My colleague Peter Davies, who has died aged 80, was an artist, arts administrator and latterly professor at the University of Sunderland. He raised the profile of visual arts in the north of England and also championed Welsh identity – especially through the Beca group of artists he and others formed in the 1970s with his brother, Paul.
Between 1974 and 1992 Peter was visual arts officer for the public body Northern Arts, where his greatest successes included establishing the first forest sculpture trail at Grizedale, Cumbria, in 1977, and public art commissions such as the Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen Bottle of Notes sculpture unveiled in Middlesbrough in 1993. Peter also initiated Art in the Metro programmes, and artist residencies for Durham Cathedral and Sunderland FC.
Peter was born in Swansea, south Wales, to James Davies, an RAF officer, and Beryl (nee Peregrine). The family moved often for his father’s postings and Peter and Paul went to numerous schools before boarding at Plymouth college in Devon. Peter went on to study fine art at Goldsmiths’ College, London, where he met Annette Fox, a fellow student, whom he married in 1969.
After a summer trip in 1967, between 1968 and 1972 Annette and Peter worked in the US. Peter first took a teaching post at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, and then was appointed a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Contemporary art was changing and moving outside the gallery.
Inspired by this, Peter curated the institute’s “visiting artists” programmes. As Chicago was an ideal stopping-off point between New York and Los Angeles, he attracted well-known artists and thinkers such as Richard Serra, Sol LeWitt and Lucy Lippard.
Back in the UK, Peter joined Northern Arts and the couple settled in Tynemouth with their three sons, Jesse, Gabe and Owain. He gained an MA from the Royal College of Art before he went on in 1992 to become a freelance and consultant.
In 2000 Peter was appointed a senior research fellow at the University of Sunderland, and later became a professor and head of glass and ceramics (and my manager), based in the university’s National Glass Centre. He developed “reach in” strategies, inviting artists to work with glass and ceramics – often for the first time. Peter’s book Glass North East (2007) showcases the innovative outcomes. He oversaw the expansion of PhD numbers and secured funding for equipment to advance glass art, such as waterjet cutting.
After his retirement in 2010 Peter refocused on his own art and had several exhibitions with Beca. The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, recognised his importance and added Peter’s works to their collections.
Peter is survived by Annette and their sons, and by five grandchildren, Bethan, Bo, Blake, Wolf and Farryn.
