Peter Crisp of Crisp Galleries was officially presented with his Medal of the Order of Australia last Monday. (Photo above supplied pictured with Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall).
Since being announced as a recipient in January; Peter said there has been a lot of reflecting on the people and things that brought him to receiving the honour.
“The award is really for a whole gamut of things that we do as a family, and the fabulous thing about the award is that it is recognition of all that effort and time you put in.”
“When I was actually awarded the OAM, I had people I hadn’t spoken to in more than 30 years and phone calls from people overseas, and I said to them all they’ve all been part of my journey because they’re the ones that gave me that recognition.”
“It really is a collective award that represents a whole gamut of ideas and people and places,” he said.
Crisp Galleries is just off the Hume Highway between Bowning and Bookham, and from humble beginnings in the mid 80’s quite quickly became a major player in glass sculpting.
“We opened to the public in 1985, and the former Premier of New South Wales Nicholas Greiner officially opened this in 1992 and in 1992, as a family, we purposefully built a large space for a glass studio.”
“It was from there we began producing 10,000 pieces of glass that was being exported to different department stores and individuals around the world,” he said.
Today, Crisp Galleries has become far more than a producer of glass sculptures and tableware.
“In recent times, we have used a lot of recycled materials in creating a gin bar and cafe restaurant.”
“For a number of years, we’ve had weddings, we’ve had numerous concerts and also artists in residence,” said Peter.
Peter’s biggest fan might just be music star Tina Turner, with royal families across the world and former President of the United States George W. Bush also purchasers of his work.
“Tina Turner has more of my tableware than anyone else, and she has 120 place settings.”
“I was commissioned to produce tableware for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, equally I’ve been commissioned to produce work for Prince Frederick and Mary of Denmark,” he said.
Whilst you would think after being awarded an honour like an OAM, retirement plans would begin to enter the mind, Peter still says for him that will never be the case.
“Well, I think if you talk to any person who is creative, retirement isn’t a word that comes into the vocabulary. I will make glass until the day I die.”
“For any artist, retirement isn’t really part of the equation,” he said.
The Yass Valley Times would like to again congratulate Peter on this significant recognition and achievement and general contribution to the Yass Valley.
Max O’Driscoll