Meet the Artist - Peter Maris

 

Peter Maris is the Community Arts Advisor who has been commissioned by New Bridge Street developers, GMI Property Group, to lead the Clay Cross Public Art project.

 

Peter has been working in the stone industry since 1987, gaining experience firstly in a commercial and industrial environment and then later, for 10 years, as a stonecarver involved with prestigious heritage restoration work at York Minster.

 

Peter's background is in fine art, having gained a degree in Fine Art (sculpture) at Saint Martin’s School of Art in 1980 and, in 2000, an MA in Fine Art at Leeds Metropolitan University.

 

Currently his business deals with a wide variety of work including fine-art stonecarving, sculpture, letter-cutting, public art, bespoke memorials and masonry.

 

Much of Peter’s artwork is motivated by a desire to investigate different ways of using stone and to developing new visual routes towards addressing the issues and images of modern life in a contemporary art context.

 

His current focus lies with the development of a creative process formed by a combination of new advanced technologies with the more traditional skills of his craft.

 

Photo: Tiger, 2005. Menagerie boulders, Escrick Park Estate in York.

Peter is one of the first occupants of the Phoenix Centre, a business centre initiated by Science City York and Creative York as a facility to develop innovation in business.

 

People will have the chance to work directly with Peter in a series of consultation workshops which will focus on ideas for the Clay Cross public art scheme.

 

Photo: Holocaust memorial, 2009. Maiden Bridge, Lancashire.