Name: Peter Sparling

City of Residence: Ann Arbor, MI

Featured Artwork: Resist!

Exhibition: 10 FOLD, CTAC - Traverse City Cornwell Gallery

On View: now through May 23, 2025

Tell us about the creative process for the featured piece in our exhibition: 
Prompted by the CTAC theme of the show, I imagined then videotaped myself moving against resistance and towards the right of the frame in order to then capture ten stills of my motion in progress. Using projections, I then mapped onto canvas all ten images to create an accumulated force field.

Who or what inspires your creativity? 
As often is the case, I use my dancing body as inspiration for either figurative form on canvas or for abstract lines of kinetic action that spin their own networks of interconnectedness.

Where can visitors learn more about your work? https://www.petersparlingworks.com

Artist Bio: 

Peter Sparling is Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance at University of Michigan. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School, Sparling danced with the companies of José Limón and Martha Graham and directed Peter Sparling Dance Company. His videos have been screened globally, including festivals in New York City, Lisbon, and Paris. He is a published poet/essayist and has shown his paintings in numerous solo and group exhibits.

LIGHTNING ROUND!

• When I work, I listen to: The sound of silence.
• For example: When I do, it is most often Bach or Schubert.
• I studied: Music, dance, literature.
• "One" art-related thing I can't live without: Dancing.
• Three words that best describe me: Visual, visceral, hungry
• Three words that best describe my art: Multi-layered, stream-of-consciousness.

Thank you to Peter for jumping in and joining us for the Artist Spotlight Q&A in Traverse City!