Clear Rock Trades

Sculpture • Scottish Bagpiping
Avon, New York• Peter Watson, Artist

About the Artist • Recent Projects

About the Artist: Peter Watson

• Graduated from The University of Vermont with a B.A. in English and Geography, 1968.
• Studied and performed banjo and guitar, 1963-1978.
• Studied classical flute, 1952-1960.
• Homeschooled in Putney, VT four of my eight years of grade school.

I have been a self-employed carpenter, woodworker, and metalwork artist for 40 years. My work has included roofing, foundation repairs to stone foundations, sill beams, and new construction of houses and farm buildings including milking parlors and sugarhouses. Other projects in the shop include cabinets, copper garden sculptures, repairing horse-drawn farm machinery, and in 2002, completing a large stair-railing sculpture in the form of a dragon.

I have been repairing wooden boats or wood components on boats for 18 years.

Several students have come to my carpentry shop over the past 10 years to learn wood and metal construction.

Draft horses have been part of my work for 45 years, and with them I have produced maple syrup, given hay-wagon rides and sled rides, cut and drawn out commercial logs. I have given many workshops with the draft horses to teach their care and use in an organic system of farming.

I have been studying and competing with the Feadan or Pipe Band of Penfield, NY for the past 10 years. Presently, I am a grade IV bagpiper. I also teach 4 students.

I play the bagpipes for funerals, weddings and celebrations in Livingston and Monroe counties, New York. I donate time to local schools and businesses to play music, discuss the history of the bagpipes and how they work. Participating in community events is very satisfying because the response is so genuine and warm. The depth of the music evokes many emotions and memories for the audience.

In the summer of 1964 I sailed to Venezuela on board a Danish tanker to work on a farm. The operation was a 65,000 acre cattle farm that was owned by Nelson Rockfeller and Jose Maldonado.

In 1962-1963 I worked on a small diversified farm near Sao Paulo, Brasil. Jobs included picking coffee berries, milking two cows by hand, running a tractor to perform work on the land and test equipment, building part of a pig barn, and traveling to other farms in Brasil with my employer.

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Recent Projects

• A dragon stair railing built and installed for Cami and William Keane in their residence on Cape Cod in the spring of 2002. The railing was constructed using wrought iron, white oak wood and driftwood. Copper, brass, stainless steel and deer antler were also incorporated. Total cost for project: $11,000. See photos.
• 36" copper Genesa Sphere placed in one of the gardens and donated to Linwood Gardens. Total cost of project: $400.