Peter Gouldthorpe


Peter James Gouldthorpe is an Australian artist and author best known for his children's books.
He lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania with his wife, Jennie, and has two children.

Early life

Gouldthorpe was born in Melbourne, but most of his childhood was spent in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. After leaving high school, he studied art at East Sydney Technical College, before moving to Tasmania at the age of nineteen. Here, he taught at Devonport and Launceston TAFE colleges, and began painting landscapes, holding several solo exhibitions in Devonport at The Little Gallery.

Children's books

Gouldthorpe wrote and illustrated his first children's book, Jonah and the Manly Ferry, in 1983. Since then, he has gone on to illustrate or write/illustrate seventeen picture books and innumerable educational books. His work uses a wide variety of mediums including linocut, scraperboard, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencils, acrylic and oil paints. His books have often been shortlisted for The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Children's Book of the Year Awards. In 1994, First Light was awarded. He has collaborated with some of Australia’s best-loved children's authors, including Paul Jennings, John Marsden and Colin Thiele. He has also introduced a new generation of young readers to the works of great Australian poets CJ Dennis and Ethel Turner though his illustrated versions of their work.

Landscape painting

Since 2001, Gouldthorpe has returned to landscape painting, often working en plein air. He has held several solo shows at Colville Street Art Gallery. He has been a three-time finalist in the Glover Prize, winning the People’s Choice Award in 2010.

Other media

Gouldthorpe's work appears in many other areas, including murals, stamps, advertising, film, television and live performance. Several of his murals, employing the Trompe-l'œil technique, can be seen around the streets and businesses of his home town, Hobart.

Works

Children's non-fiction

Ice, Wind, Rock: Douglas Mawson in the Antarctic - Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Notable Book 2014
Lyrebird!: a true story - Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Honour Book 2013
No Return: Captain Scott’s Race to the Pole
Queenie: One Elephants Story - Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Honour Book 2007

Children's fiction

The Dog on the Tuckerbox
Pannikin and Pinta
Norton’s Hut
The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie
The Wonder Thing
First Light - Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 1994
Grandad's Gifts - Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award Shortlisted Book 1993
Hist! Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award Honour Book 1992
Sheepdogs
Don’t Get Burnt!
Walking to School
Jonah and the Manly Ferry

Trompe l'Oeil

The Aurora Mural, Denison Lane, South Hobart, Tasmania, 2002
Tony Haigh Walk, North Hobart, Tasmania, 2000
Le Provençal Restaurant, South Hobart, Tasmania 1994

Stamps

Creatures of the Night
Antarctic Research Ships

Advertising

Murals feature in the award-winning Tasmania - Go Behind The Scenes television commercial for the website

Awards

Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Notable Book 2014 for Ice, Wind, Rock: Douglas Mawson in the Antarctic
Glover Prize Children's Choice 2014 for Tasman Passage
Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Honour Book 2013 for Lyrebird!: a true story written by Jackie Kerrin
Glover Prize People's Choice 2010 for Gondwana Rococo
Children's Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Honour Book 2007 for Queenie: One Elephants Story written by Corinne Fenton
Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 1994 for First Light written by Gary Crew
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award Shortlisted Book 1993 for Grandad's Gifts written by Paul Jennings
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award Honour Book 1992 for Hist! poem by C. J. Dennis