Peacock Visual Arts is an arts organisation and open-access printmaking studio in Aberdeen, Scotland. Founded in 1974 as Peacock Printmakers, it runs a fine art print studio, a darkroom, digital and editing facilities and a gallery, and is based in the Castlegate.Byng, Malaika. "Peacock Visual Arts, Scotland", Wallpaper*, 31 August 2022.
History Peacock Printmakers was set up in 1974 by graduates of Gray's School of Art, during a period of renewed interest in printmaking across Scotland; the founders had been taught by the printmaker Ian Fleming. It was established as an open-access workshop, on the principle that the equipment printmaking requires is too costly for artists to own individually.
The organisation occupies a former 18th-century workshop and an adjoining 19th-century church school in the Castlegate.
Union Terrace Gardens project In the 2000s Peacock Visual Arts and Aberdeen City Council developed plans for a contemporary arts centre in Union Terrace Gardens, designed by the London practice Brisac Gonzalez. The £13 million building received planning permission in 2008.Hopkirk, Elizabeth. "Years of uncertainty over as £22m Aberdeen project set for OK", Building Design, 19 March 2018.
The scheme was abandoned in 2009 after the oil businessman Sir Ian Wood offered £50 million towards a larger redevelopment of the same site, which would have raised the sunken gardens to street level. Wood's intervention led to an international design competition, won by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with a £140 million proposal that was refused planning permission in 2012; a smaller scheme by LDA Design was recommended for approval in 2018.
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