“He Shares His Lifelong Pursuit Of Great Pictures Across Time”
Photography is sui generis.
If you’re intent on showing a photograph as art next to anything else,
Choose music, because nothing else compares.
Christopher Petrich worked at his family’s shipyard at ten years old. He studied photojournalism at The American University in Washington DC. At sixteen he was a professional studio photographer. He founded the Image Market Studio on Sixth Avenue in 1985 with partner Jerry Timmons, and in 1998 he created the COOLPHOTO® website. He learned to fly so he could make aerial photographs for the city. He’s a sometime actor, a short distance road race runner, a mountain climber, and a fine furniture maker. He once towed a stricken boat back to shore during a winter storm in his small tug boat named Snort. He keeps a small apple orchard in his postage stamp-sized garden and he rides his gravel bike every day. He has published three books, and created a magazine under his registered trademark COOLPHOTO® imprint. His photography has taken him across the United States, as well as to the Middle East, Japan, and Europe.
Paris 2022
Dublin 2022
Liz At Water’s Edge 1997
Fox Island 1985
Seattle International District 2023
Flight To Japan 2017
London 1972
Tacoma 1975
selected exhibitions
Early Century
2023 Dreams: The Collages And Photographic Visions Of Christopher Petrich ISBN 978-0-9744775-1-0
The Beach At Fox Island ISBN 978-0-9744775-2-2
2016 Solo Exhibition of new work, American Art Company, Tacoma WA
2014 Water, Elemental and Fundamental (Group Show) PhotoPlace Gallery Middlebury VT
2014 Fallen To Earth (Ensemble with Metal-Urge Sculpture Group Show) The American Art Company Tacoma WA
2014 Women As I've Seen Them Clarridge Gallery Bellevue WA
2013 Hearing Connection Purchase Award, 38th National Juried Biennial Photography Exhibition Larson Gallery Yakima WA
2013 Self Portrait (Group Show) PhotoPlace Gallery Middlebury VT
2012 Tacoma Art Museum 10th Northwest Biennial
2012 Center For Fine Art Photography Portraits, Fort Collins Co
2012 Sky Gallery University of Washington, Into The Light, Seattle WA
2011 Center For Fine Art Photography Portraits, Fort Collins Co
2010 Connect/Disconnect Larson Gallery Yakima WA
2010 Great Ships and Panoramas Clarridge Gallery Bellevue WA
The Aughts
2008 International Art of Photography San Diego CA
2008 Center For Fine Art Photography Street Photography Exhibition, Fort Collins Co.2006 Risk of Memory Eastshore Unitarian Church, Bellevue WA
2006 Selected Landscapes Franciscan Hospice, Solo show, Tacoma.
2005 You and Me! Relationship is everything Franciscan Hospice, Solo show, Tacoma
2005 Dreams of other dark things Eastshore Unitarian Church, Bellevue WA.
2004 Northwest Landscapes The American Art Company, featured as one of two artists, Tacoma
2004 Pattern as Solitude Eastshore Unitarian Church, Bellevue WA.
2003 Lighthouses of Puget Sound Tacoma Public Library, Solo show, Tacoma.
In conjunction with the publication of a field guide to the lighthouses.
2003 Good Earth: Celebration of Life! (Group Show) Tahoma Center Gallery, Tacoma,
I organized this event and curated the exhibit celebrating Earth Day. We hosted workshops on protecting clean and abundant waters in the Pacific Northwest.
2002 You and Me, A Photographic Interpretation of Our Human Relationships Eastshore Unitarian Church, Solo show, Bellevue WA.
2000 Lumen Aria: In the Key of Light Tahoma Center Gallery, Solo show, Tacoma
Late Century
1996 We Believe Tahoma Center Gallery at Catholic Community Services, Solo show, Tacoma.
1993 You And Me, examining the mystery of human relationships, Handforth Gallery Tacoma Public Library, Solo show, Tacoma
1984 The Downtown Gallery Solo show, Tacoma.
1984 Sandpiper Gallery Solo show, Tacoma.
1983 Tacoma Art Museum Solo show, Tacoma
1983 Canon USA Gallery Solo show, Los Angeles CA.
1975 - 1983 Tacoma Art Museum Annual juried show
1974 Silver Image Gallery Solo show, Seattle
Publications and honors
2013 Who's Who in Visual Art - 75 Fine Art Photographers Vol 2013-2014 [ISBN: 978-3-9813474-6-3]
2011 - 2013 American Art Collector, Published by Alcove Books, Berkely CA
2011 Who's Who in Visual Art - 100 Fine Art Photographers Vol 2011-2012 [ISBN: 978-3-9813474-2-5]
2006 cooLphoto magazine, Editor [ISSN 1558-7126]
2005 The Lighthouses on Puget Sound, Author and Photographer [ISBN 1-4116-4186-8]
2001-2003 The Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art [ISBN 1-880140-52-7]
1983 Tacoma Art Museum Best Of Show, Tacoma
1982 First Prize Honored for excellence by Argus, a regional arts newspaper published in Seattle.
Perkins Ct Court C Coffeehouse Mural With Artist Jay Tronsdale 1975
