Peter Carrigy

Born in Sydney, Peter now lives and works in Adelaide, which is geographically accessible to the coast and central Australia. Largely self-taught, Peter studied Architecture and Teaching before committing himself to creative art. 

His working methods are sometimes unconventional, experimenting with different materials like metal glass and ceramics. He enjoys working collaboratively with other craft practitioners learning new skills and techniques. His work is represented in public and private collections internationally and has been purchased by the Federal and South Australian Governments as gifts for overseas government officials.

Recent work by Peter Carrigy has seen the development of bold shapes combining off-the-tool texture with earth pigments and resins he has collected from the natural environment. He states of his work:

“The ancient Australian landscape inspires me artistically and spiritually. I utilise wood collected from coastal and outback regions which is felled by fire, wind, rain and old-age.”

References to the landscape are ever present in his work, like the stylised shape of a seed-pod opened by a bushfire or an aerial view of outback channel country during as flood, depicted in the wood grain of a Coolabah tree.

His work is intuitive, during the process of creation his ideas and the form of his work evolves depending on the nature of the timber that is being shaped. 

After crafting the timber Carrigy finishes his work using iron-based pigments, vinyl paint, resin or ink coloured stain obtained from rusting steel wool in vinegar. Ochres and acrylics are used to recreate the bleached colours of spinifex grass and Tung oil nourishes and protects the wood. This oil is resistant to water, alcohol and food acids; it is hard wearing, weather resistant and non-toxic. Tung oil is penetrating oil which will allow each Peter Carrigy piece to age gracefully and develop a natural patina.

Made in Australia.