Born in Victoria and now resident in Newcastle, NSW, Peter Tilley has been exhibiting widely for nearly 30 years. A regular and popular exhibitor at Sculpture by the Sea, both in Cottesloe and Bondi, Peter also successfully participated at Sculpture by the Sea in Denmark in June of this year.

He writes about his 'table' bronze sculptures : “I am always looking for meaning and inspiration in everyday objects; through their material form and history. They are a record of time, place and circumstance and reflect the rituals of life”.

 The figure in each of these works, sometimes accompanied by a cat, finds himself in a different situation with a selection of objects from a lifetime of habits and pastimes. The placement of items creates a tension, as the unusual and everyday merge to render the familiar, strange .

Born 1946: Williamstown, Vic

Academic Qualifications

1978-79 Certificate of Art, Newcastle School of Art & Design, NSW

1975-77 Studied Sculpture, Private Tutor

1973-75 Ceramics (p/t), Newcastle School of Art & Design, NSW

Solo Exhibitions

2009 Path of Life , Gallery East, North Fremantle, WA.

2009 Adventures in Contentment , Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

2009 Midway Along the Path of Life, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2007 Reviewing the Dream, Gallery East, North Fremantle, WA.

2007 Place & circumstance, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2006 Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2005 Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

2004 Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2003 Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2001 Nick Mitzevich Gallery, Newcastle, NSW

2000 -1 Parallels & Crossovers: An Artistic relationship, Peter & Lezlie Tilley 1991-2000 , Touring Show

1999, 97, 96, 94, Access Contemporary Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW

1992, 90, 89 Access Contemporary Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW

1988 Gryphon Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

1987 Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle, NSW

Selected Major Group Shows

2009 Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, Denmark

2009 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, WA

2008 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, NSW

2008 Surface(detail), Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW

2008 50 Years of the Muswellbrook Shire Collection, Muswellbrook Region Art Gallery, NSW

2008 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, WA

2008 Figuratively speaking, JMG, Newcastle, NSW

2007 Sculpture by the Sea , Cottesloe, WA.

2007 Sculpture by the Sea , Bondi, NSW

2007 On the Other Side , Gunnedah Arts Centre, NSW

2006 Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, NSW. On the Other Side , Moree Plains Gallery

2006 The Figure in Question , Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, NSW

2006 Sculpture by the Sea, Sculpture Inside, Sydney

2005 Chalk and Cheese, Newcastle Art Space, NSW

2004 Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, NSW

The Winners , Muswellbrook regional Art Gallery, NSW

The Frank Saxby Bequest Invitation Art Acquisition Prize , Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree

2003 Kinetica , Maitland City Gallery, NSW

2001 Well Connected: Dobell + Company , Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery

2000 Melbourne Art Fair 2000 , Royal Exhibition Bld, Melbourne

Elements of Sculpture, 2 artists, Tamworth Region Gallery, NSW

Contemporary Sculpture , 2 artists, Penrith Regional Art Gallery, NSW

Sculpture 2000 , Curated, Access Contemporary Art Gallery, NSW

1999 New Sculpture 1999 , Access Contemporary Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW

1998 Stretched 5 Artists , Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW

Steel Works - A Regeneration, Lake Macquarie Region Art, Gallery, NSW

1997 Newcastle National Ceramic Award , Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW

1995 Selected 3rd Annual Contemporary Collection Benefactors Art Auction , AGNSW

1992 ACAF 3 sculpture exhibition , curated by Ken Scarlett, Melbourne 1993

1992 Access to Adelaide, 7 sculptors - BMG Fine Art, Adelaide

1990-06 Australian Contemporary Art Fair , Royal Exhibition Bld. Melbourne

1990 Shifting Ground , Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

Sydney Myer Fund Australia Day Ceramics Award , Shepparton Art Gallery

1986 Hunter Valley Sculptors , Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW

Fletcher Jones Invitational , Warmambool Art Gallery, VIC

Collections

Artbank; Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, NSW; Clayton Utz, Sydney; Hunter Urban Division Urban Division of General Practitioners; Maitland City Art Gallery, NSW; Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, NSW; Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW; Tomago Aluminium Collection, NSW; University of Newcastle Collection, NSW; Warmambool Art Gallery, VIC; and Private.

Selected Bibliography

Catalogue, Shifting Ground, Newcastle Artists, AGNSW, Aug 15-19 1990;Artists & Galleries of Australia, Max Germaine, Craftsman House, 1990; New Art Eight, Nevill Drury, Craftsman House,1993; Encyclopedia of Australian Visual Artists, Alan & Susan McCulloch, Allen & Unwin, 1994; Who's Who of Australian Visual Artists, DW Thorpe 1995; Sydney Morning Herald, Sep 21, 1999; SMH, Metro, Sebastian Smee, Sep 24-30,2000; SMH, Bronwyn Watson, Sep.21, 2000;Scupture of the month, Nov 2000, Maitland City Art Gallery, Newsletter, Dec 2000.; Exhibitions, critic's picks, Metro, SMH, June 28-July 4, 2002; The Week's Best, Metro, SMH, Sep.12-18, 2003; TV Feature, Sculpture 2004', Today show, TCN9, Jan 28, 2004; Newcastle Herald Weekender, Jill Stowell, Sep,22, 2007.