Mining Art Gallery
After months in the making, the Mining Art Gallery opens on
Saturday
21 October. It will transform the former
Old Bank Chambers in Bishop
Auckland Market Place,
providing a permanent home for the North East’s
largest
collection of Mining Art.
With three permanent galleries and one temporary exhibition
space on
the ground floor, the gallery explores working life in the
coalmines through original artefacts and artwork
from prominent mining artists
such as Tom McGuinness
and Norman Cornish. Using powerful imagery, the downstairs galleries
will help visitors
to understand what it felt like to work in the
claustrophobic coalmines
and shed light on why some
miners felt it necessary to paint this dark
and clamorous world.
The upstairs galleries celebrate the diversity and
strength
of mining communities, through the stark
contrast of riotous colour at Gala Day and the rich lives
led by miners in their time above
ground.
The Mining Art Gallery shares the experience of life
underground and
life in the community through eyes of
the people who lived it.
The
Gemini Collection, now in its permanent home,
is an artistic record of
an industry and a memorial
to a former way of life.
The work displayed
showcases the skill and creativity
of these labourers and celebrates the
achievements of
the mining artists as a vital aspect of coalfield
heritage.
Available in the Mining Art Gallery shop is Derek Slater's book
The Coal Mine, published by Rockpool Children's Books.
Opening times and more information can be found via this link:
