PRINTING WORKSHOPS OFFER UNIQUE INSIGHT FOR ART LOVERS Thursday, 1 March 2018
Guided by his former student, Elaine Kenyon, artists of all ages and abilities can follow Tom’s creative processes to create and inscribe their design before having their artwork printed on his own original press.
The press, purchased by Tom in the mid-1970s, is on long-term loan to The Auckland Project and will be in use at No.42 through 2018 as the monthly print-making workshops get under way.
Participants will sketch out their design before inscribing it on a printing plate, which will be put through the press by course leader, Elaine to create a unique print. Each session will be run by Elaine, so budding printers can return to develop their skills and learn new printing techniques.
As a Bevin Boy, Tom McGuinness was conscripted to work at Fishburn Colliery in 1944 and continued to work in the coal industry for the next 40 years. A keen artist, Tom attended classes at Darlington School of Art and the sketching club at the Spennymoor Settlement and is now widely considered to be one of the best-known mining artists.
Many of his atmospheric depictions of colliery life hang on the walls of Bishop Auckland’s Mining Art Gallery, which is holding a special exhibition, The Bevin Boys – War’s Forgotten Workforce.
Part of The Auckland Project, the Gallery is a permanent home for the Gemini Collection of Mining Art, which includes 60 artworks created by Tom on his printing press.