About Peter Eglington

Australian b. 1952

Peter Eglington was born and raised within the largest caldera of the Southern Hemisphere in the shadow of Mount Warning, New South Wales, Australia. Throughout his upbringing, Peter, the oldest of three siblings, played in the bush, climbed trees, learned about the birds and the animals of the region, and was deeply immersed in the culture of the indigenous people that helped sustain his family’s livelihood. Born within a mile of the ocean, he surfed the rugged waters of the South Pacific every day with his dad and his mates—he is an Australian surfer, coming-of-age in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s he was catapulted into his twenties by the activism of the times. Influenced by the psychedelic art and music from the UK and the US, he was swept up into the rapid transformation of the globalization of the world. He experimented with psycho-active drugs while doodling to the music of Santana, and pouring over the album covers of Abdul Mati Klarwein.

Eglington’s first job, though short lived, was as a photographer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after which, he traveled extensively throughout Asia, spending time in Bali, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the Himalayas, the Amazon and Afghanistan. Between the 70s and 80s, Eglington traveled back and forth to different parts of Asia, and New Zealand to study and develop his artistic abilities, also spending considerable time in the Himalayas. There he says, “began my fascination with the Mandala.” As a life-long student of the world’s great mystical traditions —a Meditator and Vedic Astrologer—he understands the “ancient role of the shaman as artist and the keepers of community health”. 

Eglington has developed a unique, painstaking method of combining oil and wax color pencils, together with acrylic flow pens, photography, ancient imagery, prayers, symbols, and deities that take hundreds of hours to complete. He works in a deep place of “non-ordinary” states of consciousness to receive the visions. His paintings honor the environmental warriors of the world—the ancient healing traditions of native peoples and the healing potential of plants, animals and insects—all are working against time to help restore our connection to nature. 

Among his many teachers he is especially interested in the work of Luis Eduardo Luna who brought the Ayahuasca visions of Pablo Amaringo to the world, and of Professor Dr. Jose Arguelles, Ph.D. in Art History and Aesthetics, author of the Mayan Factor, The Whole Earth Festival, and one of the originators of the Earth Day concept.

Peter Eglington’s paintings are in collections throughout the Southern Hemisphere, North and South America, Africa and Europe. A selection of 9 paintings were first shown in the United States in the Great Mystery exhibition at The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) Baltimore, MD in 2017/18, and again in 2020/21 for the Secret Life of Earth. His most recent paintings are on view for AVAM’s current exhibition, Healing and the Art of Compassion through 2022.