Collifornia Dreaming
ARTFORM was proud to host Peter Collis, well-known New Zealand potter, with an exhibition on his return from an 8-month sabbatical in Los Angeles, California. This adventure started after Julie, Peter’s wife, won a global acting award with her one-person show 2 years ago. Based on this success, and another award for a short film a few months later, the Collis duo headed up to LA last year on an adventure to crack the Hollywood market for 65-stunning women actors. All was heading in the right direction when….COVID 19……
Now back and waiting for round 2 of their adventure in LA, Peter has once found his love of the pottery wheel to turn his experience into significant objects, reflecting Mid-century California and the LA art scene.
While Julie would head off to auditions in Hollywood, using the LA public transport system as a true Kiwi would, Peter would wander the galleries and take time to reassess his work to date, and make some interesting plans for his work going forwards. He became friends with art dealers in local galleries and swapped stories of dealing one-of-a-kind large-scale ceramics in NZ and the US. He visited State Galleries, Craft Contemporary and the Craft in America Center, all within easy distance of their West Hollywood apartment.
The adventure for Peter with the US goes back further, to 2005-2006, when Clare Mora of Artform took Peter Collis to New York with her then company, essenze, and exhibited at CLODAGH, a famous interior design and art studio based on Broadway, NYC. Following this exhibition, a road-trip across the US formed the base of the use of colour and glazes represented in the pieces exhibited at Artform.
“The glazes used are almost a trip back in time. The represent the rich colours of the West Coast and the very dry hills surrounding LA, as well as the deep colours of water that is a rare commodity, yet every house has a large pool. LA is full of contradictions….”
On his return to Auckland and the ability to get back into his studio, Peter has enjoyed the freedom to make work as a result of this introspection and re-evaluation of his work combined with the enormous amount of international study this time has allowed.
The opportunity to exhibit this new work in ARTFORM, Matakana has been the driving force for a burst of energy. The perfect platform for him to be able to put into practise the development of the wheel thrown and constructed form he is so well known for, and further them as vehicles for his exploration of colour and crystal glazes. This work responds to the LA environment and art world.