Peter MARSH BA CSPWC SCA
Artist's Statement
“I don’t subscribe to a constant style because there is always personal change, and in looking for new directions, one finds the edge of creativity.”
About Peter Marsh:
Peter Marsh was born in England in 1943, and immigrated to Canada in 1957. He has painted for over forty years, not only in Ontario, Canada, where he lives, but also in every other Canadian province, in some American States, and in Europe.
After obtaining a fine arts degree from the University of Toronto, Peter attended teacher’s college to pursue his love of teaching. “I have taught every segment of art you could think of at one time or another and I have enjoyed all of my students over those years.” Since 1972, he has been the Art Director at the Wexford Collegiate Art Centre and has been nominated twice for the A.B. Patterson Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Art Centre is one of Canada's foremost Art Schools teaching a special program to many young talented Toronto artists. He is now semi-retired from his formal teaching position, but still quite involved.
Peter began his artistic career by painting Canadian landscapes. However, he also makes forays into various other art forms, the latest being raku pottery. Although he paints in acrylics his favourite medium is watercolours. “I don’t subscribe to a constant style because there is always personal change, and in looking for new directions, on finds the edge of creativity.”
Peter continues to build on his strong background of traditional landscape painting, by delighting the viewer with his non-representational images. As vibrant paintings, full of colour, brushstroke and design, these paintings deliver Peter’s poignant concerns with the perils faced by our natural environment. “My non-representational work, right from the beginning, has dealt with the swirling forces of the universe, thoughts and physics rolled into one, to produce a dynamic image full of colour, texture and brushstroke, to excite the mind to think in abstract ways for personal interpretation.” Peter’s third theme in painting concerns itself with the “perils faced by our natural environment.” He has interpreted these concerns with images that range from very realistic to very abstract in order to make his point. His point tends to be repeated over and over in different ways in order to say “Hey, wake Up! We are wrecking this beautiful place!”
Peter is also a Raku potter. “It’s a nice break from painting, and in these days of technology, digital images, and electronic worlds, it keeps one in touch with our most basic ingredients. It’s also a constant reminder of the very three dimensional nature of form when painting on a two dimension surface.”
Peter was elected into the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1997 and again in 2001. He is the current president of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours. He is also a member of the Toronto Arts and Letters Club. Peter has been the recipient of an OMRA certificate of appreciation in 1996, and won the Mensa Canada Presidents aware in 1994. He’s earned several prestigious awards for his paintings, and for teaching. Peter has exhibited in one-person and group exhibitions for each of the last 33 years.
His paintings reside in corporate and private collection in Canada and abroad.
Memberships:
The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour - elected in 1997, 2001
Society of Canadian Artists, Associate Member
The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto
Federation of Canadian Artists
Seguin Arts Council
Scarborough Potter's Guild
Canadian Artists Representation
Selected Group Exhibitions:
"Illustrations from the Gardiner Museum", the Wallace Studios Gallery
"Undercurrents" The Wallace Studio Gallery
"The Next Generation" John B. Aird Gallery
Seguin Annual Art Tour
Southern Waters, Leamington Art Gallery
'Aim For The Arts' International Juried Exhibition, Vancouver BC
CSPWC Small Works Exhibition, Blackwood Gallery
CSPWC National 'Open Water" juried show
Selected Corporate Collections:
Scarborough Board of Education
Toronto Board of Education
Sorbara Real Estate
Tupperware Canada
United Media
Eastern Construction Co
Johnson Controls Ltd
The Consilium
The Prudential Insurance Company of America
Henry Stolp Building Group
Tankoos Yarmon Ltd.
The Webb
Zerafa
Menkes
Housden Partnership
Selected Public Collections:
Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, Permanent Collection, Art Gallery of Peel ON
Copyright 2012: Art Of The Matter. Aurora Art. All rights reserved.
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