Beard, Peter Fraser
 

Peter Beard - 2006

Peter Beard was born in Southport, Lancashire in 1951. After studying industrial and furniture design from 1970 to 1973 at Ravensbourne College of Art in Chiselhurst, Kent, he spent a couple of years helping to set up a pottery in Scotland making domestic wares.

In 1975 Peter returned to Kent and opened his first studio in Harvest Bank Road near West Wickham Common. Here he started making the one-off sculptural pieces for which he is famous. In 1980 he moved to Bottom Pond Road, Wormshill near Maidstone. During his spare time while he was in Kent he taught at the Kent Institute of Art and Design.

After twenty years in Kent Peter moved to Cubbington near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and has been there since.

He is a master of texture; making much use of wax-resist and a combination of glossy, semi-matt and matt oxidized glazes on stoneware he creates richly coloured patterns resembling naturally occurring surfaces that might be seen through a telescope or a microscope. His forms are thrown and hand-built, often on a plinth in a complementary finish and colour.

Peter's work is widely acclaimed, has won many international awards and is found in numerous private and public collections.