BACK STORY

Raised in Ashwaubenon, a quiet suburb of Green Bay WI, Pete grew up in a home where creativity and play were actively encouraged. The youngest of three brothers, his childhood was spent building forts, drawing constantly, inventing games, and exploring the neighborhood where imagination filled in the gaps between what was known and what might be possible. Those early freedoms—paired with a sense of safety and curiosity—became the foundation for his lifelong interest in mystery, legend, history, and the natural world.

Art came easily early on. Pete’s ability to draw helped him stand out as a kid, but that ease led him to take those talents for granted through his teen and early adult years. Creative energy found outlets elsewhere. For nearly a decade, Pete played guitar and sang in a band, writing songs, traveling regionally, and performing regular shows. While music provided community and expression, it slowly became clear that it wasn’t the medium where his strongest voice could thrive.

That period ran parallel to years spent in dead end jobs—busy, social, and fulfilling enough in the moment to feel productive, but in hindsight, defined more by motion than direction. The era was full of late nights, loud rooms, drinking, dating, and endless banter. They were good years, but also years of spinning his wheels. Gradually, the realization set in that the creative discipline he’d neglected, was the one that mattered most.

That recognition led Pete back to visual art—not as a career move, but as an intentional act. He committed to making more art simply because he needed to. A side job teaching at a local paint-and-sip studio became an unexpected turning point. Teaching forced him to slow down, analyze his instincts, and articulate each step of his process. Surrounded by other artists and painting constantly, his confidence was renewed, his work deepened, and his professional path began to take shape. It was also during this period that he met his future wife, herself an artist, further grounding his life in creative community.

Meeting McKenna fueled a new sense of possibility. With a shared momentum and few obligations, they embraced a nomadic chapter— camp hosting in Leavenworth Washington, while selling work weekly at Village Art in the Park. They converted a travel trailer into a mobile art studio, and what began as a single season “just for fun” evolved into seven years of full-time travel and art-making. Living and working in such a small space, they became hyper focused, refining their practices through constant creation, artist camaraderie, and repetition. That period laid the foundation for the sustainable, independent art careers they continue cultivating today, now moved back to a place of permanence in rural Wisconsin.

For Pete, imagination is not an escape but a deeply human tool—essential to how we understand the world and one another. If a painting invites curiosity, sparks a memory, or quietly evolves for the person living with it, the work has done its job.

Pete has worked professionally for over a decade, creating paintings, prints, and commissioned works collected in homes around the world. He currently serves as a board member of the Wisconsin Alliance of Artisans and Craftspeople. When not painting, he enjoys building things with his hands, spending time in the wild, making people laugh, and not so quietly questioning the “official story.”