North East Miners' artwork showcased in new Gallery

By Kris Jepson

The artwork of coalminers from the North East is being showcased at a new gallery in County Durham.

Watch @krisjepson's report here:

The Gemini Collection of Mining Artwork consists of 420 pieces of art, including paintings, drawings and printings.

The Auckland Project of major regeneration is launching the Mining Art Gallery on Saturday. It is the first dedicated gallery to mining art in the UK and explores the development of mining art as a form of self-expression.

The gallery reveals how miners responded to their experiences through art, from the conditions they endured underground to the pit communities they returned home to.

On show are pieces by Tom McGuinness whose work evoked the claustrophobic feeling of being deep underground.

Norman Cornish, who celebrated the sense of spirit found in mining communities and their lives away from the pits.

And Bob Olley, a former pitman inspired by the laughter and humour that came with the tough hot graft.