Artist profile

Peter Accadia was born in San Marco in Lamis, (Puglia) Italy before migrating to Australia in 1956.

His lifelong love for ceramics and fine art started from the age of 13 and he is still practicing his art today.

Educated in Melbourne, Peter completed his Ceramics Diploma at RMIT while living in Northcote – an inner Northern suburb.

He was an artist in residence at La Trobe University from the 1980s until the early 2010.  He taught the art of Ceramics to students and academics.

All of his work is conducted at his studio-gallery in Eltham where he lives with his wife Noriko who is a constant inspiration and continues to influence his creativity today. 

Why does he pot?

There are as many answers as there are days. For Peter, life is too short not to be engaged in a creative way.

While much of Peter’s work consists of high-fired  stoneware and porcelain thrown on the wheel, his talents also extend to individual forms and chess pieces which can be found in our online store.

Having developed the technique of Saggar firing, Peter uses a diverse selection of natural materials such as shells, paper, wood, cow dung, mushrooms and even spent grapes to personalise his pieces.

Exhibited in Australia and Japan and held in private collections internationally.

Peter’s work can be viewed in person at his studio-gallery located in Eltham, Victoria.

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The work of Peter Accadia, in its development over five decades, exhibits a wide range of approaches to the making of functional ceramic wares. This almost exclusive restriction to what could be seen as humble domestic utensils, allows the artist to concentrate his attention on the articulation of extremely subtle variations of both form and surface.

The intimate connection between the artist/potter and the materials and processes that give rise to the finished work, are usually thought of as containing a strong pre­visioning of the desired outcomes. In this model, the artist is seen as “stamping” his design or idea onto the relatively unformed materials. He controls the outcome in terms of external form, texture and colour. He makes choices at every point in the process of production, from throwing or other methods of shaping, to glazing and eventually the firing of the works. However, it is possible, and for some potters highly desirable to “complicate” this process by deliberately loosening his relationship with his materials. The effect of this will be to alter the connection between work process and anticipated outcome.

This “loosening” of control is something that Peter Accadia employs with a surprising range of results. Although very much aware of the rich array of pottery to have emerged from the ancient kiln sites of Japan, Peter’s work is in no way a mere reiteration of those traditions.

– Alan Pose, Philosopher

Welcome to Peter Accadia Ceramics