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View Image Gallery Peter Fraser Beard(Full member)

Tel: +44 (0)1926 428481   Email:   Web: www.peterbeard.co.uk  

Artist's Statement

Art communicates by combining process, materials and concept, this fusion is particularly poignant in the world of crafts.
Peter Beard has explored this area through his ceramics for many years and his success is verified by international reputation.

Making is central to the crafts and arguably it defines the nature of man, the toolmaker.The earliest ceramics took the form of idols offered to the gods on a fire, thus proving that the act of making has spiritual and aesthetic considerations equalling, or perhaps exceeding, its utilitarian ones. Peter Beard is primarily interested in aesthetic considerations; his experience transcends the skill needed to create an object. It is his ability to define and create a beautiful object that singles him out. Although Peter is a master of the processes he employs, (usually slab building or throwing) he is not a slave to technique. He draws together slabs of clay to form an elegantly twisting line along the edge of a pot, yet he is brave enough to leave the rim pinched and fresh, acknowledging the act of forming the clay. If a process is to speak of anything then it must speak unabashedly of itself; the hand forming the clay. Every pot Peter makes bears testimony to this.

Ceramics is one of the few areas where art meets science. The selection of materials is often based on empirical as much as on personal preference. It is when the research and preferences meet that a true sense of the maker's intentions become clear. This is especially evident in Peter's work with glazes. He is a man who takes risks, glazes bubbling here and running there. These risks have their dividend; the run of the glaze informs us directly of the subtle curves of a form, as gravity takes an opportune moment to intervene before being frozen as the kiln cools. The blisters represent a meeting of two opposing glazes along a boundary defined by the maker's hand; a pattern being too crude a word to articulate the juxtaposition of these two volcanic forces. It is Peter's combination of research, risk taking and self-criticism that enables him to keep up his fearless standard, right to the edge of what even he thinks possible.

Peter is aware of historical ceramic precedents, the ancient art of Egypt is a touchstone for a lot of his recent work. He is no imitator though, and his work is a personal reinvention of the past, at once contemporary yet imbued with an archaic authority. This reinvention is born of Peter's approach to his work. He sees himself as firstly a maker. It is by making that ideas reveal themselves and are refined. The act of making distils Peter's experiences, be they a favourite landscape or a pre-Raphelite painting. The results bear no direct lineage to any one precedent, but they are a pretty potent brew. In Peter Beard's work the trinity of process, materials and concept are so closely woven that it is almost impossible to tease them apart. Peter's ability to twist such tightly spun cloth shows his immense skill and determination. The end results speak clearly of the potter himself. It is no surprise that his pots have garnered such acclaim.

Current Work

My current work is a mixture of thrown and hand-built pieces in oxidised stoneware fired to 1280°C, using combinations of shiny, matt and semi-matt glazes, built up in layers prior to firing to create textural surfaces in a range of pastel shades and some stronger colours.
Wax resist is used extensively to create patterns and to isolate the glaze layers during application.

Work generally available from:
Contemporary Ceramics, Marshall Street, London.
Bowie & Hulbert, Hay on Wye, Herefordshire.
Stour Gallery, Shipton on Stour Warwickshire
Round House Gallery, Foston, Derbyshire

Other Information:
Regularly gives lectures/demonstrations to Colleges and Ceramic Groups.
I run Summer Workshops on decorating techniques (bookings from previous Autumn for each year recommended)

Technical Information

Electric kilns firing mostly to 1280degree C. oxidation. Using various resists to create patterns and texture in the glaze surface.

History

Career Background
Born in Southport, Lancashire in 1951.
I studied industrial design and furniture design at Ravensbourne College of Art in London from 1970 - 1973 and whilst at college maintained an interest in ceramics.
In 1973 helped set up a pottery in Scotland making thrown domestic stoneware and developed an interest in one-off pots and sculptural pieces.
I opened my first studio in Kent in 1975 and worked there, making only one-off pieces, until moving to Leamington Spa in 1995.

To date I have taken part in over 80 group exhibitions and 45 one man shows since 1975.

Membership and Awards
1976: Elected Fellow of the Craftsmen Potters Association of Great Britain.
1989: Elected to the Council of the Craftsmen Potters Association.
1992: Lecturing and workshop tour of New Zealand and Australia supported by the British Council.
1993: and ongoing:
Employed as a consultant by the charity, Project Ploughshare, to carry out an on-site feasibility study in Ethiopia with a view to setting up a pottery to provide employment for destitute women and thereafter providing support and advice.
1995: Awarded funding by South East Arts for travel and research in Japan.
1996: Winner of the 1996 INAX Design Prize, Japan.
1999: Elected member of The Academy of International Ceramics.
2000: Winner of the Pot d'Or at Keramisto, Holland.
Work represented on the Crafts Council index of selected members.

Exhibitions

Major Exhibitions
1984 Liberty, London
1985 Innate Harmony, London
1987 Easton Rooms, Rye, UK; Peter Dingley Gallery, Stratford, UK
1988 Craftsmen Potters Association, London
1991 Gallery Nishiyama, Nagoya, Japan
1992 Rye City Art Gallery, Sussex, UK; Galerie L, Hamburg, Germany; Contemporary Ceramics, London
1993 Bettles Gallery, Hampshire, UK
1994 Loes & Reinier International Ceramics, Deveneter, Holland
1995 Hashimoto Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1996 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland; INAX Gallery Tokyo, Japan
1997 Hashimoto Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1998 Primavera, Cambridge
1999 Wohnen und Kunst, Hamburg, Germany; Volksbank Gallery, Weinheim, Germany

Publications

Books
Author of Resists and Masking Techniques in Ceramics for A&C Black

Publications
Studio Porcelain by Peter Lane, published by Pitmans, 1980
Studio Ceramics by Peter Lane, published by Collins, 1983
Ceramic Review. Article in Issue 109, 1988
Ceramic Form by Peter Lane, published by Collins, 1988
Ceramics Art & Perception. Article No 6 1991
The Complete Potter - Glazes by Emmanuel Cooper published by Batsford, 1992
Ceramic Review. Article in Issue No 138, 1992
Ceramic Sculpture by Ian Gregory, published by A & C Black, 1993
Ceramics Monthly, article in November 1993
Hand formed Ceramics by Richard Zarkin, published Chilton, 1995
The Complete Potter by Josie Warshaw, Annes Publishing, 1999
Neue Keramik. Article in Issue 1 l, 1999
The Art of Handbuilt Ceramics by Sue Bruce, published Crowood press 2000

Collections

Musée Déchelette in Roanne, France
Keramion Museum, Germany
Kiiln Museum, Germany
Ballantyne Collection, UK
Neue Samlung Museum, Munich, Germany
Burnley City Art Gallery, UK
Norwich Museum, UK
Stoke on Trent City Museum, UK
INAX Corporation collection, Japan
Museum for Moderne Keramik, Germany
Buckinghamshire County Museum
Leamington Spa Museum

Profile Image

Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - home

View Image Gallery Selected Images

Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - Grey green wall disc 40cm across, 2007. Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - Black head form on stone base 42cm, 2007.
Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - No3 Orange pink thrown vessel 40cm h, 2007. Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - Grey green sail form on slate base 32cm, 2007.
Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - Large cut form on stone base 56cm h, 2007. Ceramics by Peter Fraser Beard at Studiopottery.co.uk - Grey cut form on sandstone base 36 cm h, 2007.

Contact Details

Studio Address: Tanners Cottage, Welsh Road , Cubbington, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK, CV32 7UB.
View in Google Maps

Telephone: +44 (0)1926 428481
Fax: +44 (0)1926 428481
Email:
Web-site: www.peterbeard.co.uk

Availability: Any sensible time, but must telephone first to make appointment.



Last Updated: 2010-12-03

Work styles:

Wall Panels, Plaques
Thrown
Stoneware
Slab Built
Sculptural
Individual Pieces
Handbuilt
Garden
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