As an expat Geordie whose Grandad, and many other of my maternal relatives, spent much of their lives digging coal at the Rising Sun colliery at Wallsend, I am familiar with the Ashington school of miner painters. I also know of Cornish, another northerner. I was fascinated three years ago to come across the Japanese miner artist Sakube, who did hundreds of paintings depicting life in the Chikuho coalfield of the early 1900s. I have not, however, come across other examples of the miner-as-artist and wonder if this is as rare a phenomenon as it seems to be. Perhaps you would care to comment on that?
Re the Royal Commission reports, which are so wonderfully illustrated. I posted a query to the mining history list some time ago asking if anyone knew the name of the artist. I had seen a reference to the name Binney, but no-one could confirm this.
I would like to make a presentation on this subject at the Australian Mining History Association conference in Newcastle, NSW in July. I have relatives who went out to the Hunter Valley coalfields in the 1920s and promptly named places after Tyneside and other Northumberland towns.
Do you know whether the mining artist Dave Sawyer is a former miner? I couldn't see a link to him personally.
Any comments greatly appreciated.
Regards and thanks. Gerard
Being Creative
Ian Winstanley's Scrap Book, Artisits
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