Peter Powning

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Peter Powning
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Born1949
OccupationArtist, sculptor
Spouse(s)Beth Powning
ChildrenJake Powning
AwardsHonourary Doctorate, UNB (2014); Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts (2017); Saidye Bronfman Award (2006)
Websitepowning.com/peter

Peter Powning, D. Lit., RCA, is a Canadian artist and sculptor working in ceramics, metals, and glass. Since 1970, he has explored a wide and constantly evolving range of artistic forms, all while working concurrently as an activist, arts advocate and environmentalist.

Life and Work

Powning was born in 1949, in Providence, Rhode Island. He grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and attended the University of Connecticut, where his studies included ceramics, welding, photography, sculpture, and the history of homesteading.[1].

In 1968, Peter met Beth Powning through mutual friends in New York City, and they were married the following year at Beth’s parents farm in rural Connecticut[2]. In 1970, disaffected by the social and political situation in the United States, the pair relocated to rural New Brunswick, Canada[3], sharing a desire to live close to the land in as self-sufficient way as possible[4]. They bought an 1870s farmhouse near the town of Sussex, where they still reside, and Peter built his first studio in a converted grain shed[5][6].

In the mid-1970s, the Pownings began a sojourn in Europe, and in 1976 Peter enrolled at the Croyden College of Design and Technology in London. There, he expanded his artistic scope through the study of techniques such as mould casting, slip screening and photo silk-screening, and was exposed to new ideas from leaders in the pottery field. In 1977, he showed his work at the Warehouse Gallery in London, and, following the Pownings’ return to Canada, he began to hold solo exhibitions at galleries in New Brunswick, all the while experimenting with new techniques and materials. His first Canada Council grant supported a sculptural project with integrated voice and sound recording elements. Some of the sculptures later went to the National Sound Symposium in Newfoundland[7].

Throughout the 1980s, Powning grew his artistic practice through new materials and techniques, as well as connections in the Canadian art community. He was a regular participant at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, where his reputation grew and he made connections with galleries across the country. He began working with bronze casting and by the end of the decade had built a foundry and glasswork facility at his home studio. He also began working extensively with the American raku technique, developing a characteristic style defined by glossy white porcelain with colourful glazes and a large crackle pattern[8]. The 1980s also saw the beginning of Powning's participation in public art competitions, which to date has resulted in 17 public commissions in four provinces[9][10]. By the 1990s, Powning's work expanded to include cast bronze, steel, slumped and cast glass, and clay[11].

In addition to an increased focus on public sculpture commissions, Powning's more recent work has included experiments with breaking and reassembling of porcelain—a variation of the Japanese kintsugi technique—and images of altered books (in the ocean, baked, terra-formed)[12]. A touring 50-year retrospective was mounted by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery curated by John Leroux[13]. In conjunction with the exhibition, the book Peter Powning: A Retrospective was published by Goose Lane Editions, edited by John Leroux[14].

Peter Powning was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of New Brunswick in 2014[15] and is the recipient of several awards, including the 2017 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts[16] and the 2006 Saidye Bronfman Award, which is part of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts[17][18].

Activism and Advocacy

Running parallel to Peter Powning's life of artistic production and has been his activities in promoting the arts and artists in his region. Soon after his arrival in Canada in 1970, he began building a network of associations with local artists and craftspeople. He attended his first New Brunswick Craftsmen's Council (now known as Craft NB) meeting in the fall of 1972[19].

In 1981 he presented a brief to the Canada Council advocating for a move away from the “centralized arts hierarchy” towards more opportunity for artists in rural and regional Canada. In 1983, Powning, along with fellow artist John Hooper, approached the developers of the Market Square complex in Saint John to include public art into a large-scale development, leading to Powning being hired as a consultant and the commissioning of numerous works, including his own first such commission, Strata 1[20]

In February 1986, the New Brunswick Arts Council and the Conseil de promotion et diffusion de la culture, of which Powning was a member, presented a brief to Premier Richard Hatfield calling for the creation of a Premier's Advisory Committee on the Arts.[20]

Powning has served on the Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (which became the New Brunswick Arts Board), the advisory Council of the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and as a founding Director and board president of the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex.[21][1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Powning, Beth (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. pp. 168–171. ISBN 9781773101927.
  2. ↑ Sweet, Jennifer (14 February 2023). "Writer Beth Powning and artist Peter Powning discuss their 'lifetime of being in sync'". CBC News. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Larocque, John (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective (9781773101927 ed.). Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 27.
  4. ↑ Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 17. ISBN 9781773101927.
  5. ↑ "LGA 2017 – Peter Powning". Arts NB. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Powning, Beth (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 169. ISBN 9781773101927.
  7. ↑ Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 31. ISBN 9781773101927.
  8. ↑ Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. pp. 20–21. ISBN 9781773101927.
  9. ↑ Chandler, Olivia (3 October 2017). "Sussex sculptor's Resurgo will rise outside new Moncton plaza". CBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Saint John unveils new Peter Powning sculpture". CBC News. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  11. ↑ Leroux, John (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Goose Lane Editions. pp. 181–190. ISBN 9781773101927.
  12. ↑ Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 22. ISBN 9781773101927.
  13. ↑ "Peter Powning: A Retrospective". New Brunswick Museum. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  14. ↑ "Peter Powning: A Retrospective/Une rétrospective Excerpt and Virtual Launch". Goose Lane. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  15. ↑ "UNB to grant three honorary degrees one professor emeritus and two Allan P Stuart Teaching Awards". University of New Brunswick. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ "Past Laureats". Arts NB. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ "Ceramist and sculptor Peter Powning 30th recipient of Saidye Bronfman Award". Canadian Museum of History. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ Ross, Val (26 October 2006). "Artist blissed-out after winning Bronfman Award". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  19. ↑ Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. p. 28. ISBN 9781773101927.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Gotlieb, Rachel (2020). Peter Powning: A Retrospective. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions. pp. 30–32. ISBN 9781773101927.
  21. ↑ "Staff and Volunteers - Arts & Culture Centre of Sussex". AX: The Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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