B I O G R A P H Y – Peter Simpson

Peter Simpson trained in sculpture at Bournemouth College of Art and Design during the 1960s. His academic career has included posts at Wimbledon School of Art, Bristol Polytechnic (The University of the West of England, Bristol), Camberwell College of Arts (London University of the Arts) where he was Course Director of Ceramics at the University of Derby where he was Assistant Dean and Programme Leader for the MA Art and Design Advanced Practice and Theories. He was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor in 1998 in recognition of his contribution, both as an academic and as a practitioner, to developments in the Fine and Applied Arts. Reference to his work can be found in many exhibition catalogues, conference transcriptions and books.

Peter Simpson has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, most notably across the European Union and Scandinavia, in Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand and the USA. His work is represented in many private and public collections in both Great Britain and abroad including:

Abbot Hall Museum and Art Gallery, Kendal, UK
Alberta Potter's Association, Alberta, Canada
Boymans Van Beumingen Museum Rotterdam, Netherlands
Keramion Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Keramische-Institute, Prinssessen Hof Museum, Netherlands
Kunstakklungen Der Vest Coburg, Germany
Koln Museum (Kunst and Gewerbe) Germany
Leicester Museum, Leicester, UK
Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland
Musée Cantini, Marseilles, France
Museum of Decorative Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Portsmouth City Museum, Portsmouth, UK
Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh
Shipley Museum and Art Gallery, UK
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
Swindon Education Committee collection, UK
Ulster Museum and Art Galleries, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

'We respond with immediacy to the 'here and now' but, almost always, with an inherent sense of a past that is often neither tangible nor readily identifiable but nevertheless omnipresent. When looking at buildings in France and the Mediterranean that have been used and reused, throughout the generations, this immediate need and historical legacy are there for all to see – to me this is reflective of the human experience.'

'My work represents isolated fragments of time where the layers of different experiences, days, years etc are juxtaposed and presented as one entity. I often return to rework the same piece(s) because the multi-layering becomes a palimpsest and, in turn a metaphor for the passing of time and the transitory state of 'being' as evidenced in the traces visible on the surfaces of buildings and artefacts.'

Ongoing projects include the translation and transciption of the etchings of Giorgio Morandi, the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella and the Romanesque churches of the Haute Saintonge. For further details see projects.

Contact us:-

amanda@thestudio17240.eu
peter@thestudio17240.eu