Overview

William Peers studied at Falmouth Art College after which he was apprenticed to a stone-carver, Michael Black, who urged him to work slowly and entirely by hand. Peers worked in the marble quarries of Carrara, Italy, and later spent time in Corsica where he found a tranquil retreat to work and develop his ideas. His earliest carvings were figurative and followed the long history of English stone carving brought to prominence by Henry Moore and Eric Gill. In the 1990s Peers moved to north Cornwall and there followed a period of fifteen years carving relief sculptures in Hornton Stone and slowly moved towards abstraction. In 2007 he began working in Portuguese Marble, a material which had a dramatic effect on the style of his work. In 2010 he embarked on a series ‘100 Days: Sketched in Marble’ in which he carved a marble sculpture each day for one hundred days. Working repeatedly within a time limit led him to a bolder approach to carving and allowed him the freedom to create more dynamic forms. The switch to marble also allowed Peers to develop his technical skills to allow him to work on a far larger scale, creating several monumental sculptures designed for the landscape. 

 

William Peers has exhibited with the John Martin Gallery since 1997. He has exhibited with the On Form Sculpture Biennale at Asthall Manor, Glyndebourne Festival and the Armory, New York (2002). Other exhibitions have been held with Everard Read Gallery in Cape Town and London. 

 

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Selected Works
Exhibitions
Video
Biography

Solo Exhibitions

2021 Origin, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2019 Fanfare, Everard Read London, London, UK

2018 A Line in Space, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2016 The Space Between, CIRCA Everard Read, London, UK

2014 Carvings in Marble, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2012Woburn Artbeat, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, UK
2012 Sculptural, Coombe Trenchard, Devon, UK
2012 Pertaining to Things Natural, John Martin Gallery at Chelsea Physic Garden, London, UK

2011 Glyndebourne Festival, East Sussex, UK

2010 100 Days: Sketched in Marble, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2008 The Secret Garden, Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

2007 New Work in Marble, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2006 Art London, John Martin Gallery, London, UK
2006 Joint exhibition with Neale Howells, Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, Sussex, UK

2005 Stone Carvings, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2003 Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK

2002 Wall-hung carvings, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

1996 Exhibition of carvings, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

1995 One man exhibition of prints & interior form sculptures, Hyde Park Gallery, London, UK

1993 Exhibition of carvings, Gigondas, France

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 On Form Sculpture, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, UK

2021 Summer 2021, Everard Read, London, UK

2020 Bronze, Steel, Stone & Bone, Everard Read, London, UK

2019 The Winter Show, John Martin Gallery, UK

2016 Art 16, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2014  On Form Sculpture, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, UK

2013 On form London, The Crypt, St Pancras Church London, UK

2012 Woburn Artbeat, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, UK
2012 Sculptural, Coombe Trenchard, Devon, UK
2012 On Form Sculpture, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, UK

2011 Glyndebourne Festival, East Sussex, UK
2011 Joze London, London, UK

2010 10 Joze Show, Sussex, UK
2010 On form sculpture, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, UK

2009 Art London, John Martin Gallery, London, UK
2009 '09 Joze Show, Sussex, UK

2008 On form Sculpture, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, UK
2008 The Secret Garden, Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

2006 Art London, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

2002 The Armoury Show, New York, USA

2001 Three Eastern Heads, Art2001, Business Design Centre

2000 Summer Exhibition, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

1998 New Artists 1998, Group Show, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

1997 Group shows, John Martin Gallery, London, UK

1994 Joint family exhibition, Hereford, UK

1992 Art Week, Oxford, UK

1991 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK