New Zealand artist, potter and printmaker. In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Peter was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts.

Juliet graduated from Canterbury College School of Art in the late 1930s. Her earlier work is closely related to the regional realism of Rita Angus and Doris Lusk. She was drawn to lithography because of its intimate association with painting and she studied printmaking in London during the 1950s. In the following decade she took up sculpture as a counterbalance to her activities in other media and studied ceramics at Hammersmith School of Art.

An early practitioner of studio ceramics in New Zealand, Juliet’s work was stylish and individual. Her commitment to clay led to her close association with the magazine New Zealand Potter, which she and her husband Roy Cowan worked on from 1962, along with founders Doreen Blumhardt and Helen Mason. Juliet developed the drawings and designed the magazine’s layouts.

As well as painting and pottery, design was an important part of her work. Juliet was a longstanding contributor to the School Journal and brought a lively, personal touch to her designs and illustrations.

Her work demonstrates a strong interest in social and environmental issues and her subject matter is wide-ranging. From her experiences in London to the bush and wild-life around her Wellington home, memorable images which speak of the artist's love of people, animals and places, her art reflect a sharp wit and a keen, observant eye.

Juliet Peter and her husband Roy Cowen were significant figures in the modernist art scene in Wellington, both showing at Helen Hitchings Gallery, the first modern dealer gallery in New Zealand.