Our u3a members bring a wonderful wealth of backgrounds, skills, and creative passions to our community. In this member focus, we meet Peter Banks, an artist and former art educator whose extraordinary "Photosculptures" are currently captivating visitors at a major exhibition in Valencia.

From Art Education to Spanish Gardens

Peter’s journey into the arts spans a rich professional career in England as a teacher of art and design, a principal of a specialist art college, and finally an inspector of creative arts. Following his move to Spain with his wife in 2001, the couple purchased a plot of land to design and build their own home. Surrounding their house, they created a stunning series of Japanese-style gardens complete with a traditional "moon gate," a slate river and waterfall, and a tranquil "turtle island" set upon a sea of gravel.

Alongside his garden design, Peter established a dedicated studio and workshop at his Spanish home, where he continues to produce his unique Photosculptures.

The Art of Photosculpture

Combining photographic imagery with three-dimensional construction materials—including card, timber, wire, acrylic, glass, and mirror—Peter’s works range from intimate, hand-held pieces to large-scale gallery installations. Whether designed as fully three-dimensional objects or wall-mounted relief structures, these artworks shift in appearance and meaning depending on the viewer's perspective.

At their heart, most of Peter’s works are portraits that tell the personal stories of their subjects:

• Self Portrait: A continually evolving piece where Peter adds a new photograph taken at a commercial photo booth on each birthday, with enough marked spaces for an optimistic target of 100 images.
• El Angel de la Capilla: A tribute to his good friend Vicente Estevan, who spent over 70 years crafting giant sand paintings (Alfombras) on the floor of the Capilla in Villalonga. Housed inside a frame that mirrors the exact architecture of the church, the artwork celebrates Vicente’s enduring contribution to village life.
• Perpetual Motion: A kinetic portrait of a friend who runs a business creating complex fruit-processing machinery, beautifully reflecting both his domestic and working families in continuous motion.

Resilience Through Adversity

While many pieces celebrate positive community figures and milestones, others confront profound human experiences, including aging, disability, illness, dementia, and bereavement. Following the sudden passing of his wife in 2020 after 50 years of marriage, Peter channelled his grief into a renewed incentive to create and exhibit.

Among these powerful pieces is "Fare Well," which honours a friend diagnosed with breast cancer. The night before her operation, she photographed herself with "Te Quiero" ("I love you") written on her breast—an image Peter incorporated with her permission to celebrate her remarkable strength and resilience. Other works, such as "Folding faces," use folded photographic layers to explore the poignant, gradual journey of dementia for both individuals and their carers.

Always experimenting with new techniques, Peter's recent works feature inventive ideas like a life-size mannequin in a black body suit, a self-playing guitar, and a figure in an electric wheelchair that appears to float at eye level.

Visit the Exhibition

We'd love to feature more of our members online. If you have a story to tell, why not send us an email.