Terrance Plowright


Terrance Kippax Plowright is an Australian artist, based in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. His works include contemporary and figurative sculptures. He has designed and created large public sculptural water features and murals, substantial public cenotaphs, commemorative cast bronze sculptures, and a large body of religious and spiritual work that includes stained glass windows, altars, lecterns, baptismal fonts and mosaics.

Biography and early career

Plowright was born in Paddington, New South Wales. In 1966, he worked as a copy boy for The Australian Women’s Weekly, then trained and worked as a film editor for the ABC. He studied music privately for a short time at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for a number of bands. He developed a keen interest in science, philosophy and music. In 1975, he founded the Awareness Centre in Sydney, and also spent time in the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. He conducted workshops around human potential and spiritual awareness. His works, in the past 30 years, have endeavoured to explore these themes and to reveal the connection between all living things.
In 1981, Plowright pursued his emerging interest in fine art and spent nine months in New Zealand, where he furthered a growing interest in stained glass creation. In 1983, he established his first studio at Wahroonga in New South Wales.
In 1985, he created a large stained glass window for a private client. In the same year, he was selected as one of two Australian artists to represent Australian glass artists at the Sydney Craft Expo. His first major piece, also in 1985, a commissioned stained glass window, was a memorial to the Royal New South Wales Regiment for the Garrison Church, in The Rocks, Sydney. In 1988, Plowright created one of the country's then-largest stained glass windows, installed in Galston Uniting Church. Another significant work was an 11 x 3m stained glass window, commissioned by St Bernadette's in Castle Hill, New South Wales. His large stained glass piece The Gathering of the Most Sacred was created for an exhibition for the World Council of Churches in 1990. This piece and Living Waters were also exhibited at the Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest Glass Show in 1991.
In 1990, he completed a granite, aluminium and beveled glass sculpture, Purity of Spirit, for Neeta City in Fairfield, New South Wales. He was invited by the World Council of Churches to be the sculptor and artist-in-residence at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory in 1991. His works, created during the two-week conference, were televised to over 120 countries. Also in 1991, Plowright was commissioned by the Penrith Returned and Services League to design and create a bronze sculpture, a tribute to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli.
His book, Stained Glass:Inspirations and Designs, was written in 1993, and launched by Hazel Hawke.

Recent work

Plowright has created many figurative and contemporary works, and water features, from both public and private commissions, including: