All it takes to be an artist is to think you are one — this is Erik Petersen’s perspective about art and artists. He said he believes that we are all artists within and that creativity is inherent. He says that art encompasses all facets of music, poetry, painting, sculpting, writing — it’s all art.

Petersen is a sculptor, painter and patina artist, who works with many sculptors not only in Sedona but also across the country.

Drawing and painting since he was 2 years old, Petersen is nonchalant about his skillset as an artist. He attributes it to something that has been a part of him since he was a child and the ability to create comes naturally without thinking about it. His earliest recollection was drawing the figures of Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street.”

It wasn’t until later in life that he took an interest in his uncle’s artwork and realized that this is some­thing that he liked to do.

“My uncle lived in Oklahoma and when we would go visit him, he would have his drawings, paintings and photographs of wildlife hanging in his room,” he said. “It looked like a museum with fishing lures hanging on the wall as well. I remember sitting down and picking up his wildlife magazines and drawing a deer or what­ever I found that interested me.”

One would wonder if art is a part of Petersen’s DNA. Not only is his uncle an artist, but his father dabbles in art as well, sketching and sculpting.

“My dad would do sketches, too, although I guess it appeared that I was the artist,” he said. “When I was 10 years old, my dad would think [my art] was better than stuff that he could do …. It wasn’t his focus, he also wrote songs, which he would sing to me at bedtime. I also write songs. I’ve always had an interest in poetry and song lyrics — that came from my dad. I would have to say that probably my dad’s side of the family along with him was a big influence — there is no one artistic on my mom’s side.”

During high school, Petersen tells the story of how he slept through first-period art class, but the one thing that interested him most was a “Thursday Sketch” that was required for that class.

“I would put 40 to 50 hours into paintings and do this Thursday sketch during the week and stay up all night and then I would sleep,” Petersen said. “I never did any projects but I did my Thursday sketches and I would get an A.”

After high school, Petersen enrolled in Yavapai College in Prescott and took some life drawing classes. It was there that he met John Coleman, a renowned Western painter and sculptor who later became his mentor.

Petersen said that he quit school and at a friend’s suggestion went to work at a local foundry in Prescott.

At that time, “If you are a young guy that’s willing to work for cheap and if they find out you are an artist especially, you will be hired immedi­ately,” Petersen said. After working at the foundry for two years, Petersen decided that he wanted to do his own sculpture and quit his job at the foundry.

“I decided that I wanted to do my own sculpture and quit to become a sculptor. When left to my own devices, I didn’t do much, so I slacked and never finished a sculpture. I went back to the foundry and asked the owner if I could do the patinas, I would come back to work. The owner agreed and the next day I watched him for five hours. I did all the patinas for the next seven years, which was my whole training. But he [the owner] was good about leaving me to do my own thing. I taught myself. I wouldn’t quit until it was exactly right. I would work late, skip lunch, work weekends — anything it took not to do something wrong. I just kept working until it was right.”

In 2005, Petersen started his own business, The Bronze Age, a bronze finishing studio in Prescott.

Currently, he has nine employees, with a clientele of well-known and estab­lished artists around the country, including Arizona artists Susan Kliewer and Kim Obrzut; Western artists Fred Fellows, Bill Nebeker and John Coleman; and Sedona artists Ken Rowe and Kim Kori.

These artists, whose work is priced in the thou­sands of dollars, depend on those finishing touches to be just right. Rowe, an artist, sculptor and co-owner with his wife Monica of Rowe Fine Art Gallery in Tlaquepaque, has said that Petersen’s work is exceptional.

“I can tell Erik’s patinas are done with tremendous respect for the effort the artist has made to create their work. His patinas are a wonderful orchestration of light, shadow and color, which entertain your eye in a way that brings life to the piece. Erik’s patinas are the ultimate complement to an artist’s sculpture,” Rowe said.

While Petersen has made a name for himself in the “patina arena,” with some calling him “that patina guy,” he said that he does not like labels and once again feels that anyone can do this.

“I always say Ken Rowe would be an incredible patina person. If I train him for a month he would be great — he would be great right away. He hasn’t been doing it for 20 years in a row as I have, but in one month, I could fill him in on everything I learned in 20 years and he would be ready to go because he is a good artist and that is what it really takes.”

As Petersen seems to play down his talents, the artists themselves focus on the importance of his patina artistry and will attest that not everyone can do this. It takes a precise talent and ability to work with bronze, fire and chemicals to get the right coloration needed on each piece. While taking into account that each artist’s work is different, Petersen pays close attention to how they want their sculpture to look and the undeniable fact that each piece is in his hands to complete the artist’s vision.

This is a huge respon­sibility that is highly esteemed and noted as an essential ornamental value to each sculpture. Without his artistic prowess, their pieces are nothing but a hunk of metal.

“I like things to be right — I don’t think perfection is possible. I think you strive for perfection, but I am aware that it may never occur. Other people say that I am a perfectionist but for me, I am more tortured — nothing is ever good enough. But I am good at saying ‘let it go, move on, things can’t be perfect.’ Nothing is perfect,” he said.

Although he claims not to be a perfectionist, he does place a high value on the opinions and criticisms of those artists he respects. At the top of his list are Rowe and Coleman, who are at the top for obvious reasons, he said.

“Thoughts are not all my own. It’s an amalgama­tion of 20 years of people saying things to me and me questioning them. I ask for a lot of opinions, I love criticism and people tell me what they think and I turn that into my own opinion. One of the secrets to doing the patinas is to turn other people’s opinions into your own,” he said.

While Petersen has been doing patinas for over 20 years, he says now is the time that he is going to do some of his own work. It was during the COVID-19 lockdown that he began painting nonstop. His style as he describes it is “Americana,” which applies to his artwork as well as the music he writes.

“I have been practicing painting for 20 years without actually doing it. Now I am going to do wild­life paintings and see what happens. I want to make sure that it’s ready before I let anyone see it,” he said.

As his own artistic endeavors come full circle, perhaps we should consider his suggestion that we are all artists and that everyone is creative in his or her own way. Being creative opens our minds, allowing us to imagine what our world should or could look like, as we sculpt, paint, write, sing, dance — doing whatever we want to do, creating it as we go along.