Charles L. Peterson was born and raised in Elgin, Illinois. His childhood was a happy mix of life in that small city and many long visits to his grandparent’s rural Illinois farm. He was the third son of Swedish immigrants who stressed values such as hard work, honesty and duty to one’s community that strongly influence his life to this day.... Chick (his lifelong nickname) found a great deal of satisfaction in expressing himself through drawings and although he didn’t begin to dream of his love of drawing as a viable career until many years later, it was with these first drawings, mostly of horses, cowboys, and Indians, that his interest in painting began. After serving in the Pacific during World War II, Chick studied at Chicago’s Art Institute and graduated from the American Academy of Art in 1949. He then worked briefly in layout and illustration at Leo Burnett Advertising and Hart Schaffner and Marx.... He was able to complete an undergraduate degree as a Phi Beta Kappa with cum laude honors in two years. He then earned a Masters in Fine Arts at Ohio University in ’54. ...After retiring from teaching in 1973 Chick and Sue moved their family to Door County, Wisconsin. This was a place that held great interest for him as a family vacation spot since the late 1950’s but also aesthetically. They built a studio and gallery and he began what is often referred to his ‘second career’. Chick’s artwork would eventually receive national and international attention, giving him with what he considers a good life; a career and location of choice, while providing for his family.... Although Chick is now of the age that for many speaks of stepping down or retiring from one’s career he is, in fact, still full of enthusiasm and energy and continues to paint most every day, producing paintings, drawings, miniatures, designing work specifically for reproduction as well as creating specific commissioned works of art ... [http://www.clpetersonstudio.com/artist.html] undefined

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