Former Falmouth School teacher and artist Peter Markey, who has been described as the father of Falmouth automata makers, has died in hospital in Somerset.

With his "red curly hair and stripey sweaters" Peter was a colourful and energetic character in Falmouth for many years. He taught at Falmouth School for 25 years and had been an active force in the local Friends of the Earth and CND groups and the Labour Party. He also played football for Falmouth Town and Ponsanooth.

Alongside all this was his "continuous and prolific" output of paintings and colourful models. The mural at the back of Tesco in Falmouth was designed by him.

Peter was born in Swansea in 1930 to Edgar and Marie Markey. Edgar was a trawlerman and Peter and his twin sister, Pauline, would often look out from their house to Swansea Bay, waiting for their father's boat to appear before running down to the harbour to meet him. This image of the solitary boat on the horizon was a recurring theme in Peter's work.

After he left school, despite his pacifist views but to please his mother, he entered national service and served two years in the Middle East. On his return he enrolled at Swansea School of Art and also studied to become a teacher. Peter's first teaching jobs took him to east London where he met Beryl Owen, a potter, who he wed - they were married for 60 years and had three children, Simon, Ann and Danny.

When he was looking for a more permanent job and a place to start a family Peter's attachment to the sea led him to apply for jobs in coastal locations. The first time he visited Falmouth was on his interview for a post at Falmouth School, which he got. They first lived in Mongleath Avenue but later moved to Florence Terrace.

Peter was "deeply committed to comprehensive education" and was a dedicated and hardworking teacher. However his individuality and strong views sometimes got him into trouble. Once he was suspended for painting bright murals with his students in the school corridor without the head teacher's permission.

At the age of 50, having taught at the school for half his life, Peter decided it was time to work for himself. He thought bright wooden models might be easier to sell than paintings and he then began to animate them using simple crankshafts. These brightly painted moving models, or automata, were among the first to be exhibited at Susan Jackson's shop Cabaret, in High Street before its move to Covent Garden.

After their children had grown up and left home, Peter and Beryl left Florence Terrace for a farmhouse on a mountainside in mid Wales. There he continued to work with unrelenting energy into his mid-70s. It was at this time that his work was celebrated alongside that of his family and contemporaries such as Francis Hewlett, in an exhibition at Falmouth Art Gallery entitled Markey and Friends.

The onset of Alzheimer's prompted a move to Somerset to be near to his daughter, Ann. He died peacefully at Frome Hospital last Wednesday and is survived by his wife Beryl, their three children and seven grandchildren.

His funeral service will be held at Shepton Mallet crematorium at 2pm next Friday, November 18, and all are welcome.