Peter Tappin was born and raised in Brisbane and had a career in advertising and promotions for many years. He was also the proprietor of a garden nursery in the 1970s. When considering a career change in the early 1980s he visited a friend who had purchased a potter’s wheel and was learning to throw. This inspired Tappin to emulation and he also bought a potter’s wheel and learned the necessary pottery techniques from a book. He established a workshop and gallery, The Mango Tree, which became well known as it was situated on Main Road, opposite the Wellington Point State School.
Like many potters of the post-World War II generation, Tappin achieved a sense of place by incorporating local clay and ingredients into the formulation of his body and glazes, in this instance he utilised mud from the local mangroves and the bright red iron rich Redlands soil. By 1986 he had established his studio at Carina and marketed his ceramics widely in Queensland and as far afield as South Australia. He held solo exhibitions of his painting and pottery at The Mill, Yeppoon in 1983, Mellersh Gallery, Cleveland in 1984 and Knockaround Gallery, Ballina in 1985. The Queensland Art Gallery Shop and the Potter’s Gallery in Brisbane were his principal outlets during the 1980s.
When the financial recession in the late 1980s caused downturn in the market for his pottery Tappin moved to the Sunshine Coast, as that was his major market. Tappin established the Burrum Pottery in an old service station at Beerburrum. He produced pottery until 1994 but as the market continued to contract he closed the pottery, after which he became involved with aspects of the computer industry.
Tappin produced functional as well as display pieces. He was especially proud of some of his unique glazes. In the early 1980s he perfected a copper glaze which showed a blackened metallic effect. His malachite green glaze, which was based on chromium and tin, was very popular later in the decade. Its appeal is demonstrated in the contrast of the glaze with the warm earthy tones of the body and the band of impressed decoration. Although his production was quite prolific, and his career spanned more than fifteen years, he did not exhibit extensively.
- Writers:
- Cooke, Glenn
- Date written:
- 2005
- Last updated:
- 2011
