Open during theArtWorks regular hours: Wednesday-Saturday 11am - 5pm | Sunday 12pm - 5pm

words & images by Helen Mirkil & Brian H. Peterson

How do you describe a life shared by two artists, a photographer/author and a painter/poet?
Start with their mutual love of nature, and an intense connection with the Spirit.

Mirkil is a storyteller whose work draws from many sources: autobiography; the rhythms and
mysteries of an internal music; and the history of art. Peterson’s work is rooted in a deeply felt
symbolism of light, as well as from classical and sacred music.

Peterson’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease began in 2006. He continued as Chief Curator at the
Michener Art Museum for five more years before retiring. The disease has slowed Peterson’s
output but he continues to create. His first retrospective, at theArtWorks, took place in 2019 and
included one hundred seventy-five images from fifteen bodies of work, as well as samples of his
creative videos. At that time he was still printing pictures. His most recent works are
improvisational drawings.
Mirkil and Peterson are honoring the gift of creativity in the face of considerable challenges. And
they are buoyed by their shared love of the Divine.

“To move, or be moved, is to live…The finest art, like all else
finest in Life, is founded on Love. The presence or absence and
the amount and quality of the love embodied in any work of art
is the sure guide to its value and permanence.
––– William L. Lathrop, 1897