Lynn Ponto-Peterson is an internationally award winning artist born in Union, Illinois. She studied at Illinois Wesleyan University and earned her BFA.  Working in various aspects of the advertising industry from pre-press to product and ad design to photography for 15 years before focusing on her art full time. The daughter of a magnetic mechanical engineer and gifted wood carver (father) and a textile artist (mother). Drenched in a family history of strong military service, computer science, engineering, music and the arts of all kinds, the genes were stacked for her to follow suit and pursue a career in the arts. Lynn's grandfather Edward Morgan was an gifted engineer for the US government as well as for the automotive industry. Working on the Chicago engineering team for the controversial but innovative Tucker Automotive company (the Tin Goose), He worked on the engineering team for the Hemi engine and many other innovations for the automotive industry. Up until his death in 1971 he was actively and independently working on Electromagnetic propulsion. 

"The things I  did most as a child were play with my Grandfather's drafting tools, sitting at my father's feet watching him carve exquisite creations, or learning pencil and textile art from my mother. I played the classical flute at a very early age and was just immersed in art and music my entire life. I know no other way of expression."

Known for her delicate and precise detail, her work is prized by collectors all over the world. Specializing in wildlife and figural work in miniature and traditional sizes. Lynn just started her art career in 2007 full time. In her first two shows she won The Catherine P. Scott first in realism at the prestigious "74th annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature" at The Strathmore Mansion, Bethesda MD. and Second in Opaque Watercolor at the equally prestigious "33rd Annual International Miniature Art Show" at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, Florida. 

"The Catherine P. Scott award for realism  has a most special meaning for me. It was originally sponsored by the extremely talented Artist Susan Brooke in memory of her sister. Susan has been such a mentor and friend to me and winning such a prestigious award is an exciting start to my career."

"People often ask me why I paint miniature paintings. I became very interested in Miniature fine art through a dear friend, Terry Raiford in Rockford, Illinois. She introduced me to the world of Russian Lacquer boxes which she avidly collected. We traveled to many shows and exhibitions of these tiny Russian masterpieces and I was instantly hooked. "

One would think that painting small would be easier but in actuality it is many times harder to paint a miniature worthy of international competition then painting a larger canvas and is extremely challenging. The ideal Miniature painting should embody all the emotion, composition and qualities of a large painting and be masterful in it's detail. It is common for international exhibitions to enlarge a miniature painting on a wall to examine it's technique for judging. Miniature fine art has a vast and beautiful history and it truly is a gem in the art world. Recently it has become immensely popular with collectors who marvel at it's detail and size.  All of Lynn's miniatures (under 25 square inches) take between 30 to over 120 hours to complete and her larger small works (26 square inches to 100 square inches) can take many more hours to complete and are all priced relative to the time involved and the difficulty of the composition. 

Considered one of the masters in the genre, Lynn is just now starting to focus on entering a broader list of shows and gallery representation. Lynn now resides in Mt. Pleasant Arkansas with her husband and young son and a collection of animals.

Memberships: 

The Spring River Arts Guild , The Ozarks Mountains, Arkansas

MASF (Miniature Art Society of Florida)

AMA (American Miniature Association)

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"The focus in my art is to tell a story, express a feeling of the moment, in a small and intimate canvas that draws the viewer in, into another world or time. I use to be attracted to mostly wildlife in the beauty of ideal nature but as I grow as an artist I am finding this no longer satisfies me and I now find that I am drawn more to the "real" instead of the "ideal" in life. You will see this more and more in my upcoming compositions. 

I have a real concern for the society I see around me and it's preoccupation with being entertained at other's expense and a lack of interest in our environment or the plight of people. As my focus changes and evolves in my wildlife and figural work I hope to expose very subtle tales of who we are, the world around us, and what really matters.  

I want my work to have layers of meaning from the first visual literal meaning to more discrete layers of an evolving story that may be interpreted differently by different viewers. I want to portray more then just a portrait of an animal or a recorded scene of every day life. 

Unusual is a hyperrealist who works in miniature. Usually hyperrealists work on very large canvases where they play on illusion and distance to give life to the realistic experience of their paintings. I rely on my exacting techniques to produce this effect in very small spaces usually under 10"x10". I want the viewer to have to come close into my work and for each to experience them one at a time instead of viewing them from larger distances. It is that one on one experience that is critical to my work. I am excited about this new direction for me, it feels true north."

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Definition of Hyperrealist

(My 8 year old son and I at the county fair)