Centralia artist Peter Sheesley will have his painting displayed at Tacoma’s Fulcrum Gallery starting today.
Prior to this year’s ARTrails event, Centralia artist Peter Sheesley is gearing up for his showing of paintings, “What Is Truth?” opening tonight in Tacoma.
Sheesley’s series of paintings are somewhat controversial, he admitted. “Christians might not like that there are naked people pictured, and non-Christians might not like the overt Christian themes of the paintings,” he said.
The young artist, now in his third year as an ARTrails member, explains that the naked human body has been used as a means of expression in paintings for many hundreds of years. In this present series, with each painting reflecting a theme from the Bible and featuring a naked figure, he has striven for images that reflect his personal interests.
“Hopefully people will be able to get over those initial speed bumps and look more deeply at the paintings,” he stated, adding that he wanted his paintings to reflect his personal interests.
His goal is to combine quotes by and about Jesus with his passion for figurative painting.
Sheesley says the quotes from the Bible are things he has been reading throughout his life that he finds “intriguing, confusing, inspirational and challenging.” He adds that the figures represented are not simply alluring flesh, but they are individual people who are “variably imperfect, strong, vulnerable and beautiful.”
Sheesley strives to use the human body as a means of expression similar to how an abstract painting with squares could express joy, peacefulness or gloom. “This is why I refer to my figures as ‘naked’ instead of ‘nude.’ I hope the imagery combined with the Biblical themes will provide viewers with a new way of thinking and reflecting.
“One of the things I love about the Pacific Northwest,” Sheesley added, “is how people are generally open-minded and non-judgmental. This makes it a good place for the arts to thrive.
“There’s a sense of individualism and a ‘live-and-let-live’ atmosphere. People aren’t going to judge you based on a set of cultural expectations but instead want to understand where you’re coming from as an individual person.”
Sheesley relocated in 2010 to Centralia from the Midwest, where he had taught college art classes for three years.
Having decided he was more interested in “making” art than “teaching” it, he has devoted his major time to his portrait painting business. His portrait commissions consist of families, children and dogs. His web site is www.petersheesleyportraits.com.
He grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and earned a degree in English at Wheaton College.
He then trained at New York City’s Academy of Art, receiving a master of fine arts degree in figurative painting.
Sheesley’s work also can be observed in the East Building of Northwest Pediatrics, with eight different murals in the lobby and exam rooms. On top of all that, he self-published his first novel, “Centralia,” last year, and the novel and much of his artwork can be seen on his fine art website, www.petersheesley.com.
Sheesley’s Centralia studio, (917) 375-7502, will be open during the ARTrails studio tour on the weekends of Sept. 21 and 29.
Sheesley’s “What Is Truth?” exhibit opens 6-9 p.m. tonight at Fulcrum Gallery, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, and will remain on view through June 13 (open Wednesdays and Fridays, noon to 6 p.m.).
