FEW sculptors make huge inroads into public consciousness, but William Peers may well be an exception, writes author, Charlotte Hobson.

The artist, based near Bude, has set himself an extraordinary challenge: to create a marble sculpture in a day, every day for one hundred days.

'One Hundred Days', which is set to be a major exhibition at the John Martin Gallery from April 22 to May 15, will be shown as one long, curving line of pieces, each reacting to and

developing on the

previous piece.

Peers said: "It is incredibly physically arduous, but more importantly it is a way of moving quickly through ideas, charting a powerful emotional and creative journey. It is like a thought process in marble."

William Peers is well-known as one of the finest carvers in stone in the country. In his 20 years of work he has

exhibited in Britain,

Europe and New York, including New York's prestigious International Art and Design Show. His rare understanding of the material and of form comes from a long

apprenticeship in carving by hand, in this country and in Italy's Carrera marble quarries.

He has also attracted considerable media

interest for applying this same combination of

traditional skills with an artist's eye to the home he and his wife have rebuilt in North Cornwall.

From baking the terracotta kitchen tiles in a kiln he built himself, to building the oak stairs and shaping the plaster, he has created a house that is an artwork in itself.

I spent a day with Peers, watching him make one of the hundred pieces: from the moment he hewed off a chunk of marble and hefted it up on his workbench, through the design process and the long hours of carving and sanding.

In the midst of all the dust and cold, the donkeys munching hay, it was an astonishing and moving experience to watch the emergence of the graceful marble figure that is known as No. 96.

I envisage a piece that gives a flavour of the day's creation, Peers's account of the project as a whole, and the setting - the house and barns set in the Cornish countryside.

Accompanied by Peter Purtill's amazing, Salgado-like images of Peers at work, and the contrast with the perfection of the finished pieces in marble, it should make an arresting and original feature.