Peter Coates

Stone & wood, Yorkshire

After taking a Foundation course in Art & Design, Peter Coates trained as a stonemason at Weymouth in the Portland stone technique. He has worked as an architectural sculptor for English Heritage and York Minster, and since 1994 has collaborated extensively with Ian Hamilton Finlay on large-scale installations in the public realm. Peter Coates’ practice crosses boundaries between sculpture, applied art and design, with its base rooted in stone-carving. ‘There is an element of the commemorative and monumental in what I do. I am interested in work that relates to a place or space.’