Ralph Petty
Artist in an evolving world

I was born in the rural town of Alamosa, Colorado. At the age of 18, at the height of the Vietnam War, I left for Fairbanks, Alaska, where I discovered Dostoevsky and the arts. In 1974, I enrolled at the University of California Davis to study painting, and then settled permanently in France in 1976, where I worked at Atelier 17, Sir Stanley W. Hayter's etching studio. Based in France since 1976, I taught at The American University of Paris (1990-2015, named professor emeritus in 2015), Parsons School of Design Paris (1987-1997), and the Institut d’Études Politiques, Paris (1997-2000). I continue to paint and sculpt in Paris and in the Ardèche, in southern France.