young 20 year olds responsible for the crimes of the last administration. I can get all wound up seeing how the news, and the law, and the government work together. Perhaps my studio work is a sanctuary from what I witness in the courts. 


To see a picture of Peter sharing a court photo with the press, click here.

Thank you Peter!