Aaron McPeake Born Belfast 1965 In 2002, McPeake had to abandon a long career in stage lighting design due to the loss of most of his eyesight and returned to arts education and practice on a full time basis. He received a first class Honours Degree in Arts, Design and Environment from Central Saint Martins (2005). He was awarded a Post Graduate Certificate Teaching and Learning (2011) with Merit. His 2012 exhibition was part of his PhD submission and viva at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Works could be viewed in: The Grounds, The Morgue, Room CG10 and The Old College Library at Chelsea.
McPeake works with numerous media from bronze casting to film, photography and sound. His work places emphasis on the possibility for many types of readings and he views the process of making artwork as akin to writing poetry - where the visual imagination is integral to both its making and reception.
McPeake’s PhD thesis, Nibbling at Clouds - The Visual Artist Encounters Aventitious Blindness, is an holistic study of the impacts vision loss has on the visual artist. The thesis draws on the experiences of a panel of artists (who lost eyesight in later life) and includes his own experience as well as how he has developed his own practice. The resulting artworks are a consequence of engaging with subjective themes and making processes, which have been mutually informative.
He has received a number of private and public art and design commissions and has exhibited widely since 1997. In 2011 he won the Cass Sculpture Prize with his bell bronze works: Some Cuts Resonate and in 2013 McPeake was commissioned by Camden Arts Centre, London. In 2013 McPeake was resident at the Bandoola Foundry in Mandalay, Burma and in 2014 was artist in residence at Spike Island Bristol. McPeake has also worked on film and sculpture projects internationally including: Belgium, India, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. More Info