Bruun Studios | Peter Bruun | Artist

Bruun Studios is like a layered cake, each tier offering a different aspect contributing to the depth and flavor of our work and programming. ⁠ ⁠ Which part of Bruun Studios is your favorite?⁠ ⁠ 🎨 Artist⁠ ⁠ ✍️Writer⁠ ⁠ 🖼️ Curator⁠ ⁠ 👥Humanist⁠ ⁠ 📍Based in Maine ⁠ ⁠ #artist #newenglandartist #curator #studios #writer⁠

Peter shares the story behind the work ✏️. Do you see profiles in the final piece? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #abstractlines #bts #wip #newenglandartistinaustin

How well do you know Peter Bruun? We have three fun facts for you today that may surprise you:⁠ ⁠ 1. 🔡 Peter does Wordle, Worldle, and Artle every morning before getting out of bed.⁠ ⁠ 2. 🏃🏻 He loves to run and has run marathons and even a couple ultra-marathons. (He finds these days a run of any distance is a miracle worth celebrating.) ⁠ ⁠ 3. 🫑 In the summer, a food shopping trip for Peter can mean up to 6 stops: 2 vegetable stands, the bread shop, the fish market, the Co-op, and Hannaford’s ("if I have to").⁠ ⁠ When he's not doing all that, Peter is the artist, writer and curator behind Bruun Studios. ⁠ ⁠ Peter wants to know: "What should I add to Wordle, Worldle, and Artle?"⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #newenglandartist ⁠ #creativeprocess⁠ #contemporaryartist

“You once had an aunt I imagined on long walks down lonely shores.” “You once had an aunt who beguiled the boys.” “You once had an aunt who is now a myth.” “You once had an aunt we all let down.” How do we remember those we love who have died? How do we keep them present for those who never knew them? “You Once Had an Aunt” is an exhibition of my work opening on Thursday, May 21, 5:30 to 7:30 at USM’s Gorham Art Gallery in Gorham, ME. The paintings here are three of 100 I’ll be showing, accompanied by an audio collage of voices raising questions around memory, remembrance and loss. Beyond the opening on May 21, the exhibition is on view only on Friday May 22 and Saturday May 23, 11am to 5pm, or by appointment at 207-780-5409 or [email protected]. For details, you can visit the event page here: /events/s/you-once-had-an-aunt-opening-r/2384043718765787/

“You once had an aunt who made the flowers more colorful.” Spring was a magical time of year for young Elisif. She’d be out the door at the first sign of warmth, intent on every new growth and blossom. For her, flowers weren’t only to be seen, but rather existed to be incorporated into her swirl of vivacity, her early morning report on the number of new tulip blooms overnight evidenced by the decapitated flower tops held in her hand as she breezed back in at the kitchen door. Everything was more colorful with her around, even the flowers. How do we remember those we love who have died? How do we keep them present for those who never knew them? “You Once Had an Aunt” is an exhibition of my work opening on Thursday, May 21, 5:30 to 7:30 at USM’s Gorham Art Gallery in Gorham, ME. The painting here is one of 100 I’ll be showing, accompanied by an audio collage of voices raising questions around memory, remembrance and loss. Beyond the opening on May 21, the exhibition is on view only on Friday May 22 and Saturday May 23, 11am to 5pm, or by appointment at 207-780-5409 or [email protected]. For details, you can visit the event page here: /events/s/you-once-had-an-aunt-opening-r/2384043718765787/ I hope to see you on the 21st: it will be a beautiful evening. ❤️

A project I’ve been working on as part of my residency with @usmartgalleries - hope to see you at the opening at the Crewe Center for the Arts on April 16, 5:30 to 7:30, where we’ll celebrate @gpfamilypromise , @equalitymaine , @mainetransnet , and @cgcmaine for the caring work they do supporting our community. @wmpgfm

Oil and gouache on gessoed panels.

Today’s palette

Something is up. Made months apart from each other, these two drawings (a September graphite first; a pastel from May second) were bridged by a span of time in which I was not in the studio. After the hiatus, I wasn’t sure how to get going again. When art takes you to a deep place (which is where I was in the spring), you don’t just get back there: I didn’t just roll over and on day one this fall pick up where I’d left off. Rather, it’s been an uncomfortable several weeks, a combination of creative lethargy and overly-controlling attempts. Nothing was working. I felt blank. The beauty of desperation blended with persistence is eventually something might catch. I’ve been lucky enough to have that begin to happen in the past couple days: I’m back to that place where I’ve really not a clue what I’m doing, yet the moves don’t feel wrong. And like proof, I’m startled to see the affinity between these two works … more a visual thing than something easily described in words, yet definitely there. That these uncannily related drawings each emerge of their own accord, in their own media, under such different time and circumstances, and that each feels to be exactly what it wants to be, well … something in this speaks of faith and largeness … of trust and belonging. What a comfort.

What a pleasure to see the art so beautifully hung in such a lovely space. Opening at 3S Artspace.