Artist uses art to illustrate interdependence

Installation from "Symbiosis" by Danielle Peters

Danielle Peters is showing our “biological need for closeness” in her performance-based exit show “Symbiosis.”

Peters’ work in the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” was inspired by her weekly tango lessons as well as videos of mating snakes. The collaborative show will feature organ music, tango dancing and installation and costume design that highlight the similarities between the sensual dance and the entwined snakes.

“Taking cues from systems evident in nature, my work draws parallels between human intimacy and the natural world,” said Peters. She allowed the collaborators freedom to create their own elements of the performance, giving them little direction before they come together for a moment of “spontaneous synchronization,” which will be performed three times on the night of March 22, at the Lamar Dodd School of Art.

Peters creates her works of art by layering pieces of hand-cut paper to form sculptures, installations, drawings and costumes. She is interested in the contrast between human physiology and natural phenomenon.

Heavy patterning and texture on Peters’ surfaces suggest bodily elements like hair, tissue and fluid. She said her fluorescent pastels create a clean perception of the body, idealizing its inner workings.

Peters’ influences include swarm dynamics, symbiosis, synchronicity and studies of the nervous system. Her work is often collaborative, building on these ideas of interdependence.

Peters received her BFA in printmaking from the University of Kansas in 2009 and studied printmaking at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea, that same spring. She is a 2013 MFA candidate in printmaking and has exhibited her works of art both nationally and internationally.

Collaborators for “Symbiosis” include: composition by musician T.S. Woodward; tango performances by Frances Torres, Fuad Elhage, Maggie Malone, A.J. Wheeler, Christie Moody and Dorian Zevos; and set and costume design by Peters with the assistance of artist Katrina Shoewe.

The “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” is on view at the Georgia Museum of Art March 16 to April 22, 2013, with an opening reception in conjunction with 90 Carlton: Spring on March 22. MFA Speaks is scheduled for March 21 at 5:30 p.m. and will feature the artists discussing their work.