Peter Rushforth
b. 1920, Manly
Currently, full-time studio potter.
Peter Rushforth commenced training as a potter in 1946 at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He continued his studies at the National Gallery School in Melbourne and at the then National Art School in Sydney. A former Head of the Ceramic Department at the National Art School, he has travelled extensively in the UK, Denmark and the USA on a Churchill Fellowship and has spent time working in Japan.
Peter Rushforth has held 20 solo exhibitions in Australia and overseas, including two in Japan, as well as participating in numerous group shows in Australia, the USA, Asia and Europe. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and State and regional galleries within Australia as well as in private collections throughout the world.
He produces high-fired stoneware vessels using Jun (Chun), Temmoku, limestone and ash glazes. Produced in a wood-fired kiln, each of his stoneware pots is unique in its form and glaze quality. These glazes have their origin in the classical period of Chinese and Japanese ceramics, but the use of local materials and the personal statement of the potter make them relevant to our own society.
An example of Peter Rushforth's Chun glaze work was presented by the NSW Government to the City of Canton, and other examples of his work have been purchased for collections in overseas embassies, the High Court of Australia and Parliament House.
Influenced by eastern aesthetics and philosophies. He nevertheless endeavours to express in his work the character of his own environment. Believing fervently in the value of handcraft expressing human values in a technological age, his teaching has been weighted strongly in this direction.
His awards for services to ceramics in Australia include Churchill Fellowship, Order of Australia, Australia Council Australian Fellowship and National Art School Fellowship.
