JAZZ ARTIST JAZZ HISTORIAN JAZZ MUSICIAN

Peter Bodge Artist Statement

“Wow… you can hear this stuff right off the walls!” — a viewer at one of my past exhibits

Jazz and the visual Arts have been passions of mine for as long as I can remember and I spent a lot of time and energy vainly trying to marry the two into a harmonious relationship. Then, in 1974, I got the idea to make a calendar featuring images of Jazz musicians and wanted to give them to a few of my friends. Making linoleum block prints seemed to be the best way to achieve that goal and that endeavor became the catalyst for the last 40 years work.

One of the reasons this medium speaks to me so insistently is that the multiple image process provides that more than one person can hang that Billie Holiday image on their walls, that many people can “hear” that Miles image right off their own walls, that the medium allows me, as Papa Jo Jones said, to “pass it on”. And it is with the deepest respect for the artists of this great music that I try to portray their essence.

Take a look and I hope you enjoy the music. — Peter Bodge

Artist’s Biography

• Born in Lawrence, MA, 1937
• Grew up, went to High School, College – all in New Hampshire
• Seattle for 2 years, the Army for 3, Oakland/ Berkeley for the next 7 years , where I started teaching Art in Public Schools and continued to do so, on both coasts, for the next 33
• Various one-man and group shows
• Asked by The Smithsonian Institution to donate 7 pieces of my work. I did so.
• Continue to work in Merrimac, MA