About the Artist
Peter W. Michel was born in Schenectady, New York. He received his A.B. degree in Fine Arts from Oberlin College in Ohio and a degree in architecture from M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA. He pursued further studies in sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts School and Rice University in Houston, Texas. Michel has worked as an architect in Boston, Houston and New York. In 1986 he moved to Clinton in upstate New York and began to do computer drawings for architects in New York City, including the office of Pei Cobb Freed. In 1989 he began to use the computer as a tool to produce his sculpture. Mr. Michel’s most recent work has been cut from plywood or metal using computer controlled cutting technology (either water jet or laser) and then it is typically painted with the rainbow colors.
Mr. Michel’s work has been shown frequently in galleries and museums in central New York as well as in many shows throughout the country. In 1999 and 2000 his monumental sculptures were included in Chicago’s Pier Walk shows - one of the largest outdoor sculpture shows in the world. His work has been commissioned by The Houston Festival, The Houston Folk Arts Council, The Houston Academy of Gymnastics and a number of private individuals. His work is in private collections across the United States as well as in Germany, Japan, Korea and South Africa.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My work represents a stand for the possibility that art is, for the expression of joy, aliveness, love and relationship. Through color, humor, the play of ideas, the effects of light and space, the viewer is invited to access his own spirit of playfulness and relatedness.
My work is a celebration and exploration of SELF, RELATIONSHIP and COMMUNITY. It explores in symbols, the ways in which we are related, connected, the same (as in our humanity) and the ways in which we are special and unique. It explores the richness of the mind, the ongoing conversations which shape our responses and our being.