Profile
Peter Ward
October 2020
My practice as an artist is rooted in a sense of our evolving relationships within the animate earth. Art, as a reflective interdisciplinary process, is the means through which I investigate and share these relationships. It is one means through which we may enrich our life experience. It is an intimate response to the social and ecological conditions of our age. My work is shared through painting, workshops, installations and presentations. Means of public engagement and ecological responsibility are of the utmost importance.
The main focus of my creative research regards the applications, geology and social history of earth pigments gathered and processed in southwest UK. This has led to interdisciplinary collaborations with projects and educational bodies nationally and internationally. Through an intense process of experimentation and learning I have come to appreciate each pigment as an animate entity with a unique and ancient voice, while developing a deep understanding of the local ecology. Their voices have utterly transformed the process, form of and relationship to my creative practice.
In 2012 I completed an MA Art & Environment, with distinction, at Falmouth University receiving the Sandra Blow Award for Outstanding Achievement. My final project, A BUNDLE OF STICKS (a reflective process towards cultural ecologic empowerment), allowed me to place my work firmly within the context of relational and engaged contemporary practice while seeing the significance of the more traditional aspects within the ongoing eco-political discourse. Through a sensitive understanding of the organic materials in our immediate environments we may find and express an indigenous culture rooted in Nature beyond predominant attitudes of division and control.
Moving to Cornwall in 2017, my research focused on local earth pigments from historic mining waste, leading to new conversations regarding the impact of our industrial past, building new communities and, again, our responsibilities within Nature. I have established projects and contacts with ESI at Exeter University, ESRC, Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Eden Project and Geevor Tin Mine. In 2019 I spent a very productive and enjoyable period in Studio 5, Porthmeor Studios, making larger work with Cornish pigments (Kescows an Bys – the earth talks). Most recently I was invited to mentor a group of artists developing an exhibition at Contains Art, Watchet, celebrating Somerset’s Brilliant Coast with Somerset Wildlife Trust, and have been long-listed for the John Moores Painting Prize.
I am seeking to engage with other artists in the area and have found involvement with Art Societies wherever I have lived an exciting dimension to the development of my practice. The importance of locally and ethically sourced materials in creative practice is a theme that will become more prevalent as we continue to wrestle with the ecological and existential challenges that we are facing.
2010 – 2012 MA Art & Environment, Falmouth University (SANDRA BLOW AWARD outstanding achievement)
1986 – 1989 BA (HONS) Graphic Design & Illustration, Bristol Polytechnic
1985 – 1986 Foundation Course, Portsmouth CADFE
Royal West Academy Open Exhibition, Bristol, 2009, 2017 and 2020
The Edge of Dark, Newlyn Society of Artist Group Show, Tremenhere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance, 2020
Happenings, Fringe Arts Bath Festival, online 2020
Kescows an Bys (the earth talks), Porthmeor Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall, 2019
Environments (group show), Tate St Ives, Cornwall, 2019
The Garden Room Gallery, Dartington Hall, Devon with Jenny Mellings and Emma Hambly, 2018
Greenhill Arts Open, Moretonhampsted, Dartmoor, 2017
Deep Roots, Soil Culture, Falmouth Art Gallery and Penninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth 2015-16
Breathing Art, Geumgang Nature Art Pre-biennale, South Korea, 2015
Soil Culture @ create, Bristol, 2015
painting together, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2015
Soil Culture – Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, 2015
DIRT DIALOGUES – Integrated Art and Film Program at the 20WCSS, Jeju, Korea, 2014
bir! bir! The Art Yard, Macclesfield, 2014
pots, fish and ships, The Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, North Devon, 2014
The Walking Encyclopedia, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke on Trent, 2014
Soil Culture – a taster, The Innovation Centre, Exeter University, Devon, 2013
BIDEFORD BLACK 5 artists, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2013
Short films shown at CAZ SQUARE EYES events, Cornwall and Istanbul 2012-13
In the Dark Times (Group Show) CMR Gallery, Redruth, Cornwall, 2012
New Visions: Contemporary Painting in an Uncertain World (Group Show), CMR Gallery, Cornwall, 2012
HEVVA! HEVVA! Group show at the Eden Project as part of Shortcourse UK (Cape Farewell) expedition, 2012
in the midst of wonders, MA Art & Environment Group Show, The Poly, Falmouth, 2011
Painting with the Earth, solo exhibition, Appledore Visual Arts Festival, North Devon, 2009
expressions of an intimate ecology, solo exhibition, The Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, North Devon, 2008
events
Painting a Parish Future, for ESRC Festival of Social Science, Cornwall, 2018-19
Lead Artist, Newport Community School Arts Week, Barnstaple, Devon, 2015
Project Development, SOIL CULTURE 2013-16, CCANW and RANE, South West England, 2011-16
Lead Researcher, The Story of Bideford Black – The Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, Devon, 2013
Project coordinator, the value of trees– a participatory event organised for North Devon Biosphere Reserve in association with RANE, University College Falmouth and Beaford Arts, Barnstaple Town Square, 2011
workshops (selected)
Mentoring – Somerset Wildlife Trust Brilliant Coast Art Project with Contains Art Gallery, Watchet, 2020-21
Beltane Border Morris Group, Face painting for performance, Moretonhampsted, Dartmoor, 2020
Last Chance to Paint, Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall 2019
White Gold Festival, St Austell, Cornwall, 2018
Soil: Ground for Existence with Crossfields Institute, Emerson College, 2018
painting together, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2015
Tales of the Riverbank, BLACK & WHITE, Bideford, North Devon, 2015
Soil Culture – Dartington Gallery and Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, 2015
For the Love of Art, eARTh, Ilfracombe, 2015
Playing with Dirt, Sandy Brown Museum, Appledore, North Devon, 2014 and 2019
One Day in North Devon, MA Art & Environment Field Trip, Skern Lodge Activity Centre, North Devon, 2014
Art in Outdoor Education for NAFSO Annual Conference, Skern Lodge Activity Centre, North Devon, 2014
Soil Culture/Painting with Earth, National Soil Symposium, @ Bristol, 2013
Innovations in Marine Education, Field Studies Council and British Ecological Society, Dale Fort, Wales, 2013
A BUNDLE OF STICKS @ The Home & The World Summit, Dartington Hall, 2012
PEBBLE RIDGE a mini-expedition to explore the evolution of a living landmark, Appledore Arts Festival, 2012
Environmental Art Workshops, Beaford Arts Education Programme, 2008-13
Painting with the Earth (Earth Pigments in North Devon) with Appledore Arts, The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon, Local Schools in England and Ireland, North Devon AONB and Exmoor NP, 2008-18
Green Ambassadors Scheme: Art and environment workshops and mural projects in collaboration with the Field Studies Council. Funded by North Devon AONB, Exmoor NP and the National Lottery, 2008-10
Sandra Blow Award for Outstanding Achievement, Falmouth University, 2012
Field to Palette: Dialogues on Soil and Art in the Anthropocene, CRC Press, 2018
Saunton – A Coastal Curation, Brend Hotels, 2018
Soil Culture – Bringing the Arts Down to Earth, CCANW, 2016
The Home & the World – A BUNDLE OF STICKS dissertation (online) 2013
BIDEFORD BLACK 5 artists, White Moose Publications, 2013
Earth Pigments in North Devon – A Teachers Guide (online resource) 2010
Articles: Devon Life 2014, NAFSO Journal 2014, ROCKWATCH (Geology Today Magazine) 2011,
Resurgence (and the Ecologist) Magazine 2009 and 2015
presentations (selected)
Escape to the Country, BBC TV (5 minute article about Bideford Black) 2015
Global Nomadic Art Project UK, Dartington Hall 2018
The Home & The World Symposium, Dartington Hall 2012
The Devonshire Association, Exeter, North Devon Women’s Institutes, U3A, North Devon Arts 2012-18
Falmouth University, MA lectures 2012-13
Ussher Society (Geoscience Southwest) AGM, Bideford 2011
Painting a Parish Future, Creative Exchange collaboration with Dr Joanie Willett, Environmental Sustainability Institute, Exeter University, Cornwall, 2019-20
Kescows an Bys (the earth talks), selected tenancy at Porthmeor Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall, 2019
Art Underground, YATOO Global Nomadic Art Project, Saumur, Loire Valley, FRANCE, 2017
BESPOKE – collaboration with Freddie Opoku-Addaie (Royal Opera House) and Dance In Devon, 2012
A BUNDLE OF STICKS @ COURAGE COPSE CREATIVES for ART TREK, 2012
Selected for Shortcourse UK/Cornwall (Cape Farewell) expedition, 2011
QUADRAT site-specific dance art installation and workshop exploring the parallels and potential creative outputs of ecology fieldwork techniques – with Katy Lee (dancer) and Dr Mark Ward (Field Studies Council), Appledore Visual Arts Festival, 2010
