Peter Hawkins
Peter was born and raised in England, and educated through to university level. He was an accomplished athlete, representing school and county (state), in rugby, and cricket. Peter turned professional, but repetitive injuries curtailed his career. He became a cabinet/furniture maker. Additionally, he found interest in dog training/showing, Peter was a respected international judge at dog shows, bred many top champions including “Crufts” winners.
Next, he entered the textile/rubber/chemical industry where he was a Research and Development specialist. Peter was rated number two in the world in textile printing and color matching. He developed resistive printing to enable 8 screen-printing to yield 13 colors. His career took him all over the world, especially the Middle East.
Peter finally re-entered the art scene by joining the Alamo Wood Turners in Jan. 2006; he really loved it. He bought his first lathe 6 years ago and found he was totally smitten with woodturning!
He is now a permanent artist in a gallery in San Antonio, as well as the Wesley Gallery. Peter’s specialty is thin walled, hollow vessels with surface voids. On some of pieces he inlays Turquoise to enhance the product. The turquoise is ‘real’ which he gets from Kingman, AZ mines. He processes, sorts, and grades the stones himself before inlaying them in the wood.
His principal medium is Mesquite, but he turns all woods. The pieces are finished with food safe finishes, firstly Tung oil, then salad bowl finish, and finally Carnuba wax.
Peter is a member of the Central Texas Wood Turners, based in Austin, and the American Wood Turners Association