Peter Krauskopf's early career as a potter (1977-1987) is covered under the entry for his prior business Mud Puddle Pottery. After retirement from a teaching career (1987-2013) which had a continued creative focus on both theatrical/musical arts, as well as visual arts, Peter returned to his creative interests in both pottery and painting.
Peter is active in both the PEI Crafts Council and Artisans on Main, which operate co-op craft galleries on PEI. A biographical article on Peter provides background material. The full article includes extensive photos and the text of the article is archived below:
Peter Krauskopf - Potter & Painter
Peter grew up in New York City area and attended City College of New York studying Theatre and Art as a combined major, specializing in Set Design and Directing. After graduation he traveled in Europe for six months, sketch book in hand.
Upon returning, Peter moved to Canada and attended Simon Fraser University earning his B.ED. in Education. After, he moved to Vernon B.C. and taught for three years.
In 1977, he moved to Prince Edward Island and worked as an Artist in Residence in many island schools, teaching Art and Pottery for a number of years. He also owned and operated his own Art and Craft business, Mud Puddle Pottery, for ten years in Mt. Mellick and Belle River. At this time he was a member of the Prince Edward Island Craft Council, the Nova Scotia Designer Craftsmen, The New Brunswick Craft Council, and exhibited and sold pottery for many years in adjudicated fairs. He also was selected for the One of a Kind exhibition in Toronto.
Peter returned to teaching in the PEI school system in 1987 and continued until his retirement in 2013. He taught Art and Crafts as well as Theatre at Colonel Gray High School for twenty years as well as directed and designed the sets for ten musicals at Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown. He continued to exhibit and sell his work through the Island Craft Shop and the P.E.I.C.C. craft fairs until 2000. Presently he is also selling at Vermillion Art Works and Northern Watters, in Charlottetown.
Peter lives and works in Orwell Cove P.E.I. and draws inspiration from the island he loves.
"My love of painting really started with my mother who was an amateur painter and a lover of Art and Theatre. Living in New York, we would frequent the museums and stages, viewing in these places the world’s greatest artists. At a very young age, I began to draw and paint. Attending university, I majored in Theatre and Art, intending to work in set design, which relied on architectural types of drawings. When I completed school I toured Europe. While in Amsterdam I viewed the Van Gogh exhibit and saw “Crows Over Wheat Field”. I spent an entire day mesmerized by that painting, which is quite a small piece of work. I never before realized that texture and colour in a painting could literally jump off the canvas and catch me by the throat. That painting changed forever my approach to my own work which to this day, is still a work in progress.
