Peter Maddox was born in Africa during the last years of true colonial living. Although he has now lived in Australia for 33 years, he spent his childhood in Mozambique living with his parents in Luabo (a large sugar estate) on the banks of the Zambezi. He travelled many miles via road, canoe and train to boarding school in Zimbabwe.
Much of his formative years involved spending time with the Africans, learning to sculpt and eating with them and learning about their Portuguese cooking style. He has gathered many recipes form his childhood days that he uses in his current gourmet breakfasts and lunches for guests on sculpting courses at Bella Cosa.
The African style and influence can be seen in his work, especially his stone pieces. Working mainly with soapstone in Africa, he perfected his elimination sculpting technique with stone - in Australia, he now loves to use limestone for this process although he uses talcstone and sandstone often.
Peter works with wood quite regularly and for this he prefers Redgum. One unusual work he sculpted was using a piece of Brighton Beach jetty which was destroyed during a storm in 1996.
Sculpting in clay and plaster presents fabulous new challenges and requires a different perspective altogether. On occasion Peter will cast one of his pieces in bronze.
Our resident artist also loves to paint and one of his favourite activities is involving a group of people in an art, food and wine experience by gathering together some great regional food, one or two of McLaren Vales finest winemakers and encouraging everyone to lose their inhibitions and get involved in painting an enormous canvas. Some are enormously successful, others are hideous but people always have an wonderfully entertaining time.
Peter has exhibited in Europe, Japan and Australia. His works are widely acquired and appear in private collections in UK, USA, Spain, France and Japan as well as Australia.
Bella Cosa Sculpture Park is a great place to see the various styles and techniques used by Peter for his works. Should you wish a lesson in sculpture or to gather some friends for an art, food wine experience please contact us on (08) 8383 0270 or email bellacosa@bigpond.com.