MINING ART GALLERY JUST WEEKS AWAY Thursday, 21 September 2017
Work is almost complete to transform a disused building in County Durham into a permanent home for the North East’s largest collection of Mining Art.
Family-owned joinery company, T. Manners & Sons Ltd, is now busy installing a custom-made welcome desk and seating in the former Old Bank Chambers, Bishop Auckland Market Place, ready for the Mining Art Gallery to open.
These final additions follow months of hard work by Bishop Auckland-based Redfern Building Services Ltd to convert the Grade I listed building on behalf of The Auckland Project.
Three permanent galleries and one temporary exhibition space on the ground floor will explore working life in the coalmines through artwork and original artefacts.
Dramatic dark walls and lower ceilings will combine to place visitors in the coal-blackened boots of the miners working underground.
Upstairs two gallery rooms will focus on community life, with paler walls, higher ceilings and colourful artworks in stark contrast to the floor below.
Visitors will be encouraged to contribute their own memories of mining life in a touch-screen panel, an education area will host a programme of events and budding artists can make use of the drawing space.
It will open to the public on Saturday, October 21, and then daily, 10am – 4pm.