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Robert Olley, The High Speed Drifters, Copyright: © South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. Courtesy of The Auckland Project
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Artist, Bob Olley, in his South Shields studio. Photograph: House of Hues Courtesy: The Auckland Project
Exhibition
Backshift: Bob Olley at 80
15 Feb 2020 – 10 May 2020
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Thursday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Friday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 16:00
- Sunday
- 10:00 – 16:00
Cost of entry
Admission is priced at £5 for adults, £4 for concessions and £1 for under-16s or included as part of the Auckland Pass, which also permits entry to Auckland Castle, Bishop Trevor Gallery and Auckland tower. The pass is priced at £12.50 per adult and is valid for multiple visits until January 2021.
Address
- Market Place
- Bishop Auckland
England - DL14 7NR
- United Kingdom
In this exhibition celebrating Bob Olley’s 80th birthday, we look back on his artistic career over the past 50 years and reveal how the heart and humour of the people of the North East have inspired his work
About
One of the North East’s best-loved artists, Bob Olley, started work at Whitburn Colliery when he was 17, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle. He left the mining industry in 1968 when Whitburn Colliery closed, before becoming a full-time artist in 1974.
Now, in a special exhibition to celebrate his 80th birthday, Bob looks back on his artistic career and reveals how the heart and humour of the people of the North East have inspired his work. It will feature more than 30 of Bob’s works, offering a window into his perspective on the reality of the mining world and community life surrounding it in the North East of England.
From his school days, he was encouraged to ‘never put down his pencil’ by his school art teacher. Like many of the men who hewed and hauled coal, Bob expressed himself best through art and brought the seemingly inhospitable, hidden world of the coal mine to the surface
