SANTA FE, NM.- Direct from the critically acclaimed exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art that ended this past August, Peters Projects of Santa Fe is exhibiting Photo Ceramica, the first major exhibition of photographer and ceramicist Peter Olson.

Based in Philadelphia, Olson has spent over 35 years as an accomplished photographer, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography and film at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and has travelled the world recording his visual experiences on film. Expanding his art, Olson learned how to throw on the wheel at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia 6 years ago and has continued working with clay ever since.

Working with his own photography, Olson uses his photographs on his ceramic work; printed, repeated and collaged to encase each ceramic piece. His motifs vary in scale creating a rhythm as they wrap around and across each artwork. When fired, the prints burn away, leaving permanent, sepia colored images from the iron oxide in the ink. His delicately patterned pieces embody fluctuating visual narratives, as kaleidoscopes that span centuries and continents.

Peter Olson’s subjects retain a connection to Western art history and religion, but hone in on his passion; street photography. These vignettes capture the city streets most familiar to the artist, with its harried workers and “angry strangers” as he calls them. Among the cities included are Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. The artist delights in the challenge of these increasingly complex surfaces and nuanced patterning of images on his ceramic vessels. Classical art historical references abound in the artist’s enthusiasm for museums and iconography, spliced with modern people in full motion.

Approximately forty ceramic works and twenty unique photographs will be exhibited at Peters Projects. A catalog with forward by Historian Garth Clark and an essay by Independent Curator Jo Lauria is available.