Born in ESSEN, GERMANY 1957, only daughter of Werner Engelke (artist).

Petra is a graduate of Essen University where she studied Art, Textile Design and Ceramics. She also researched Japanese and North American Indian Art and Crafts.

Her final graduation exhibition which included textile art and weaving but mainly featured Bonsai and Garden ceramics gained her an award as the top student of the year.

Since 1985 Petra has been a self - employed full time ceramic artist primarily working with Bonsai and Garden ceramics. In Europe her work has featured in may exhibitions in her homeland of Germany, also in Holland and Italy. Her bonsai pots are available through selected distributors in Europe, U.S.A. and Australia.

In the United States her pots are widely distributed and were featured at the World Bonsai Convention in Florida in 1993.

Harry Tomlinson fell hopelessly in love with her bonsai pots and decide that it was cheaper to marry her than to buy her pots. In 1991 Petra moved her workshop from Germany to Nottingham, England, where a few years later she opened her own "Greenwood Gallery" in conjunction with "Greenwood Bonsai Studio" to give a permanent display of their joint work.