Peter Lange

Having spent 10 years between 1960 and 1970, travelling widely overseas, working in a variety of occupations, including driving a London cab and cleaning silver at Buckingham Palace, Peter returned to New Zealand where he began potting and making domestic ware. He has worked, taught and exhibited in New Zealand and throughout the world. He was a foundation member of the Albany Village Pottery retail cooperative in 1976. In 1978 he moved to Auckland and joined the Potters Arms Cooperative. In the early 1980s Peter travelled to the United States and it was then that he came across the work of Richard Shaw (b.1941) in San Francisco. This brought about a change in direction in his own practice. In 1994 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council award to 'explore new directions' and during that year he was an Artist-in-Residence at the Christchurch Polytechnic. Lange has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand. Highlights in recent years include being an official demonstrator at the 2002 Aomori Wood-fire Festival in Japan and being selected to take part in a terracotta and brick symposium in Eskisehir, Turkey in 2003. In 1997, he taught at the Dubai Art Centre in the United Arab Emirates. Peter has twice received the Merit Award at the Fletcher Challenge Art Award in 1985 and 1986. His work features in a number of collections, including in the Auckland Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery, the Beehive, Suzhou School of Art in China, and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales. He was awarded a Craft Object Fellowship in 2005 and has used it to further develop his adventures in brick sculptural pieces. Currently, Peter is a popular tutor at the Auckland Studio Potters complex.