Lois Petersen

One Woman Show

April 6th through 28th 2007

Opening this Friday as the inaugural art show of the season for the First Street Gallery, Lois Petersen will offer a one-person show of her latest work in oil and pastel. More than 30 pieces will be included in this expansive exhibition and sale of the work of one of Trinidad’s most accomplished artists.

There will be a members-only reception at the gallery beginning at 5 p.m., with potential new members or renewing members welcome to sign up at the door. The First Street Gallery will open to the general public at 6:30 p.m., and the reception will end at 8:30 p.m. “Landscapes are my favorite subjects to paint,” says Petersen, who also teaches art. “I find inspiration and enjoyment painting valleys, canyons, rocks, mesas, mountains, rivers and lakes.”

Petersen, who is a plein air painter, loves to be out in nature. “I experience the colors, light, textures, shapes and values that only being outdoors can offer.” And as excellent as her work is, Petersen says that with every new painting “there’s a learning process that is very exciting to me.” Petersen grew up in Trinidad, and began private art classes when she was nine years old, where she first acquired her love of painting out-of-doors. She studied art at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, and then began her teaching career at Jefferson County Public Schools.

After living on the West Coast, the East Coast, and in Germany, she moved back to Trinidad in 1990, and began teaching in the public schools until her retirement in 2006. During this period, Petersen also taught painting to adults for more than a decade at Trinidad State Junior College. Petersen never tires of making new paintings of the beautiful Southern Colorado landscape, where portraying the unique light, shadow and texture of the changing seasons is her forte. She also enjoys traveling and painting in Europe and Mexico.

Petersen is married to the architect and watercolorist Alan Petersen, and the two have recently opened a small gallery on Elm Street, called The Original Townsite Gallery. Her paintings also can be seen at the Buffalo Nickel Gallery in Cimarron, and the Little Bear Gallery in Raton. Petersen’s show at the First Street Gallery will hang through the month of April, and gallery hours will be Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. The First Street Gallery, located at 150 E. First Street, is home of the Trinidad Area Arts Council and the Kiwanis Youth Arts Academy. For more information, please call the TAAC at 719-846-1441.