Peregrine O’Gormley
Artist’s Statement
Born in a green International pick-up on Route 66 in front of the Canyon Gun Shop, Peregrine O’Gormley started off on the road. His name from the get-go has held true to its meaning. –Peregrine: One who journeys; traveler; seeker. Additionally, his namesake, the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), has tied him inexorably to the beauty and intensity of the natural world and its beloved living forms. Growing up in the Mountains of New Mexico, his eyes were forever trained on the details of the fossils, plants and animals surrounding him. From his early visits to Canada and Alaska he gained a deep reverence for Northwest native art and was enthralled with the breathtaking landscape, its wildlife, and origin myths. He holds particular respect and admiration for the revered Haida carver Bill Reid, whose work Peregrine first encountered in his late teens.
Peregrine received a degree in biology from Colorado College, where he met his future wife Laurel O’Keefe-Crow. After their share of world travel they moved to Northwestern Washington, where they were married and now live, with their first child, Osha Turi Kes O’Gormley. While both are licensed massage therapists, Peregrine largely puts his training to use in the anatomical study of the human form. He began carving in his youth and his depth of skill and awareness of the world around him, have continued to increase and broaden with his life experience.
Peregrine O’Gormley, now seeks to harness beauty as a catalyst for communication. Compelled by what M.L. King Jr. called, “The fierce urgency of now”, he feels that it is the artist’s obligation to speak to the issues of his time. Though many generations have felt this way, it seems that as a species we are at a particularly critical moment in history. We will need to be making rapid and radical changes in our approach to life if we are to flourish. Art holds a power beyond words to address current issues and with luck can help to shift awareness. To this end Peregrine feels strongly that art needs to be in the public eye to fulfill its most profound role.
The life that wood holds; its scent, its grain, its willingness to cooperate only when one is truly listening, the tree that it once was, and the soil that it will become, all conspire to elicit Peregrine’s undying love and passion for his medium. Sculpting invigorates him and stimulates his mind. It is a meditation as well as a calling. Art brings him peace; when coming from this place, he hopes he can help to spread it. As Gandhi is often quoted in saying, “We need to be the change we want to see in others.” Pursuing his passion fully is the change he believes he needs to pursue. “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive”. -Harold Whitman