Local artist tests his mettle at Carson City art fair

When Charles Blim considers new artists to exhibit in his gallery at 114 W. Telegraph Street in downtown Carson City, he looks at more than just their artwork.

He appreciates drive and direction as much as he does the product.

That’s one reason why the owner of Charlie B. Gallery decided to take on the metal work of Logan Peterson, a 22 year-old sculptor phenom from Gardnerville new to the local arts scene.

“He’s a Renaissance person. He has soul and direction,” Blim said. “He knows what he wants to do. I don’t meet many artists that are this young and have this kind of direction.”

Blim said he met the Peterson family at the Kyburz Flea Market and was instantly impressed.

“They are amazing people,” he said. “This is a great family.”

He said Logan’s parents asked him to preview their son’s art and give them his opinion on it.

“I’m so glad I did,” Blim said. “He just blows me away.”

Blim has been exhibiting some of Logan Peterson’s sculptures since about June of this year.

Now, he’s recruited Peterson to appear at the inaugural Carson Mall Fine Arts Faire, a three-day public exhibit that starts Thursday, Nov. 3 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 5.

Peterson said he’s still very new to the public arts scene, so this week’s exhibition in Carson City should give his work a boost.

He said he’s grateful to Blim for recognizing his work and taking a chance on it.

“I give Charles a lot of credit with helping to exhibit my work,” he said.

Peterson said he’s been making metal art since he was in elementary school while learning to work a MIG welder with his dad.

Since then, he has been as much as student of metal work as he has a practicing artist of the medium.

The Gardnerville native spent three years in high school studying the welding trade and improving his metal art techniques.

“That’s where it started to develop more for me,” said the 2012 Douglas High School graduate.

He then went on to attend the University of Nevada, Reno, where he earned a mechanical engineering degree last spring.

Peterson still attends school, enrolled currently in an Associate of Applied Science welding degree program at Western Nevada College in Carson City.

But all of this learning doesn’t mean art-making is an academic pursuit for Peterson.

On the contrary, he said, the art he produces comes primarily from within.

“A lot of my art is driven by emotion and feelings,” Peterson said. “If it’s not there, it’s really hard to make art.”

Blim agreed, adding that what’s inside of Peterson comes out in his sculptures and seems to defy explanation.

“His work has a very mid-century feel to it, and yet I don’t think he even knows some of these mid-century artists,” Blim said. “It’s all come from inside him.”

Peterson said he uses a lot of recycled and reclaimed metal material to sculpt his art with, including sheet metal, copper piping and wire, transmission gears, car components, old instruments and clock parts.

“A lot of my work is from old refurbished grandfather and grandmother clock parts,” he said. “I love seeing how things work, taking things apart and repurposing them.”

There is a particular steampunk motif that emerges from Peterson’s sculptures, he said, which is driven by his own inspiration from the futuristic Victorian movement.

“A lot of my art stems from steampunk era,” Peterson said. “There’s a lot of inspiration from steampunk."

Steampunk, Peterson said, is best described as Victorian era meets science fiction.

“It’s basically a past and futuristic kind of an era,” he said. “But without the combustible engine being invented. It’s steam power, cogs and gears.”

There will be several examples of steampunk motifs on display at this week’s Fine Arts Faire in the Carson Mall, including one of Peterson’s largest sculptures, a seven-foot tall angel entitled “Escape.”

This piece, Peterson said, turned out to be one of the most difficult for him to sculpt, not because of its size but rather its dynamics.

“The angel is free-standing,” he said. “The whole thing pivots on a ball bearing point in the middle. Balancing it while I welded on it was quite challenging.”

But challenging pieces also give Peterson a great deal of satisfaction when they are completed.

“When it was finished, it was a beautiful piece,” he said. “It brought a lot of attention, and is one of the largest pieces I’ve made so far.”

Many other pieces feature functional components, such as clocks, as part of the design, creating a sculpture that is as practical as it is beautiful.

Because of the intricate details featured in many of the sculptures, Peterson said creating a piece takes him an average of a week and a half to produce.

But the time he spends sculpting is well worth the effort.

“I do love working with my hands and it shows in my art,” he said. “The joy of a finished product, to be able to say I created that and show others your joys in life.”

Blim said the look that Peterson gives his sculptures is enduring, a valuable quality in art as tastes tend to change over time.

“His art is timeless in a lot of ways, because you have kind of a medieval thing going on,” he said. “Then there’s a steampunk Victorian theme, as well as an overriding mid-century feel.”

The first-ever Carson Mall Fine Arts Faire began Thursday in the Carson Mall, located at 1313 S. Carson Street in Carson City. Featuring more than 25 artists representing multiple mediums, the fair continues Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4-5, from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day.

For more information about the Carson Mall Fine Arts Faire, follow the event here on Facebook. Peterson’s work can also be viewed here on his Facebook page.