| SAM
PETERSEN began his artistic training at The Art Academy
when he was a young teenager. He went on to earn a BFA from Luther
College in Decorah, Iowa, then furthered his education by traveling
to Florence, Italy, where he studied figurative drawing and oil painting
at Studio Art Centers International. Sam is versed in many mediums,
including sculpture, batik, digital design, and cel animation. He
is a professional caricaturist and cartoonist, traveling throughout
the country to hone his craft. “The best caricatures are a combination of likeness, exaggeration and technique,” says Sam. “These competing elements are kept in balance by the continuity of style that an individual personality brings to a work. You find this in the masters of the craft, a Daumier or a Heinrich Kley, people who were able to take a pen and some ink and create something that transcends the medium. It’s where I try and go when I’m drawing myself, to that place within where I’m not thinking about what I’m doing. Then it all just happens and I produce something worth while. “To get to that place, though, takes a lot of work. It’s years of training to see shape and proportion in relation to each other, then finding the uniqueness of a subject and accentuating those elements in a drawing to bring out a true personality. On top of that there’s the craft, learning enough about a medium like pencil or pen to handle a simple tool with cleanliness, energy and expression. “The goal of my teaching is to get students to that transcendent point. I balance skill development and the art of seeing while respecting each individual student’s needs. By keeping it interesting and fun they eventually get to a place where it just flows out of them. That’s where the true satisfaction begins.” |
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