Peter Travis - Kite-maker

Peter Travis is an internationally recognised colour designer and educator, creating textiles, fashions and other products. For over 40 years, he has taught colour and design at notable institutes such as the Alexander Mackie CAE, City Art Institute and the College of Fine Arts where he was concurrently head of the Ceramics Department and lectured in design at the Department of Industrial Design.

From 1982-88 he was sole colour designer at Mitchell, Giurgola and Thorp for the new Parliament House in Canberra, where he created the colours for the Senate and House of Representatives. Earlier in his career (1959-61) he was fashion director at Speedo Holdings, Australia, designing the first fashion and leisurewear range for men worldwide. In 1978 he co-founded, with John Silk, the first Festival of the Winds at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Between 1978 and 1995, Peter completed 14 major works in aerial colour-field sculpture for corporate foyers, commissioned by leading Australian architects. In 1984 Peter completed a colour-field sculpture for the Australian Pavilion at the World Trade Fair in Tsukuba, Japan, commissioned by Richard Johnson, Government Architect at the time.

Peter has been represented in many major collections (including the Victoria and Albert in London, England; the Faenza Museum of World Ceramics, Faenza, Italy; the National Museum of Art, Gdansk, Poland; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. In 1993 he was a design consultant to Floriade, the Canberra Flower Festival.

Peter has received many awards including his 1973 election by peers as a Titular Member of the International Academy of Ceramics and another accolade in 1973 was his award of the Faenza gold medal at the international ceramic competition held there. In 1990 he was elected by international peers as the second living person to the Hall of Fame in the World Kite Museum, Long Beach WA, USA.

Between 1974 and 1988, Peter was sponsored by the Australia Council and was represented in about 23 travelling exhibitions worldwide. He also completed 32 aerial sculpture installations in major or solo exhibitions.

It will be exciting to see the aerial installations that he is designing for Glebe in October as part of Art and About!