Coal - in a place like Cessnock it is underfoot, in the blood and even on the lungs. It is omnipresent in our way of life and ever present in our local peripheral vision. 'River of Black Gold', a celebration initiated by the Cessnock City Council and in particular the exhibition 'BLACK, a coal case' at Cessnock Regional Art Gallery, celebrates 125 years of coal production from the South Maitland Coalfields. This was a direct consequence of the exploration of the Greta Seam, occurring throughout the South Maitland Coalfield, by Professor Tennant William Edgeworth David in August 1886.
'BLACK, a coal case' considers the past, present and future of coal in the region through showcasing historical artefacts alongside the works of contemporary artists who dissect the delicate relationships between coal, the environment, industry and community.
One such artist, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy plays with our ideas of value, creating delicate ‘trophies’ adorned with coal, sometimes covered in gold leaf referencing the ubiquitous footy trophy on every family mantelpiece. Is this what coal means to you? Or is it big trucks; freight trains; a secure income; or dust and concerns with environmental issues? This exhibition explores all these aspects of coal through art and objects including old union banners, paintings of the coalfields and sculptures of pit ponies to name but a few.
Branxton artist Steve James has been working in his favourite medium, charcoal, to develop works that celebrate the brashness and blokiness of the coal fields such as ‘Bloody Big Truck', while local painter Col Harrison and young Newcastle painter Liam Power have both worked in oils to deliver evocative images of the pits, the mine-heads, the smelters and the coal loaders that have been an ever-present part of their upbringing in the coalfields.
David Hampton is a digital media artist who has created a video work based on a project with Richmond Vale Rail Museum. David has worked with Richmond Vale to take a 0-4-0 class loco, Marjory’ and decorate her in the style popular in the 19th C to celebrate various festivities. Marjory has been beribboned and decked out in images that describe the journey coal takes for pit to ship, filmed and the images developed into a new artwork to be unveiled at the gallery.
The show promises to be an eclectic mix of memorabilia, traditional and contemporary art held together by memory, a fascination with the industrial processes of the past and a fresh look at an important base to our local economy.
The exhibition has been funded by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) through the Sidney Myer curator mentorship program which has supported emerging artist and curator Todd Fuller in the development of this project.
Installation shot with Marjory
Note: David is dressed in period costume for the process of decorating and recording Marjory!
Hunter Dust Storm, oil on canvas
Liam Power won the Graduating Student art prize from Newcastle University in 2010 and currently exhibits at Damien Minton Gallery
Pyramid Scheme 2010
Ceramic, coal, gold leaf
Sarah’s work is used courtesy Newcastle Region Art Gallery
Working the Night Shift, oil on canvas 2010
Courtesy of the artist
Bloody Big Truck
Charcoal on paper 2011
Courtesy of the artist
Print based on the Marjory series – exhibition invitation cover
