Peter Ferber’s annual winter show opens this Saturday at The Art Place. Everyone knows Peter is busily painting to get 13 brand new pieces ready for the big opening day, but everyone at The Art Place has also been working hard.

For this show, Peter’s work started as long ago as his college days! There is one painting of Cornwall, England, where he visited on a school trip. Photos of this trip sprouted the inspiration for this watercolor and ink line piece.

Peter used older photos as the base for several of his paintings in this show. One of these is titled “Robert’s Cove Departure”. In his research for creating the piece “Robert’s Cove Welcome” from his last show, he bumped into the scene that inspired this new work.

Robert’s Cove Welcome

I’ve heard people ask, “What is the first piece Peter started working on?” “What was the last he created?”. The answer to this is unsurprising for anyone who has followed Peter’s recent work–the cut paper. Peter began this elaborate piece at the start of his work for this show, and this piece will be one of the last to be finished! In his painting descriptions, Peter wrote, “In many ways, this has been the most challenging cut paper work I’ve done. It seems that each new one I do stretches the medium a bit more.” I personally have not seen this piece yet (it should arrive at The Art Place for framing tomorrow morning) but this is the work I am most excited to see.

Back at The Art Place, we have been planning the framing for weeks to make Peter’s paintings look their absolute best. (And sometimes we need to frame pieces that we’ve only seen a sketch for!) Thankfully Barbara has worked on so many of Peter’s works, that she can predict how the colors will come together to create the final piece.

Advertising for the show also happens weeks before the opening. Peter, Barbara and Emily work together in January to create the iconic postcard that some Ferber fans collect from each show! This year’s card is a little different because it features Squam lake–the unique subject of a few of this show’s paintings. This postcard is the backbone for most of the ads and articles that we create for the show.

My favorite part of preparation for Peter’s show is talking with the excited people who plan to attend the opening on the big day. Many people have been waiting to see a painting Peter has created featuring their own home or land. Many others simply are huge fans of Peter’s work and begin waiting in line in the cold in downtown Wolfeboro starting at 6am! We actually block up the windows so no one can see inside until the big moment at 9:30.

I also love the time spent Friday night before the opening, pulling out all the original paintings and finally getting to see them all as one unified show of works. We work after The Art Place’s normal hours (into the night) to arrange and hang the paintings. This often involves rearranging the entire gallery to make room for 13 new paintings! I’m sure if you stood outside the door, you could hear all of us hammering away on the walls.

If you are planning to attend Peter Ferber’s show this weekend, don’t hesitate to ask us any questions you may have about how these shows work–getting in line, purchasing a work, getting a hint about the painting you are interested in, etc. We are open 9:30-5 on Friday, and will open right at 9:30 again at Saturday will a gallery full of new original paintings. See you then!

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