Juliet Peter

Juliet Peter
Born Judith Eleanor Jane Peter
18 September 1915
Anama, New Zealand
Died 12 January 2010 (aged 94)
Wellington,New Zealand
Education Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts
Known for Pottery, printmaking, illustration, sculpture
Awards CNZM (2000)

Judith Eleanor Jane Cowan CNZM (née Peter, 18 September 1915 – 12 January 2010), generally known as Juliet Peter, was a New Zealand artist, potter and printmaker. Her husband Roy Cowan was also a well-known New Zealand potter, printmaker and illustrator.

Early life

Peter was born at Anama in rural Mid Canterbury in 1915,[1] and studied at the Canterbury College School of Art.[2] She worked for the Department of Education in their School Publication branch as an illustrator.[2] In 1952 she married potter Roy Cowan.

Career

Cowan and Peter moved to London in 1952, where she studied at Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts. They returned to Wellington, setting up a studio.[2][3] Juliet Peter has exhibited with Helen Hitchings Gallery, the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, the Canterbury Society of Arts, The Group, and the Auckland Society of Arts.[4]

In 1968, along with her friend, painter Rita Angus, Peter made a series of works recording her protest over the razing of the Bolton Street Cemetery in order to extend Wellington's southern motorway.[5] Peters wrote of the visits she and Angus made:

‘Conversation was kept to a minimum, we did not wish to attract attention to ourselves. But from time to time, a low voice would call, “Juliet, come and see …” and together we would examine a curious inscription, or a pattern of lichen on stone.
‘The summer of 1969 favoured our work. Sundays were usually fine, continuing into autumn. As the Engines of Destruction advanced up the cemetery, so we retreated.’[6]

In 1999 Peter was included in The Eighties Show at The Dowse Art Museum, an exhibition of artists who were still active in their eighties, including Doreen Blumhardt, John Drawbridge, Roy Cowan and Avis Higgs.[7]

She died in Wellington in 2010,[8] and her ashes were buried at Makara Cemetery.[9]

Her work was shown alongside Roy Cowan’s in 2014 at The Dowse Art Museum in A Modest Modernism: Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter.[10]

Recognition

In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts.[11]

Collections

Her work is held in the collections of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu,[12] The Dowse Art Museum[10] and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Births". The Press. 24 September 1915. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blumhardt, Doreen; Brake, Brian (1981). Craft New Zealand: The art of the craftsman. Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed. ISBN 0589009532.
  3. ↑ "Juliet Peter". Ferner Galleries. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Peter, Juliet". Find NZ Artists. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Kirker, Anne (1993). New Zealand Women Artists: A Survey of 150 Years (2nd ed.). Tortola, B.V.I.: Craftsman House. p. 95. ISBN 9768097302.
  6. ↑ "Juliet Peter sketching". Rita Angus: Life and Vision. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Lloyd-Jenkins, Douglas (2000). Avis Higgs : joie de vivre. Napier: Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust. ISBN 0473067382.
  8. ↑ "Artist drew triumph from tragic beginnings". Dominion Post. 23 January 2010. p. 7.
  9. ↑ "Cemeteries search". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "A Modest Modernism: Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter". The Dowse Art Museum. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2000". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Juliet Peter". Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Juliet Peter". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 18 December 2014.

External links