BIO

MUSIC

Some years ago, my mother gave me a tape to listen to that consisted of me, as a three year old, sending my grandfather who lived in Norway, a birthday message. Throughout the tape, I was singing different songs to him in both English and Norwegian. While singing one particular Norwegian nursery song with my aunt Cathy, I our stopped our performance twice and very sternly protested that we started the song too low for my voice in order to reach the bottom notes. I restarted the song each time in a higher key until I found the right one for me. It was clear to me after listening to this tape of me, at the tender age of three, fighting to keep the musical integrity of a Norwegian nursery song, that I was destined to be a musician!

 

The discovery of this tape, and my early musical beginnings, found me when I was already three years deep into a music education degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was there that solidified my love for musical theater. While completing my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to play in over a dozen shows in local and regional theaters doubling on clarinet, flute, oboe, and saxophone. I continued to use my doubling skills while completing my Masters degree in clarinet performance at the University of North Texas. Shortly thereafter, I joined the US National Tour of the wonderful show, 42nd Street. After one and a half seasons on tour with 42nd Street, I enjoyed one more regional theater employment at Northern Stage in White River Junction, VT before settling down just outside of New York City.

 

I am currently teaching music in both the classroom and privately. I am equally passionate in teaching as I am in performing. I have 11 years experience teaching music collectively in the classroom and in a private studio for clarinet, flute, oboe, and piano. I have had the opportunity to play and record with amazing players and ensembles, such as the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and the North Texas Wind Symphony. In addition to instrumental performance, I have had several opportunities to perform vocally, both solo and in an ensemble. I continue to look for performing opportunities in both instrument and voice, and look forward to many years of doing so!

 

ART

In one of my early high school history classes, a teacher told us a story about a prisoner of war who spent years locked away in a foreign prison with nothing to occupy his time except for his daily golf games, which took place in his head. He spent hours visualizing the game, his swing, his drive, his putt, evading the water hazards, and escaping the sand trap. Story goes, once he was rescued and back home, he went to the golf course and played the best game of his life. All his years of visualizing his technique actually enabled him to perfect his game. This is, in my opinion, how I learned how to paint and draw.

 

When I was growing up, there were several shows I remember watching religiously with my mother. The Bionic Woman, Heart to Heart, The A-Team, and The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. Good old Bob showed me the way with his happy trees and clouds. I was mesmerized by his creations and paid such close attention to his little secrets of success and internalized them. Further more, we did all of our grocery shopping at the Fort Dix military base. My parents soon learned that they could leave me for HOURS unaccompanied in the hallway between the commissary and the PX, where a little Asian man created fantastic oil portraits. I actually looked FORWARD to going grocery shopping, for I knew I would be able to spend my afternoon watching what in my opinion was pure magic. I must have banked hundreds of hours of free art education between Bob Ross and that talented man at the military base.

 

My testament to the possible truth behind my history teacher’s story is this. The first time I EVER picked up a paintbrush was the month I graduated high school. It was then that I painted a very large mural on the entrance wall of my high school. I had no idea how I was going to do it, as I had sort of lied about my painting experience at the time. But I REALLY NEEDED the opportunity to try because I wanted to see if I could paint some happy Bob Ross rocks and plants. That mural is still on the wall, over a decade later, and has become the first of many Heidi Peterson creations.

 

To supplement the teachings of Bob Ross and the Asian painter, I spent several years working towards a degree in studio art with a concentration drawing and painting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. There I learned to incorporate some solid technique to my raw natural abilities. I have completed several murals for private homes, most for children’s rooms. I tend to use three-dimensional objects in my works to add a little more life to the art. I have also done many private commissions in the mediums of pencil, ink, pastel, and charcoal. My specialty has always been portraits, however, I have done animals, architecture, and designs for not only framed images, but also for t-shirts and magazine covers. I suppose I should also include the massive dragonhead and tail that I created for a large Viking ship float. No job is too big or small!!