Peter Hayes

"I have always been interested in - why and how 'things' are made of clay. One of the major introductions I had to ceramics was digging Neolithic iron age and roman samien shards on archaeological digs somewhere in Wales while trying to survive as an art student in Birmingham. I am naturally drawn to shapes of artefacts and objects from other cultures and other times, but that remain timeless.

Erosion and change through time and nature are recorded in a piece. My main aim in my work is not to compete with nature; but for the work to evolve within the environment. The minerals, like iron and copper, that I introduce into the 'Raku' ceramic surface have their own affect on the clay during the time they are submerged in the river or the sea. This erosion process continues with sanding so that the texture and cracks do not interrupt the surface but become an organic, integral part of the patina. Each individual piece takes on its own developing surface; its own history and its own aesthetic. I am merely the maker."

For more information, please visit Peter's website

Public Collections:
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
Museum of Modern Art, Kingston, Jamaica
Garderner Collection, Toronto
Museum of Modern Art, Brussels, Belgium
Silber Collection, California
J.B Speed Museum, Louisville. KY

Recent Commissions:

2005 - 12 Sculptures, The Foyer, 1 Hanover Street, London

2004 - Raku Disc mounted on Stainless steel and slate base, Private Collection, Boston, USA

2004 - Raku Standing Stones, P&O Ship Arcadia, Elstone Hayes Associates

2004 - Standing Stones with Gold Inset, Private Yacht, Disdale Design & Linda Bird Art Consultant

2004 - Raku Water Sculpture, Rufford Country Park, Nottinghamshire

2003 - Raku Disc & Two Raku Totems, Private Yacht, John Pillar & Libby Howe, Art Consultants

2002 - Bronze Family Group, Jerwood Foundation Whitney Sculpture Park

2002 - Six Totems, Shackleton House London

2001 - Mounted Pebbles, GlaxoSmithKline London

2001 - Seated Bronze Figures, Prior Center Oxfordshire

2000 - Three Stones with Blue Wave, Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham