The goldfish bowl sculpture studio Falmouth College of Arts June 2000 was the setting for my favourite piece of the graduating class of 2000’s Fine Art degree show. Laid out across the painted floor, my friend Pete Root’s miniature metal city glittered in the light; built entirely from metal tacks carefully laid one against another: it was a magical sight. Figurative and abstract at the same time, tiny, sprawling, mysterious, dark and extremely beautiful, I will never forget it. Pete was a lovely person, extremely funny and very, very talented. He helped me sell my first painting and I admired him not only as an artist but as a person too. Pete and his beautiful girlfriend and fellow artist Mary Thompson were tragically killed in Thailand whilst cycling around the world earlier this year. Their lives were brave and spectacular and their memory and the inspiration they gave and give to so many lives on.