Peter was born at Anama in rural Mid Canterbury in 1915,[1] and growing up on a farm there she did not receive a formal education.
[2] Her mother was Violet Peter (1875–1926), the eldest child of the surveyor, photographer, explorer, farmer, and entomologist Edward Sealy (1839–1903) from Timaru.
[2] Peter returned to New Zealand with her sister after her family faced financial strain in the 1930s, and attended the Canterbury College School of Art at the suggestion of an aunt.
[2] In contrast Peter described the Christchurch art scene as "lively", and said that a travelling Canadian exhibition organised by Arthur Lismer "provided an absolute window into another way of doing things" and "had a profound influence on us all, on everybody.
In 1968, along with her friend, painter Rita Angus, Peter made a series of works recording her protest over the razing of the Bolton Street Cemetery to extend Wellington's urban motorway.
[14] In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Peter was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.