Is the Bishop Auckland Mining Art Gallery the 'only' such institution of its kind in England.
Thursday, 17 May 2018, 15:21
Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Steve Bamlett, Thursday, 17 May 2018, 16:31
It is not an idle boast that a permanent collection in the ‘Mining Art Gallery’ in Bishop
Auckland, County Durham is the only Mining Art Gallery In England. In every way that is in the strictest sense true, since it is the only one with that one and only purpose. However, others may query this, so here is a note in defence.
Although calling itself the only institution of its
kind, substantiating such a claim means excluding institutions whose primary
role is to memorialise mining per se,
such as Woodhorn Colliery in Northumberland (http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/) and the National Coal-Mining Museum
(NCMM) near Wakefield (http://www.ncm-collection.org.uk/), which hold and display significant collections.
Moreover
if the 'only' it was not the first to claim this status: Salford Corporation[1]
opened in the 1970s what became the Lancashire Mining Museum with a permanent
and growing collection – which was curated by the miner-artist, Alan Davies, in
the 1970s and closed by Salford in 2000 (and is perhaps now even forgotten) for reasons of
significance to our purpose.
It is also to ignore the significant presence of
the exhibition history of the Gemini Collection paintings in various contexts – as an example of
the art of northern artists , on the one hand, or (under varying titles) as an
example of mining art. The Gemini private collection, formerly owned by McManners &
Wales, a former local head-teacher and local Town-Hall manager respectively was gifted to the Bishop Auckland Trust.
These former owners remain on the board of the Mining Gallery Trust.
Let's say though it is the only one - although Scotland and Wales too have claims for a British title. But one thing I have learned about mining - its transregional and international identity can sometimes be as strong as its regional and local one.
Davies, A. (1999)
[unattributed] Facing Coal: Art Inspired
by the Coal Industry and Its Communities Salford, Salford Museums Service. One copy privately owned by Steve Bamlett.
Is the Bishop Auckland Mining Art Gallery the 'only' such institution of its kind in England.
It is not an idle boast that a permanent collection in the ‘Mining Art Gallery’ in Bishop Auckland, County Durham is the only Mining Art Gallery In England. In every way that is in the strictest sense true, since it is the only one with that one and only purpose. However, others may query this, so here is a note in defence.
Although calling itself the only institution of its kind, substantiating such a claim means excluding institutions whose primary role is to memorialise mining per se, such as Woodhorn Colliery in Northumberland (http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/) and the National Coal-Mining Museum (NCMM) near Wakefield (http://www.ncm-collection.org.uk/), which hold and display significant collections.
Moreover if the 'only' it was not the first to claim this status: Salford Corporation[1] opened in the 1970s what became the Lancashire Mining Museum with a permanent and growing collection – which was curated by the miner-artist, Alan Davies, in the 1970s and closed by Salford in 2000 (and is perhaps now even forgotten) for reasons of significance to our purpose.
It is also to ignore the significant presence of the exhibition history of the Gemini Collection paintings in various contexts – as an example of the art of northern artists , on the one hand, or (under varying titles) as an example of mining art. The Gemini private collection, formerly owned by McManners & Wales, a former local head-teacher and local Town-Hall manager respectively was gifted to the Bishop Auckland Trust. These former owners remain on the board of the Mining Gallery Trust.
Let's say though it is the only one - although Scotland and Wales too have claims for a British title. But one thing I have learned about mining - its transregional and international identity can sometimes be as strong as its regional and local one.
[1]
Davies, A. (1999) [unattributed] Facing Coal: Art Inspired by the Coal Industry and Its Communities Salford, Salford Museums Service. One copy privately owned by Steve Bamlett.