Curriculum Vitae

Pete Clarke studied at Burnley Municipal College, Bristol Polytechnic and M. A. in Fine Art Chelsea School of Art. He is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and MA Course Leader at University of Central Lancashire, Preston.

Projects:
‘Environs - The City as a Site and Sign of Modernity’

‘Eight days a week’, Liverpool with Köln, the artists’ initiative reciprocal exchange project, co organiser and curator since 1998, European City of Culture Project 2008.

‘Collaborations’ a European painting project with Georg Gartz, Köln since 1998.

‘Unheimlich’, ‘Die Halle’,Wiesbaden, Germany & Static Gallery, Liverpool, ‘Unheimlich’ was an exhibition concept uniting British and European Artists.

‘Interface’, Kooperative K, Hagen, Germany & Liverpool Art School 2003-4, Interface explores European artists working in collaboration, challenging concepts of originality and authenticity through dialogue and experimentation.

Featured Websites:
www.eight-days-a-week.de
www.chatting-with-colours.de
www.another place.org
www.uwe.ac.uk/amd/archive
www.britishcouncil.de/d/arts/liverpool.htm

Solo Exhibitions 1981- 2002:
'Prints & Drawings', Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
'Social Studies', Pentonville Gallery, London.
'City Observations', Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
'Constructed Views', Rochdale Art Gallery.
'Artist in Residence: Kelvin Flats', Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield.
'Streets & Institutions', Scott Gallery, Lancaster University.
'Colonial Buildings: The Architecture of Power', Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston.
'Environs: Structure: Gestures', The Arts Centre, Darlington.
'Letters to Language', Cornerhouse, Manchester.
‘Capital’, New End Gallery, Hampstead, London.
‘Paintings and Moments’, University of Liverpool Gallery
‘flowers and follies’, C/o Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln, Germany.
‘City of ships and stores’, No 37, University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
‘numberless islands’, Quay Arts, Isle of Wight.

Pete Clarke, Georg Gartz and Pete Clarke

Collaborations with Köln Artist Georg Gartz 1998 - 2004:
‘Collaborations’, Galerie Lichthof, Köln & Huyton Gallery, Merseyside.
‘Die Brücke’, Atelier, Nippes, Köln.
‘Responses’ Bilderrahmen Werkstatt, Köln
‘Chatting with colours’ Kunstwerk Kunstschalter E.V., Köln.
‘Collaborators’, Residency project in Graphic Arts, Liverpool Art School.
‘Interface’, ‘Kooperative K’, Hagen, Germany.
‘Crash 1’, VHS Köln, Germany
‘Zwischenraum: wir’, Gummersbach, Germany.

Works in Major British and German Public and Private Collections:
including Liverpool University, Leicester Education Authority, Sheffield City Art Galleries, Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and Arts Council of England.

Selected Group Exhibitions 1985-1990:
'Summer in the City', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
'Human Interest', Cornerhouse, Manchester.
'Print 86' Printmaker's Council’, The Barbican Centre, London.
‘Connections', Cornerhouse, Manchester & Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
City Life', Cornerhouse, Manchester.
'Urban Views', Turnpike Gallery, Leigh.
‘BBK - Bundesverband Bildender Kunstler’, Cologne, Germany.
'State of the Nation', Herbert Gallery, Coventry.
‘Facades: Faces of the City', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
'Depicting History for Today', Mappin, Sheffield: Leeds City and Rochdale Art Galleries.
'Current Work - A Reputation Amongst Artists', Selected with Peter de Francia and Sonia Lawson,
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield.
'Work from the Permanent Collection', Sheffield City Art Galleries.

Selected Group Exhibitions 1990-2000:
'A Story to Tell - Narrative in British Art', Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield.
'A Pool of Signs', Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.
'Artists at Work', Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
'Codenames', 3-Month Gallery, Liverpool.
‘Provocative Prints’, New End Gallery, London.
‘Engagement - Eight Days a Week’, Lichthof Gallery, Cologne.
‘Glitter’, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool.

Selected Group Exhibitions 2000-04:
‘AnOther Place’, Storey Institute’, Lancaster.
‘Unheimlich’ Die Halle, Wiesbaden
‘nothing but the facts’ Lavatoio Contumaciale, Rome.
‘Remembering Utopia’, Salerno, Italy.
‘Kultur & Natur, Höhen Art’, Site Sculpture, Simonskall, Germany
‘Arena Gallery’, Liverpool
‘Crash 2, New Painting’ VHS, Köln.
‘New Painting’ ‘Liverpool Biennial’.

Eight Days a Week:
‘Eight days a week’ is a Project co curated by Pete Clarke from Liverpool and Bryan Biggs, Director Bluecoat Arts Centre with Jürgen Kisters, Journalist and Art Critic Kölner Stadt Enzeiger and artist Georg Gartz from Köln. This Project facilitates artists from Liverpool and Cologne taking part in a unique cultural exchange through an ongoing programme of exhibitions, residencies, films, performances, discussions and publications.

Eight Days a Week, Capital of Culture 2008:
Liverpool, Merseyside in the context of the North West has been awarded European Capital City of Culture for 2008 from a short list of six major British Cities. Liverpool City Council highlighted ‘Eight days a week’ an inclusive collaborative project linking Liverpool and the North West with Köln, Germany as a major featured event for March 2008.

The steering group led by Pete Clarke and Bryan Biggs, Bluecoat Arts Centre plan a major exchange Project in Liverpool and Köln developing exhibitions, conference and a significant publication to document the philosophy and history of the project. The steering group will develop the ‘Eight Days’ Project to define its organisational framework, its mission and objectives to facilitate widening participation and audience development for contemporary art in the North West within the context of Europe. To develop a cultural programme leading up to 2008, create publicity and funding opportunities and draft a strategy related to Liverpool City Council and the Capital of Culture Programme.

Eight Days a Week 2002:
‘Eight days a week’ projects in both Liverpool and Köln encompassed a wide range of activities, craft, installation, video, photography, sculpture, architecture, printmaking, digital media, performance, music and painting. They are the result of collaborations between artists, both individuals and groups, working with a number of venues and sites, including galleries, colleges, artists’ spaces, civic buildings and the internet. Artists and other representatives from Liverpool and Köln visited each others cities providing further opportunities for a wider audience engagement and dialogue with the exchange process. As part of the 50th Anniversary event there were civic, ecumenical, business and other exchanges.

Liverpool and Köln Exchange Programme, July 2004.
Pete Clarke gave a Tate Gallery Talk to contextualise the recent Köln exhibitions ‘Rhinegold’, Tate Gallery, ‘Drawing Exhibition ZG’, Bluecoat Gallery and Liverpool Art School ‘Accidental Lines and Red Splashes’.

These ‘Eight days’ projects in 2002 were funded by the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool, The British Council, The City of Liverpool and Köln, The Door, Merseyside Youth Association, Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture Bid and Liverpool/ Cologne Twinning Anniversary, Eight Days and Uclan, Preston.

‘Collaboration’, a painting project by Pete Clarke and Georg Gartz.
This project produced work in England and Germany since 1998 and has made reciprocal exhibitions in Köln and Liverpool.

‘Through this dialogic process a body of painting has emerged which offers us, not a series of composite impressions of the urban landscape, but a kind of visual meditation on the city, an amalgam of differing perspectives. The paintings raise questions about how we picture the world, challenging the notion of a single fixed authorial point of view. They also interrogate the practice of painting itself through the methodology of the collaborative approach – the process of applying paint to canvas becoming a discursive act.’
From ‘Collaboration’ catalogue essay by Bryan Biggs, Director of Arts, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool 2000.

‘Kunstwerk’, Köln October-November 2001.
The exhibition at Kunstwerk included twelve recent paintings made collaboratively with Georg Gartz in the studios at Uclan and an installation made of twenty previous collaborative paintings. The exhibition was well presented in a large independent art gallery which is part of the artists’ group at Kunstwerk. The exhibition opening had many visitors and included a programme of theatrical and musical performances to broaden access to the visual arts. The project and exhibition costs, publicity and transport were funded by the British Council in Germany, Eight days a week, Kulturamt Köln, Kunstwerk and Uclan. The exhibition was reviewed by the ‘Kölner Stadt Anzeiger’, featured in the Stadt review and significantly publicised by the British Council in Germany’s website included five pictures of work and review of the exhibition.

‘Long night of the museums, Saturday 10/11/ 2001.
The exhibition ‘Kunstwerk’ was highlighted as a major part of the ‘Die Lange Nacht der Museen’ [the long night of the museums] when Köln has a celebratory evening for the visual arts organised by the City of Köln and sponsored by the Stadt Review. All the major Köln museums participated with Kunstwerk the selected independent exhibition.

‘Crash 1’: Artists’ in Collaboration, curated by Georg Gartz and Pete Clarke VHS Köln-Lindenthal.
Crash explored how artists’ work in various forms of collaboration, challenging concepts of originality and authenticity through dialogue and experimentation from formal painting, painting and poetry, interactive presentations and photographic installations, contemporary printmaking and textiles.

The Exhibition was formally opened with speeches by Helga Blömer- Frerker, Bezirksvorsteherin Lindenthal, Andrea Pohlmann- Jochheim, Head of Department of Culture, Stadt Köln and an introduction exploring concepts of collaboration within the European cultural context by Georg Gartz.

‘Crash 2’ New Painting from Liverpool curated by Pete Clarke VHS Köln- Nippes.
The Exhibition was formally opened with speeches by Bernd Schössler, Bezirksvorsteher Nippes, Andrea Pohlmann- Jochheim, Head of Department of Culture, Stadt Köln and an introduction exploring Liverpool within the cultural context of the International by Pete Clarke.

The Exhibition and catalogue for ‘Crash 1 and 2’ was funded by Liverpool Art School, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston and Roger Morris, P.H. Holt Trust in England and by ‘Eight days a week’, Stadt Köln, 20/10 Kulturhauptstadt Europas and DOM Kölsch, Germany. Reviewed in the Kölner Stadt Enzeiger, ‘Ausstellungen von Kölnern und Liverpoolern sind in VHS-Galerien zu sehen’.

Bluecoat Arts Centre Design Team Artist 2003-7.
Pete Clarke was appointed the Design Team Artist in January 2003 for the redevelopment of the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool from a competition of invited artists.

This redevelopment project calculated to be £8.75 million including design and rebuilding includes funding by the Liverpool City of Culture, Arts Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and North West Development Agency. Pete Clarke’s role as Design Team Artist was to have a creative input into the design process working with the Architectural team of ‘Biq Architecten’ from Rotterdam who won the commission from an international competition. His role also included working with the Bluecoat Management, Liverpool City Council and Representatives from funding agencies to facilitate the Bluecoat development. The Project combines a complete restoration and re-evaluation of the historical infra structure, its creative and managerial function and a new gallery extension building to significantly increase the creative ambitions of the Bluecoat to widen participation and develop the audience for innovative contemporary arts. Pete Clarke’s role was also to participate in funding applications and propose initiatives to maximise the use of creative spaces, sympathetic design and function and to suggest new ideas for artists’ participation and studio and gallery programme.

The building project goes on site in January 2005 and hopes to be completed for 2007 for the historical anniversary of Liverpool and to lead up to European Capital City of Culture 2008. Pete Clarke’s role as Design Team Artist will continue during this development process throughout the RIBA architectural stages of construction and development to completion and celebratory launch. He will participate in discussion concerning the infrastructure and design of the Arts Centre, the City Environs and the Secret Garden Project.

Injured Text - Printmaking Residency 2005-7.
The Printmaking Residency & Exchange programme between Pete Clarke, Neil Morris, Senior Lecturer and Head of Printmaking at Liverpool Art School, JMU, Georg Gartz, Andreas Vietz and Jutta Vollmer at The Graphikwerkstatt in Köln. Andreas and Jutta were visiting artists in Fine Art at Uclan in 2000 as part of the ‘Eight days’ Project. Work from the residency will be exhibited in 2006/7 in Barcelona, Cologne & Liverpool. Pete Clarke has also been invited in September 2005 by ‘Impact/Kontakt’ the International Printmaking Conference in Berlin and Poznan, Poland to make a presentation as the session panellist ‘Diverse, unequal, different…interconnected’, exploring concepts of cultural exchange.