About the Artist

About the Artist
Peter Fraterdeus (Washburn, Wisconsin)

After four decades of formal study of western letterform traditions, including carving in stone, type design and medieval manuscript techniques, Peter recently revived his daily practice of calligraphy.

Turning to the East Asian traditions, he has been practicing since 2014 with Kazuaki Tanahashi Sensei (Berkeley), author, translator and master of the ancient and timeless practice of Zen Shodo (The Way of the Brush).

Peter has been taking photographs since the age of six and watching clouds since well before that. His mastery of Adobe System’s core suite has developed over three decades of advanced use and as a beta tester of Photoshop and InDesign. He is an Apple Developer and expert in open source web content systems.

He has taught at numerous venues, including
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts, and  Università IUAV di Venezia (Treviso, Italy 2001-02)

In 1981, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Crafts Apprenticeship Grant to study letter carving and calligraphic design with master designer and craftsman Ieuan Rees in Llandybie, Wales,

In 1986, received the NEA Design Projects Grant to research and develop the design of his first digital font family, Prospera.  During this time, he spent two summers at Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) studying with the renowned German type designer and master calligrapher Professor Hermann Zapf.

After growing up in Evanston and Chicago, and two decades in Galena, Illinois, he and his wife are now very happy to live along Chequamegon Bay in Washburn!

He also plays the traditional music of Ireland, reels, jigs, slides, hornpipes, airs, polkas, mazurkas, and more on the fiddle, flute, four-string tenor banjo, guitar, etc. He is the host of a bi-monthly traditional music session at The Snug in Washburn (2nd and last Weds 7pm).