GUGGER PETTER

About Gugger Petter

Born in Denmark, but having been inspired by living and working in Italy, Mexico, Belgium and the United States, Gugger Petter’s newspaper art has become “a diary” of her life, each piece constructed with newsprint reflecting a moment in time.

Petter has worked with newspaper as her medium for over twenty years. “My fascination with newspaper consists not only of it being ‘the diary of our lives,’ but it also presents me with a black, white, and limited color palette, which has always been my choice.” Using a traditional loom to weave tightly rolled strips of newspaper, Petter’s work is a larger-than-life look at aspects or people of our daily lives. “My work can be seen as an abstraction as well as a representational image, where surface, subject matter, color and content all convey tension between opposites.”

Gugger Petter has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums, in Europe, the United States, and Mexico.

Artist Statement

For the past eighteen years, I have worked with newspaper as my main medium, creating both two and three-dimensional works with this material. My fascination with newspaper consists not only of its being “the diary of our lives,” it also presents me with a black/white/and limited color palette, which has always been my choice. My work is most often based on a oversized image of an observation of daily life, which can be seen as an abstraction as well as a representational image, where surface, subject matter, color and content all convey tension between opposites.

Holding a profound respect for this material, I have never regarded it as “recycled” or “trash". Even the yellowing aspect of newsprint has been an important factor in my work, and I often encourage this process of yellowing before my work leaves my studio.

Newsprint is normally known as a fragile material, but through my manipulation of the paper, which is rolled tightly into tubes and later sealed by varnish, it is transformed into a very strong and solid material. Yet I tend to see it as being fluid, since I construct each piece in the same free manner, much as a painter might use his brush.

I find the informative aspect of newspaper quite important. Since each piece I create holds all the world/local news of that particular time frame, it becomes an historic piece within itself. All artists date their oeuvre with great importance, reflecting their moment in time. My works not only hold a date, they also represent an historic documentation of our lives. This information may not be of importance to the viewer, but for me each piece becomes a diary.

Education

1973 - Academy of Fine Art, Rome, Italy
1967-68 Den Frie og Merkantile Kunstskole, Copenhagen, Denmark

Selected Awards

1999 Juror's Award, "Fiber Art", Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, California
1999  First Place in Sculpture, Best Entry by a California Artist, Award of Distinction, "1999 Art Show at the Dog Show", Wichita, Kansas
1998  First Place, "Toys in Contemporary Art II", d.p. Fong Galleries, San Jose, California
1998  Buck Foundation Art Grant, Marin Art Council, San Rafael, California
1997  Juror's Choice Award. "Fiberart International '97", Center for the Arts, Pennsylvania
1995  Second Place, Fine Art & Craft Show, Marin County Fair, San Rafael, California
1995  Honorable Mention, 27th Annual Textile Exhibit, Olive Hyde Art Galleries, Fremont, California
1995  Honorable Mention,"International '95" Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, California
1992  Buck Foundation Art Grant, Marin Arts Council, San Rafael, California
1992  Honorable Mention, Fine Art & Craft Show, Marin County Fair, California
1991  Second Award, Fine Art & Craft Show, Marin County Fair, San Rafael, California
1990  Best in Show, "Celebration of Sight" Redlands Host Lions Club, Orange County, California
1989  Merit Award, Conference of Northern California Handweawers, Santa Rosa, California
1987  Merit Award, Conference of Northern California Handweavers, Chico, California
1987  Honorable Mention, Fine Art & Craft Show, San Rafael, California

Selected Collections

Alice Meade, Mill Valley, CA
Andree Arty, Brussels, Belgium
Anita and Ron Wornick Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Ann and Michael Kay, Atlanta, GA
Ann and Mike Williams, Fredericksburg, TX
Arch. Marc Pariente, Mexico City, Mexico
Bernice Stillman Greene, San Francisco, CA
Betsy and Marc Rowland, Ft Worth, TX
Bjarne and Grete Bladbjerg, Danish Ambassador, Denmark
Bruce and Leslie Lane, Bethesda, MD
Cecilie Rohwedder, London, United Kingdom
Charles and Edwina Milner, Santa Fe, NM; Austin, TX
Charles and Nancy Curley, Larkspur, CA
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Danielle Steel, San Francisco, CA
Dave Bagshaw and Wendy Petersmyer, Atherton, CA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA
Elana Spitzberg, Aventura, FL
Elizabeth Colton, New York, NY
Ellen and Morey Filler, San Francisco, CA
Frederiksborg Castle,The Museum of National History, Denmark
Gail M. Brown, Philadelphia, PA
Grupo Pliana, Mexico City, Mexico
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Biloxi, MI; Panama City, Panama
Harold Rosenbaum, Philadelphia, PA
Henrik Trautner, Ministery of Agriculture, Copenhagen, Denmark
Henrik Wern, Danish Counsul, Antwerp, Belgium
Industrias Polifil, Mexico City, Mexico
Jack Crawford III and Carl Evans, San Antonio, TX
James Torrey, New York, NY
Janice and Mickey Kupperman, Deerfield, IL
Jaqueline L. Young, San Francisco, CA
JoAnn McGrath, Boston, MA
John and Carol Hamilton, Woodside, CA
Jonathan Zakin, Honolulo, HI
Judy Kneppers, Walnut Creek, CA
Kaiser Permanente, Redwood City, CA
Kate Ganz, Santa Fe, NM
Kristy Maslin, Summit, NJ
Layne Gray, San Francisco, CA
Linda Meier, Athertom, CA
Mark and Barbara Horwitch, Chicago, IL
Martha Windfield, London, United Kingdom
Martin and Deidra Silverman, San Rafael, CA
Murray and Ruth Gribin Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Nordstrom Corporate Collection
Paul and Megan Segre, Sonoma, CA
Pietro Migliaccio Guerra, Rome, Italy
Rita and Robert Roberts, Sonoma CA
Robert and Sharon Salomon, Woodside, CA
Roberto Pesaro, Mexico City, Mexico
Royal Danish Embassy, Mexico City, Mexico; Washington DC
Russell and Margarite Coles, Minneapolis, MN
Sam Lieber and Mary Rubin, New York, NY
Sarah Nolan, Santa Fe, NM
Schubert & Reed, San Francisco, CA
Shawn Byers, Woodside, CA
Southwest Bank, St. Louis, MO
Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, CA Stephen and Helen Jaffe, Greenbrae, CA
Susan McBaine, San Francisco, CA
Sylvia and Eric Elsessor, Sausalito, CA
Textel, Mexico City, Mexico
Textile Traces Collection, Los Angeles, CA
White House, Washington DC
Young and Rubicam, San Francisco, CA