The pair have four children including Anna, a general practitioner at De Lautour Medical Centre.
“She really sold Gisborne to us,” says Peter.
The couple relocated from Kaiwaka, a small town one hour north of Auckland, where they owned a cafe and small book printing enterprise.
As an artist who is inspired by the materials and spaces around him, Peter already has plans for Gisborne, including an art gallery.
We need more wizards“Opening up a threshold into an ideal is what Merlin did for Camelot and what Gandalf did for Middle Earth. We need more wizards like them to open and hold sacred spaces for good things to happen, and I hope to be one of them,” he says.
The proposed Dreamspace Gallery will accommodate Peter’s artwork, public workshops and current projects, including the construction of “Hobbit Havens.”
“I think many people would jump at the chance of living on a farm block in Middle Earth in a hobbit haven,” he says, referring to his plan to market his Tolkien-style cabins to foreigners and fellow enthusiasts.
The gallery space will also be available to other artists who share Peter’s creative philosophies.
“There will be no nihilistic, ugly, hateful art. It will overall have a positive feel to it — celebrating life and the positive things,” he says.
The keen philosopher aligns himself with the 19th century Arts and Craft Renaissance movement started by English artist William Morris.
Items with intrinsic beautyMorris’ movement championed a shift away from quick, convenient products and a move towards items with an intrinsic beauty and usefulness.
“It’s very easy to make ugly art. It’s a lot harder to make beautiful art,” he says, referring to the notorious multi-million dollar sale of a taxidermy shark instalment by Saatchi and Saatchi’s Charles Saatchi.
The artwork caused controversy not only for its unprecedented price, being the highest sale made by a living artist, but for its content. Many questioned whether a taxidermy shark constituted art.
As a traditionalist, Peter identifies with the latter critique.
“Beauty is a thing to always strive for — art should reflect your life,” he says.
After completing a Masters in Philosophy, the artist and philosopher is adamant about the ideology he would like his gallery space to promote.
“I am aiming for things that reflect values of love, beauty, truth and freedom — even if no one else stands with me in this space, I will,” he says.
Despite a traditionalist view, the self-proclaimed wizard is quick to point out that “elitist” high art does not feature on his paint palette.
“We can’t compete with the elitism and exclusivity of the degenerate high art scene because . . . we can do something much better. We can live a vision of art as essentially something that comes out of, and inspires, love.”
Walking through the Harris’ Mangapapa home it is clear the philosopher is a man not only of ideas, but of action.
The backyard is eclipsed by a prototype Hobbit Haven built for his grandsons, while paintings, carvings and self-titled books decorate the house.
“You will never do that well if you just become a cog in the system — you need to dig your own treasure pit,” the artist says, as he quotes a favourite philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.
A self-professed art world outsider, Peter has been heeding Nietzsche’s words, and digging.
He has written 14 ebooks and used his own equipment to emboss the printed versions of these fantasy novels, a skill he hopes to teach at The Dreamspace Gallery workshop.
His former home of Kaiwaka has also received some of his artistic productions, with the enchanting, almost fantastical- looking Cafe Eutopia built by the couple still running.
While Peter says he has often lived on the fringes of society and self-identifies as an outsider to mainstream art and philosophy circles, he is eager to contribute to his community.
“I want to hold open the dreaming space for others one more time — the world needs it.”
