Peter Happel Christian is an artist whose work studies time, processes, and chance at the intersection of photography, sculpture, installation, and artist books. Common subjects in his work are nature, the “ordinary” world of his own life, and a conflation of the two. His works range from intuitive projects, to research-dependent projects, to collaborative projects with artists and non-artists alike. Peter grew up about an hour west of the Mississippi River in a diverse, working class neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As an adult, he lived in Oregon and Arizona for five years which reprogrammed his perceptions of history, place, and representation. In 2006, he returned to the Midwest to northeast Ohio where he learned new lessons about land, economics, and labor. Since 2012 he has published printed matter, digital media, and numerous artist’s books with Clear As Day (MN & PA), Skylark Editions (Chicago) and Conveyor Editions (NJ). Same Sum, his second book with Conveyor Studio, was published in 2022. Happel Christian holds an MFA from the University of Oregon and a BFA from the University of Iowa. He is professor of art at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota where he has taught since 2009.
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Email: happelchristian@gmail.com