{"id":767816,"date":"2026-09-12T00:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767816\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T00:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:30:08","slug":"peter-chang-archive-and-collection-given-to-glasgow-museums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767816\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Chang archive and collection given to Glasgow museums"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A selection of Chang’s works from across his career will go on display at Kelvingrove Art<\/a> Gallery and Museum later this year.\n<\/p>\n

\n His work is about to be featured in an exhibition called More is More: The Magical World of Peter Chang at Lyon & Turnbull London as part of London Design Festival.\n<\/p>\n

\n Peter Chang, Sculpture – candlestick, 1992, resin, acrylic, silver over carved wood. (Image: Alex Robson)\n<\/p>\n

\n From major sculptures and jewellery to prints and etching plates, the gift includes artworks spanning Chang\u2019s artistic life from his schooldays to his last unfinished piece: early sculptural explorations in ancient techniques and traditional materials such as bronze casting, wood carving, stone carving; drawings, collages, sketches and notebooks; maquettes, templates, experiments and unfinished pieces; workshop tools and raw materials; photographs and a comprehensive documentary and reference archive.\n<\/p>\n

\n Chang moved with his family from Liverpool to Glasgow in 1987, a year when he was gaining an international profile for his exuberant sculptural use of plastics and wearable art.\n<\/p>\n

\n Peter Chang, Bracelet, 1994, acrylic, resin and mirrored acrylic over a polyurethane foam and papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 core. (Image: Alex Robson)\n<\/p>\n

\n He exhibited in the first Biennale de Bijoux Pr\u00e9cieux \/ Semi-pr\u00e9cieux in Paris, an exhibition paying particular attention to the use of new materials in jewellery.\n<\/p>\n

\n He also featured on the catwalk, in Vogue, at the V&A and in Bloomingdales New York accessorising the collection of fashion designer Rifat \u00d6zbek. The first of Chang’s many solo shows was in Amsterdam in 1988.\n<\/p>\n

\n Peter Chang, Untitled, about 1968-70, etching, soft ground etching and carving, simultaneous intaglio and relief inking on paper. (Image: Alex Robson)\n<\/p>\n

\n The works he created in Glasgow are now held in many of the world\u2019s most famous public and private jewellery collections.\n<\/p>\n

\n Although Chang became internationally recognised for significantly influencing contemporary jewellery, he regarded himself first and foremost as a visual artist. With a background in fine art printmaking and sculpture, his explorations of, and fascination with materials and processes, together with visual idea development became the backbone of his work, evolving into jewellery, or wearable sculpture, as he would often call it.\n<\/p>\n

\n Barbara Santos Shaw Chang, his wife, said of the gift of the collection and archive: \u201cPeter Chang is an internationally renowned artist, best known for his jewellery, which is only one aspect of his total creative output.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe gift to Glasgow includes, his sculpture, prints, his remarkable etching plates which really are low-relief sculptures, countless drawings, working drawings for objects, sculpture and jewellery, school drawings, his extensive archives, and his workshop.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt will be available to attract visitors of all nationalities to Glasgow because Peter Chang is such a well-known international figure.\n<\/p>\n

\n Peter Chang, Untitled, 1966-67, coloured artists\u2019 pencils on pastel paper. (Image: Alex Robson)\n<\/p>\n

\n She continued: \u201cWhich major museum I would finally settle on, to gift\u00a0the ‘Peter Chang Legacy\u2019 to, was not easy, believe me!\u00a0It took much research and enquiry on my part before the final decision, and involved considering several other museums, in Scotland, England, Germany and America, where important collections of Peter\u2019s work already existed.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWherever the bulk of Peter\u2019s remaining work would go, the\u00a0museum had to be educationally involved and active; warmly accessible to a full range of public and age groups and outside visitors and be involved in a full range of research which would be of benefit nationally and internationally.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAbove all it should be considered by the surrounding public, as loved and totally accessible and belonging to them.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn other words, a museum essential to the wellbeing of the whole community, but also importantly, able to attract visitors from Scotland, the UK and overseas.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI chose Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, to offer the gift of Peter Chang\u2019s precious legacy. It fits all those hopes and wishes.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAlso, I am greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm, vision and commitment of curator Alison Brown and the staff at Kelvingrove, and in the knowledge that many schools, in Glasgow and across Scotland (and indeed parts of England), include studying Peter’s work as part of their curriculum.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI hope the ‘Peter Chang Legacy\u2019 will be a huge draw for the city, and hopefully Glasgow will take him into its heart.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Alison Brown, Curator, European Decorative Art and Design from 1851 to present at Glasgow Life Museums, said: \u201cIt is an absolute delight to be taking this collection in. It is really unusual for a museum collection to get the opportunity to acquire such a complete body of work by an artist that shows the whole creative process. I was really struck by Peter’s thoughtful and mindful working processes. It’s a feast of the imagination; Peter doesn’t want to dictate how you read his work, it’s down to your own imagination and reading, and that opens the door for people to bring their own ideas and responses to his work. It’s fun, it’s joyous, it’s colourful, it’s modern, and it’s incredibly inventive and museum collections are all about the invention and creativity of humanity and Peter’s work crosses all of that and more.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Peter Chang, Untitled, 1966, collage and artists\u2019 pencil on pastel paper. (Image: Alex Robson)\n<\/p>\n

\n Jane Rowlands, Head of Museums and Collections at Glasgow Life said: \u201cThe Peter Chang Estate\u2019s generous gift to Glasgow Life Museums is a major addition to our civic art and design collection. His vision, wit, incredible skill, and attention to detail are astonishing to see and appreciate. It is a privilege, and an enormous responsibility, to care for, research, exhibit and celebrate Peter\u2019s achievements, creativity, and legacy, while sharing his work with new audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A selection of Chang’s works from across his career will go on display at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-767816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}