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Chris Peterson is
one of those amazing people who was born to design and create.
His family recognized his talent at an early age and encouraged
him to pursue a career as an artist. Chris’ Aunt worked at the
Disney Studio on Jungle Book , Ludwig Von Drake ,
and the Goofy shorts. She was the first woman layout
artist at Disney, where she worked mainly on Baloo . When
Chris was a young boy, she would send him drawings from the
different animated films she was working on. He would study each
one, practice drawing the characters, and then send them back to
his aunt. At the age of eight, Chris entered an art contest
and won a full scholarship to an art academy. They were shocked
when his father called the school to inform them that he was
only eight years old.
At age 15, Chris
worked for his aunt doing assistant animation, and when he was
only 16 , he began working full time for Filmation Studio,
first assisting on such projects as the He Man and Fat
Albert cartoons, and later designing characters for
BraveStar. At the age of 19, he began sculpting first for
Filmation and then as a free-lance artist. He later
worked on several animated features including, The Secret of
N.I.M.H., Fire and Ice, Fern Gully, Rover
Dangerfield, and Once Upon A Forest . When the
animation industry slowed down in 1987, Chris went to work at
Applause Inc. as a sculptor and product designer on
Disney, Looney Tunes, and other licensed products . At
the end of 1989, Chris left Applause to form a partnership with
his wife Michelle, designing, sculpting, and painting for
Disney consumer products, The Disney Store, and several toy
and giftware companies. Chris has created such wonderful toys as
the Lil’ Classics PVC figures , sculpted picture frames, ceramic
and porcelain figurines and vinyl banks for The Disney
Stores.
Chris
Petesron continues to create many sculptures for the Walt
Disney Classics Collection. His first sculptures for
the WDCC were "Lady,"
"Tramp,"
and the "Fairy
Godmother".
However, of all the sculptures he
has created, the most endearing to him are
"Hyacinth
Hippo" and "Ben
Ali Gator"
from Fantasia. David Pacheco,
the creative art director for the WDCC, has referred to Chris as
the "MacGyver" of sculpting, for his ability to create very
intricate armatures for his pieces. The great amount of detail
seen in his sculptures is exemplified in his 2004 sculpture of
the
Snow White Witch with her cauldron and spell book. In
addition to the WDCC, Chris sculpted a number of Disney
characters for the Disney Lenox Classics Collection line
of sculptures.
Chris shares all
of his successes with his wife of 18 years and his two children,
Cory and Amberlee. He is honored to have the opportunity to work
among the talented team of artists, animators and sculptors at
The Walt Disney Classics Collection , The Disney Store, Lenox,
and Disney Consumer Products. He can be seen and occasional
artist events and conventions. |
