Painter
Peter’s Web Site
Member of Flag since:
2012
Area 7 Chair: 2012 – 2022
Peter’s Bio:
Peter Zell is an award-winning Florida artist who has been painting in oils since 1999. He is a California native and practiced law in Southern California for 32 years before retiring to Southwest Florida in 2005. While he was still working, he took courses in drawing, painting and art history at the local community college. In 2008, Peter was nominated as “New Artist of the Year” by the Lee County Alliance for the Arts. That same year he was featured as an emerging artist in Grandeur Magazine. He is a past president of the Sanibel-Captiva Art League and a former area chairperson for the Florida Artists Group, founded in 1949. In 2013 and 2015, his paintings were juried into the Annual Mid-Year Exhibition of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.
Artist Statement:
“Many of these paintings are painted en plein air with some finishing touches done in the studio. My goal with landscapes is to produce an alla prima painting. I also like to paint figures in various settings. It is a great pleasure to work in oils. I try to pay attention to traditional line, form and color, and also to introduce some abstraction into the painting.”
My style could be described as loose and impressionistic with passages of abstraction. I believe that paint must be applied liberally, and the hand of the artist should be apparent in the painting.
Peter Zell, June 2011
Education:
B.A., History, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, 1969
J.D., Loyola University of Law, 1973
(practiced law in Los Angeles, CA 1973 – 2005)
Drawing, painting, art history classes, Santa Ana College,
Santa Ana, CA 2000 -2005
Workshops 1999 – 2008:
1999 Judy Schroeder,
2000 Judy Schroeder,
2000 Gerald Brommer,
2005 Thomas Brown,
2006 Carol Hagerman, 2006 Howard Rose,
2007 Lois Ferguson,
2008 Greg Biolchini
Awards and Honors:
2017 – Merit Award, Big Arts Print Exhibit
2017 – Merit Award, Big Arts “After Rauschenberg” Exhibit
2017 – 3rd Place, San-Cap Art League Open Exhibit, Big Arts
2016 – 2nd Place, “Artist’s Best” Exhibit, Big Arts
2016 – Honorable Mention,
San-Cap Art League Open Exhibit, Big Arts
2016 – 2nd Place, San-Cap Art League Open Exhibit,
Big Arts Merit Award, Fort Myers Beach’s Annual
“Paint the Beach” Competition, 2015
Juried into the 79th Annual Butler Institute of American Art Mid-Year Exhibition, Summer 2015
Merit Award,
Sanibel-Captiva Art League Juried Open Show, 2013
Juried into the 77th Annual Butler Institute of American Art Mid-Year Exhibition, Summer 2013
Merit, San Cap Art League Members Spring Show, 2012
2nd Place, San Cap Art League Members Winter Show, 2011
Honorable Mention, San Cap Art League 36th
Open Juried Show, 2011
2nd Place, Cape Coral “Paint the Cape” Plein Air Competition, 2011
3rd Place, Cape Coral “Paint the Cape” Plein Air Competition, 2010
“Expressive Power/Bold Spontaneity” Awards, Naples Art Association Members Show,
February 2010 and November 2010
3rd Place, Sanibel Captiva Art League Juried Council BIG ARTS show, March 2010
2nd Place, Alliance of the Arts (Fort Myers), Symphony
50th Anniversary Competition, April 2010
3rd Place, Charlotte Harbor “Art Sensation” Plein Air Competition, 2009
2nd Place, “Text in Art” Show, BIG Arts, Sanibel, FL, 2009
Merit Award, Sanibel Captiva BIG ARTS Open Show, Sanibel, Fl, January 2009
1st Place, Arts for ACT “The Art of Music” Show, Fort Myers FL, June 2009
Nominated Lee County Alliance of the Arts “Angels of the Arts New Artist”, 2008
2nd Place, Art Council of Southwest Florida Winner’s
Circle Show,
BIG Arts, Sanibel, FL, December 2008
Four First Place awards, Art League of Fort Myers, FL
2007 – 2008
Four Honorable Mention/Merit, Sanibel Captiva Art Members
Shows, 2005 – 2011
Four 2nd Place Awards, Art League of Fort Myers, FL
2007 – 2010
Four student awards at Santa Ana College 2003-2005
Exhibitions:
One Person Exhibition: (1) Founders Gallery, BIG Arts, Sanibel, FL 2012; (2) Hirdie Girdie Art Gallery, Sanibel, FL; April 2011; (3) Captiva Yacht Club, Captiva, FL, 2011, (4) First Presbyterian Church, Sanibel, FL, 2010; (3) Burroughs House, Ft. Myers, FL, 2009; (4) Office of Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall, Fort Myers, FL (5) First Presbyterian Church, Sanibel, FL, 2007; Three Person Exhibition: (1) Sanibel Public Library 2008 (2) Founders Gallery, BIG Arts, Sanibel, FL, 2009
Gallery Representation:
Hirdie Girdie Art Gallery, Sanibel, FL (2011- present); Treetops Art Gallery, Sanibel, Florida 2009-2010 (closed)