ILWACO – Bruce and Wendi Peterson have a secret – but not for long. The Petersons, owners of the Wade Gallery in Harbour Village, have the ability to reproduce artwork using a method that previously required travel to Portland or farther to obtain.

The Petersons use a Giclee printer and Macintosh computers to reproduce watercolor and other media to near photographic perfection, and the cost to reproduce copies is considerably less than more common methods.

The printer is a Roland Hi-Fi Jet 52, a sofa-sized machine that can quietly roll out prints 52 inches by any length. Peterson uses a six-color inkset format on watercolor paper to produce truly archival work that is rated to last as long as 75 years without fading or deteriorating.

“At a fraction of the cost of previous methods, this type printing has completely revolutionized fine art reproduction,” said Bruce Peterson.

Using the more traditional lithography requires the artist to make many copies before getting a break in price. Printing plates needed to be created, the colors proofed and processed, all of which added up to higher printing costs. The Giclee method has allowed printers to produce a limited number of prints without going through all the extra steps.

“There is a reason why artists have gone to this type of printing. Traditional lithography requires you print thousands of copies before you can bring the price down,” said Wendi Peterson. “Watercolor artists and photographers are able get their original copies for better quality and only order 10 or two.”

The Petersons come from a commercial printing and design background. Bruce spent many years as a color separator before going into photography full time. Wendi was a designer and creative director for a television station in Arizona.

Before moving to the Peninsula, the Petersons ran their own photography and design business focusing on the booming high-tech industry of the 1990s. The decline in the economy as a result the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and other world events led the Petersons to reevaluate what they felt was their purpose in life. They decided to move to the Peninsula and open a gallery.

“What we do is totally state of the art. But like any other art, you have to control the process from beginning to end,” said Bruce Peterson. “Think of a guy who goes out and shoots photographs and then hands his negatives to someone else to print. Some people can do that; I can’t.”

Perterson said he wanted to create a situation where the artist could stand right next to him at the printer to talk about density, contrast and other issues.

“Hopefully, I can use my color expertise to help educate them about color, and they can help educate me about what they do,” said Peterson. “Hopefully, we can create a more symbiotic relationship where we are both getting something out of the process.”

For an up-and-coming artist, having enough prints to display at galleries or Saturday Market booths can be quite an investment. Add to it the uncertainty of which works sell and being a professional artist starts to look more like selecting commodities futures.

“It is a gamble. You don’t know if something is going to sell. So here is a situation were you can do ones and twosies,” said Peterson. “We want to create a situation with local artists who have limited budgets. If they sell one they can call us up and we’ll print out another one. Even pre-selling and not running them off until you’ve cleared the credit card. So you create a situation were people don’t have to build large inventories. Which opens the door for artists both wealthy and poor.”

The Wade Gallery is located at 223 Howerton Way in Ilwaco, phone 642-2291.