DEERPARK—For five years Early American Life magazine has honored artist and master craftsman Peter Koenig with its highest award as a traditional artisan.
Koenig is listed in the magazine’s August Directory of Traditional American Crafts in two categories, ornamental painting and painted framed art. “These artisans have been selected as the top in the field,” the publication said in a statement.
Jeanmarie Andrews, features editor of the bi-monthly, said the honorees “showed mastery of the art form, heritage techniques, and workmanship.”
Judges convened by the magazine are curators from museums of Early Americana—Colonial Williamsburg, Early Southern Decorative Arts, the Winterthur, Old Sturbridge Village, and Shaker Village, as well as antique dealers, scholars, and teachers of the era.
Master Craftsman
Colorful wood signs advertised businesses throughout the American colonies during and after the Revolutionary War. Koenig does paintings based on American sign makers who worked from 1776 to the 1850s.
“Each piece is an art piece,” Koenig said. “Very rarely do I do business signs.”
Traditional craftsmanship has declined in the age of Photoshop and digital reality. Artisans like Koenig keep alive crafts that were part of early America, according to Tess Rosch, publisher of Early American Life.
“Many of these skills were passed down from master to apprentice for hundreds of years, but now, few new people choose to learn and master them,” she said.
Koenig was trained as an academic painter, a fine artist who painted figures and portraits. His former career was as a graphic artist. He had to learn how to paint in the primitive style of early American artists.
He grew up around art as both his parents were artists. “I’ve been drawing since I was four,” he said. His father worked in publishing and Koenig says he never ran out of paper and drawing tools because his father would bring them home from work.
