Peter Pryor - It Was Always My Art Coupled With Psychotherapy That Has Helped Me to Survive (Artist from New York)

 Artists must learn great critical thinking skills how to deal with change generally, how to think outside the box and look at things in new ways.

Tell us more about your background and journey.

My background and journey to becoming an artist is somewhat complicated. I was born In Norfolk Virginia, in a naval hospital in 1955 the oldest of 5 siblings. However we moved around a lot because I spent most of my childhood struggling to survive being placed in foster care. 

For me and my siblings we moved every several years and were victims of neglect and abuse, but surviving with some purpose and a measure of happiness has been no small part because I used my art cathartically. So my journey as an artist in part using my abilities as an artist to express myself and bring some meaning and higher purpose to my life. A journey I might add that continues to unfold, through my art and life as a human being.

Initially I majored in the humanities with the intention of being a school teacher. During the course of my first two years of college I took a few electives in the fine arts. Having always enjoyed art yet near considering art as a career. It was first through the encouragement of my professor in the fine arts, Harper T Phillips. He supported and encouraged me to pursue art, my passion, and recommended me to apply to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York. It is to him I owe a great debt of gratitude.

Once at Pratt, studying art, moving from the suburbs of New Jersey to the City of New York. A entire new world opened up for me. From then on I became a committed artist. As a beginning student, Pratt art faculty told me straight away to dispel any lofty notions of making a secure income as a fine artist, and that my best way forward was to gather collateral skills that I might use to gain employment so that I might be able to earn enough to continue making art. 

So straight away we had no illusions. Of course I dreamed of escaping and making to big as an artist, but always tempered by the reality the fine arts was not really a career, it's whatever you make it.

When I graduated from Pratt, I was no longer protected under the roof of the ivory tower, I did manage to gather many practical skills that I used to gain employment, but it was often especially in the beginning very precarious, but as an undergrad I did learn many skills and crafts like woodworking that would help me. I worked, just to name a few as a graphic artist, woodworker, construction jobs, drafting but it surprised me just how many jobs employ some kind of artistic ability. 

At the end of the day, it was always about earning enough money to keep doing my art and buying art supplies. I didn’t really consider raising a family, buying a house and many other things, that Pratt faculty never really did discuss in any details. However, committed and passionate I was about my art life and living always gets in the way.

An artist is also just another person with all the same wants and needs as anybody else. Despite the many many forks in the road that we all must face being an adult raising a family paying the bills etc, I have managed to keep doing and continue to do my art.

My path as an artist has taken me in many different directions, from sculpture, performance art, recording artist, film making as well as the more traditional forms like painting and drawing. In the early 90’s I decided I would go back for my masters degree in fine arts, which is a terminal degree that is, 2 full years  with a thesis. I had in mind that I could possibly teach at college I also was a TA at Pratt for one year as part of my graduate program. 

Unfortunately many other artist had the same idea, and their just wasn’t enough colleges with enough art programs to provide employment, hence it was and probably still is a very competitive to get hired and get tenure.

During the early part of my career I explored many new technologies in practice with art like recording , film and performance with some success. This was also the time that technology was influencing every part of our lives with computers and the advent of the internet and what all that would mean. During the 80’s much of tech was very new and somewhat unreliable. 

I started to consider the more direct and simpler art forms like painting and drawing. I was in fact drawn back to this because of all my frustrations dealing with technology. This is why I chose to major in painting, I went back to graduate school at Pratt. 

I was asking also more practical questions that many artist were at the time, like how do you sell a performance art?  Many of the “new forms” of art  had no venue for selling a product which was also perhaps the intentions in part or the message in many of the new forms of art. On a practical level though, artist in new forms had to rely on applying for diminishing grants.

In short, whatever area in the fine arts is, that is not really a career its a field of study what you do with it is the challenge of every artist. The sooner a young artist see this the better. Overall, life always gets in the way of making art no matter what area you work in and how talented you might be or at least it did for me.

It didn’t matter real life always interceded. Mean while as an adult and processing my life and my childhood, the trauma I experienced in foster care, it was always my art coupled with psychotherapy that has helped me to survive and to that point two of my brothers dealing with much of the same childhood issues did not survive. I wonder sometimes if having more embrace of art in their lives if it would of helped, I tend to think it would have. That is the power of art, it is the power of seeing, of understanding, of processing.

So art has always payed an important part in my life. I have also found the natural curiosity and a deep passion, a desire often stronger and bigger than myself has not only helped me to survive but to thrive. Its not just the art but the journey with my art that has brought meaning to me and also ideas, subjects, and evolution in my art. When I look at my art I see my self and life’s experiences and I feel grateful to be able to share that. In summary my path with all its twists and turns has always been directly connected to my path as an artist, one has feed off the other to make me who I am and my art what it is. 

When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?

Its almost like my art decided to choose me. I changed my major formally from Humanities to Fine Arts  when I was around 21. I believe as a general education the study of fine arts ought to be considered more seriously as I believe it to be a well-grounded education equal to the humanities curriculum and is a good education all around for many students wanting to prepare for a changing work force.

What has been the biggest learning in your career as an artist?

The biggest thing I learned as an artist in my career path is how well trained a formal fine arts education can be as I mentioned. Artists must learn great critical thinking skills how to deal with change generally, how to think outside the box and look at things in new ways.

I believe this type of education can prepare many students to many different careers and at the very least teach them how to learn and access things going forward. All things people need when starting a new career is that willingness, curiosity, appetite to learn only these can be of help when staring out and finding your way.

Who is your favourite painter/artist and why?

Many artists inspire me I cannot say I have just one, so let me list some of the most important to me (and this always changes through life ) I will start with my contemporaries  Jean Michel Basquiat Keith Haring, Peter Halley to name a few  to the New York school  artist like Jackson Pollack Phillip Guston  Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and of course Andy Warhol. There are so many artist going back a thousand years of that I would love to mention  

What is your inspiration for creating art?

My love ,my passion and my personal life experiences. I have a desire to contribute to the world. Thats what inspires me

What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring artists?

Nothing profound, nothing heavy just keep it simple, You must have more than just skills, or talent, you have to have a deep unyielding passion, a desire to make it so important to your life that you will keep doing it no matter what. 

Which is your favourite book and why? 

Impossible to have one, I love reading it is integral to everything I do. I have a small library at home and love collecting books. My favourite books are history books, especially medieval history, books on language, current affairs, but I also enjoy classics like Charles Dickens. Marcel Proust comes to my mind as a favourite. As for contemporary, I would recommend John Kennedy Toole “Confederacy of Dunces”.  So you can laugh and cry and laugh and cry and think some more. 

Interviewed by - Bhavana N