Peter Davies obituary

My colleague Peter Davies, who has died aged 80, was an artist, arts administrator and latterly professor at the University of Sunderland. He raised the profile of visual arts in the north of England and also championed Welsh identity – especially through the Beca group of artists he and others formed in the 1970s with his brother, Paul.Between 1974 and 1992 Peter was visual arts officer for the public body Northern Arts, where his greatest successes included establishing the first forest