Peter Crouse fell in love with the process of making art
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Peter Crouse never thought of himself as an overly artistic kid because drawing never came as easily to him as it seemed to others.
He does, however, believe he has always been a creative person, someone who loves to think about and play around with ideas and materials.
As a kid growing up in Port Williams in the Annapolis Valley, Crouse spent most of his time playing outside, rather than inside making art.
“I loved building things; elaborately built forts and treehouses, aerial runways out of old clotheslines and pulleys, things constructed from discarded junk from the neighbouring farm, elaborate rafts for the bay, and homemade pinball games made from scraps of wood, nails and elastic bands. Even as a teenager, I loved designing blueprints for stuff I dreamed of building,” he says.
It wasn’t until he grew older that Crouse began making more traditional types of artwork; however, he kept it fairly private. At first, he created simple watercolour cartoons, which usually ended up being Christmas gifts for his family.
Throughout all his artwork, there is always humour, and it’s something he has always tried to incorporate into his work.
Crouse never thought of becoming an artist or an art teacher despite his abilities and creativity. His first thought after high school was to become a comedic actor and study theatre at university.
His mother, however, encouraged him to submit a portfolio of his cartoons to the university’s art department. Surprisingly, he says he was accepted and could take a few studio art courses.
“It was there, in those art courses, that I ended up falling in love with the process of making art,” says Crouse. “Those courses exposed me to a new way of thinking about art and what art could be.”
Art, he discovered, didn’t have to be just traditional portraits and landscapes and flowers, but it could be about ideas and materials. And more importantly, he says, it could be whatever he wanted to make.
“Anything can be art. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s very true and you need to be open to that idea for the creative process to work,” he says.
At this point, Crouse worked hard making art and exploring different techniques with unconventional materials, trying to find his way through the art-making process, which he still does today. It is very much a trial-and-error type of method.
After a stint of teaching in South Korea, Crouse and his wife, Heather, returned to the Annapolis Valley, where he started seriously making art, selling prints and cards of his work in stores across the province. This allowed him a larger audience for his art and to learn how to market himself as an artist.
He discovered making art is never easy financially, so he became a teacher as a way of getting closer to the possibility of being able to make art more regularly. And it has.
Today, Crouse lives in Margaretsville on the Bay of Fundy and teaches visual art and drama courses at Middleton Regional High School.
“I feel very blessed to be able to teach the two subjects that I am passionate about and that I went to post-secondary to study,” he says.
He adds he has never regretted the decision to start teaching.
“Teaching allows me to regularly explore creative ideas with my students and it provides a wonderful outlet for my own creativity,” says Crouse. “When you teach something you are passionate about, you get to pass on your joy to others.”
It is his spirit of exploration he tries to instil in his art students.
“I tell my students to try to begin with the question ‘What if ...?’, as in, what if I try it this way? Or what if I change materials? Or what if I were to do the same thing but with different colours?”
Crouse believes it is extremely important that art teachers regularly model the true artmaking process alongside their students. So, every day, he sits down and goes through the motions of making stuff with his students as they work away on their own projects.
“Often, I will do the same creative exercises that I have assigned them because I want them to see that I am a person who desires to improve my own skills,” he says. “They can observe me trying things and taking risks, problem-solving, and experimenting with my own art.
“Teaching gives me energy and inspiration that I redirect towards my own artwork. One job keeps the other going,” he says.
Between teaching and his busy family life, Crouse still finds a way to balance his own creative needs, making art whenever he can. This may be between schoolwork, making meals and basketball games. Even when not actively making art, he is still contemplating his next steps and collecting ideas.
These days, he has become more disciplined about his art and finds a way to create every day.
“The goal is to do something creative every day that will move me forward creatively,” he says.
Over the years, Crouse has explored so many different styles of artmaking. He’s not quite sure what his true art is yet. He is, however, getting more confident with what he’s doing that he can call his own.
He describes it as personal storytelling, with little bits and pieces gathered from his world.
It’s a collection of things strung together that form a visual narrative of his life, like they are large pages ripped from his sketchbook. In fact, many of his newer paintings have been multi-panel-hinged pieces because he wants them to have that sketchbook feel.
He also loves to collage, which he has been doing since his early 20s, lovingly combining various materials and styles of art together into one artwork.
Or he experiments with acrylics and acrylic gel medium transfers using his own photographs that he alters on the computer. Then he builds up the surface using various techniques — more painting, drawing with colour sticks, letter stamping, stencilling and/or collaging.
It’s lots of fun, he says. “As I grow older, I think that my art has become more directly and personally meaningful. My subject matter often has to do with more serious life topics like family, children, aging and death, although I do try to put a humorous twist on those themes,” he says.
As for inspiration, Crouse says he’s always on the lookout for something that appeals to his own artistic sensibilities; paying attention to things that might have some artistic application down the road. Then, when he is creating, one art project often will lead to the next. And projects will always overlap one another.
When working, Crouse says he sometimes abandons pieces for long periods of time, especially if they start to feel cliché or boring, and then go back later with a vengeance, possibly taking the artwork in a dramatically new direction.
“I usually let paintings sit for what I call ‘wait time’ because they feel unfinished, or if I am undecided about something,” he says.
“Artmaking is a process of problem-solving, and sometimes you don’t have the solution,” says Crouse.
When not creating, Crouse loves to camp and travel with his family. He also loves to read, garden and do things in his yard like frolicking.
Crouse’s artwork is for sale privately, and inquiries can be made directly to him through email or social media. He posts images of his artwork and sketchbook on his blog, called the Messy Process, and on Instagram.
On both sites, he says he tries to post images of completed works, as well as works in progress. He also shares anything he finds creatively interesting.