Clyde Petersen is a musician, filmmaker, animator, and visual artist. Courtesy of Clyde Petersen
Good morning.
It’s Thursday, April 23, and today’s message comes from the artist Clyde Petersen, who makes so many kinds of art it’s hard to categorize him.
“I’m going to play you a song this morning,” Clyde says in his message. “The song I’m going to play is called ‘Our Forbidden Country.’ I wrote it with my band Your Heart Breaks last year. It’s based on the writings of Joan Nestle, who was a lesbian activist and a rad Jewish woman who wrote a lot about being queer in New York in the ’50s till the ’80s, and documenting what it was like to be part of a group of people without rights.”
Clyde adds that it was a “group of people dreaming about what their world was going to look like when they got rights. So it seemed like an appropriate song as you dream about what your world is going to look like real soon.”
Clyde was nominated for a Stranger Genius Award in 2015, for his animated films that explode with wit and emotion. As The Stranger said then, Clyde could have been nominated in several categories, given that music, art, and performance are also part of his expressive arsenal.
“The best analogy for Petersen’s aesthetic is the sound and spirit of Northwest punk rock—specifically the pro-queer, pro-feminist, anti-corporate DIY strain exemplified by Olympia labels K and Kill Rock Stars—which has always favored rawness over proficiency,” Sean Nelson wrote.
Clyde’s cardboard sculptures were on exhibit at Bellevue Arts Museum in November 2018, a show called Merch & Destroy. COURTESY OF BELLEVUE ARTS MUSUEM
You can see more of Clyde’s work here. You can also follow Clyde on Instagram, Facebook, or Vimeo.
Thank you for sharing your music with us, Clyde.
And for helping us dream about about the future by helping us remember what previous generations dreamed about.
Have a good Thursday, everyone. Stay warm and dry.
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Previously in this series:
David Ritt’s message to the city on April 22.
Sara Porkalob’s message to the city on April 21.
Julia Sweeney’s message to the city on April 20.
Linda Derschang’s message to the city on April 19.
Molly Sides’s message to the city on April 18.
Nick Garrison’s message to the city on April 17.
Tomo Nakayama’s message to the city on April 16.
Rebecca M. Davis’s message to the city April 15.
Heather McHugh’s message to the city on April 14.
Brandon O’Neill’s message to the city on April 13.
Kate Wallich’s message to the city on April 12.
Rebecca Brown’s message to the city on April 11.
Lucien Postlewaite’s message to the city on April 10.
Betty Wetter’s message to the city on April 9.
Amanda Morgan’s message to the city on April 8.
Nancy Guppy’s message to the city on April 7.
Jonathan Biss’s message to the city on April 6.
Chris Jeffries’s message to the city on April 5.
Lesley Hazleton’s message to the city on April 4.
John Roderick’s message to the city on April 3.
Bill Carty’s message to the city on April 2.
Price Suddarth’s message to the city on April 1.
Kary Wayson’s message to the city on March 31.
Ellen Forney’s message to the city on March 30.
Major Scales’s message to the city on March 29.
E. J. Koh’s message to the city on March 28.
Ken Jennings’s message to the city on March 27.
Demarre McGill’s message to the city on March 26.
Lynn Shelton’s Message to the City on March 25th.
Timothy White Eagle’s message to the city on March 24.
Cookie Couture’s message to the city on March 23.
Sarah Rudinoff’s message to the city on March 22.
John Osebold’s message to the city on March 21.
Ben Gibbard’s message to the city on March 20.
Nathan Chan’s message to the city on March 19.
