Peter Wright (1919–2003)

Sculptor, potter and teacher who constantly explored his medium, from tablewares to abstraction and finally to figuration in a bid to make his material "sacred again". He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, but brought up in Enfield. After Army service in World War II, Wright attended Hornsey College of Art, 1946-50, studying graphics but discovering clay. When he began teaching art at Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education Wright had to take ceramics classes, which called for rapid self-tuition. In 1954 he and his wife Sheila settled at Monkton Combe, near Bath in Somerset, an area which influenced his forms and decoration. The ceramics produced by William Newland, James Tower and Pablo Picasso were then important in Wright's development. He showed at venues such as the British Crafts Centre, Design Centre and, in 1957, the Victoria & Albert Museum and, by the late 195os, was producing his distinctive totemic forms, simply g