Peter Olson

Peter Olson began his artistic career as a photographer in the ‘70s, founding the punk rock magazine New Sound and working as a street, sports, and commercial photographer. Fusing his original photographs with ancient forms, Olson invented a style of ceramic narrative storytelling in the tradition of ancient Greek vessels. But the figures populating Olson’s ceramic works are not gods and goddesses—they are neighbors, community members, and average people on the street. Olson transfers his photographs of people and design elements onto wheel-thrown vessels, then meticulously colors each element by hand, firing each piece up to ten times to achieve the elegant appearance of finely painted Sévres porcelain. Olson lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.