The Washington DC-based New Zealand artist Peter Waddell has just won the "Excellence in an Artistic Discipline" Award at the 25th Washington DC Mayor's Arts Awards. The prestigious awards are funded by the District of Columbia Commission on the
The Washington DC-based New Zealand artist Peter Waddell has just won the "Excellence in an Artistic Discipline" Award at the 25th Washington DC Mayor's Arts Awards. The prestigious awards are funded by the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities and recognise artistic excellence and service.
Waddell has been based in Washington since 1995. He is currently artist-in-residence at Georgetown's Tudor Place Historic House and Garden and has executed paintings for many collections associated with the city including Mount Vernon, the Octagon in Washington DC as well as Belair Mansion in Bowie, Maryland.
Several of his works are currently included in the exhibition “The Initiated Eye: Secrets, Symbols, Freemasonry, and the Architecture of Washington, D.C." on view as part of the National Heritage Museum’s exhibition, The exhibition which is on until January next year features 21 oil paintings by Waddell based on the architecture of Washington, D.C., and the role that the founding fathers and prominent citizens – many of whom were Freemasons – played in establishing the layout and design of the city. The exhibition is supplemented with approximately forty objects from the National Heritage Museum’s collection.
The White House Historical Association has also commissioned the artist to produce 20 paintings showing interiors and exteriors of the White House in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These paintings will form an exhibition at the White House Visitor's Centre as well as touring presidential libraries when completed.
Among the paintings are three which show the decoration of the public rooms at the White House by Louis Comfort Tiffany for President Arthur in 1882.
A two-minute film has been made to recognise the artist's achievement. It can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUG4SNcLP0g
