After receiving his MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Arkansas in 1979, Charles Peer opened his studio on the historic Main Street of his hometown, Van Buren, Arkansas. In 1990 he and his family moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where he assumed a teaching position in the Department of Visual Arts at John Brown University, a position he held until retiring in 2018 as a Professor Emeritus. While serving as a professor he is also the university’s Fine Arts Gallery Director.
Peer paints his native Arkansas landscape as the framework for exploring his interest and love of color. “I have a particular interest in color combinations that create a richness of surface, an inner glow or that make a painting ‘sing’. My goal is to combine the beauty of the landscape with the immediacy of drawing and the magic of interesting color. My chosen materials are soft pastels. All of this is in an attempt to develop that color richness I am looking for.”
Peer has been recognized by the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) as an Eminent Pastelist, their highest level of merit, and is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Ozark Pastel Society. He has served as a guest artist for many arts organizations, the juror for regional, national and international competitions, and the leader of pastel workshops.
His received international awards and has been included in many exhibitions including those sponsored by the Pastel Society of America and the International Association of Pastel Societies, the Pastel Guild of Europe, the Pastel Journal, the Richeson 75 exhibits, the Northwest Pastel Society, the Pastel Society of the Southwest, the Arkansas Pastel Society, The Heart of America Artists Association, the Ozark Pastel Society and the Artists of Northwest Arkansas.
“Most of the locations I paint are local and I continue to find inspiration in the colors and beauty close to home, Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma. I believe my goal is summed up in a quote by noted Jewish-American trial lawyer, Louis Nizer, who said, ‘A fine artist is one who makes familiar things new and new things familiar.’ ”