VoyageDenver
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
http://voyagedenver.com/interview/meet-chris-wheeler-pergamena-fine-art-fort-collins/

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Wheeler.

Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Philadelphia and stayed in the Northeast until I graduated from St. Joseph’s University. Shortly after, I was able to travel to Europe for months at a time. I spent most of my days in the art museums and galleries, storing ideas, and absorbing the creativity. At the age of 26, I had the opportunity to move to Seattle, where I began painting and sculpting in a small studio.

I spent three years in the Northwest, working various jobs and searching for my art form. I decided to move to Tainan Taiwan to travel, teach ESL, and study art specifically Chinese landscape painting and calligraphy. Since Tainan was the old cultural center of Taiwan, there was a thriving art community that I became involved in. My wife was studying ink and brush and we realized that we would need someone to mount her paintings when we returned to the United States.

I apprenticed under master Huang for five years in the traditional method of stretching shoji screens, scrolls, and works on paper. It was in the studio that I found an art form that truly appealed to my creative side. With this skill, I was able to stretch and manipulate paper in ways very few people can. Almost instantly, I began creating my own art using these techniques. I had finally found my art form and the discoveries I made in Tainan during those years made all my future work possible.

I returned to Seattle in 2005 and immediately opened Nha Vuu Studio and Design with my wife. Our studio also restored works of art on paper for galleries, Asian antique dealers, and collectors from all over the country. I was one of the few people in the US able to do this kind of work. During this time I repaired and rebuilt dozens of shoji screens some 200-300 years old. I also began producing and selling Shoji screens of my own. Today I live in Fort Collins, Colorado, and run two art studios, Nha Vuu Studio and Design and Pergamena Fine Art. My wife and I split our time between Fort Collins and Seattle. I still make time to restore art while producing new works year-round.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My journey has been interesting, to say the least. I began this journey as a full-time artist just as the recession was hitting in 2008 and shortly afterward, my daughter was born. I knew that being an artist was going to be difficult. However, the lessons that I have learned along the way were surprising. I not only learned about time management, accounting, taxes, and general daily business practices but I learned about the concept of working, working until you complete a project, and also working under pressure and stress. I found that what would set me apart from other aspiring artists was my discipline, mental strength, and will to get up at 5:30 every morning, including weekends, and create in the studio.

Working through ideas from beginning to end was the best way to progress in a series. Creating a large inventory of work was also a lesson not readily taught in art schools. Getting my art career off the ground took a lot of time and mental strength so it left me with little time for friendships and leisure activities. It’s only been till recently that I’ve reached a place in my career where I can take a little time to do other things. I’ve learned that one of the challenges as an artist is to view one’s career as a marathon and not a sprint. Milestones happen in a career once the person is ready for it to happen.

Please tell us about Pergamena Fine Art.
My studio name is Pergamena Fine Art and pergamena means paper in Latin. I love working with paper and find its ability to stretch and manipulate it in many different ways fascinating. When you pair different mediums with different papers the texture, bleed, and look are infinite. Paper is often overlooked as the preferred substrate in art. I started stretching my wife’s ink paintings and restoring antique shoji screens and scrolls. However, realized that paper was the perfect medium for me. The edges of my collage are sharp and precise. Since the glue that I use is strained the finish is clean and refined and not typical of other collage work.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Becoming a professional artist is a path that everyone has to make on their own. There is no one book that gives you a direct map to success and every artist must decide for themselves what lifestyle they would want to live through their art money. Some have spouses that support them, so just a couple of shows a year would suffice. While there are artists like myself that are supporting their entire family on art income, I would have not done anything differently because the life that I have lived has given me the fulfilling life that I have today.

Pricing:

I sell prints framed and unframed from $65-$400.
My original collages range from $750-$7000.
Contact Info:

Website: www.PergamenaFineArt.com
Phone: 206.730.1433
Email: Chris@PergamenaFineArt.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswheeler99
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Pergamena-Fine-Art-Artists-Nha-Vuu-Chris-Wheeler-465681856795637/photos/?ref=page_internal