ONE of the region's best-loved mining artists opens a new exhibition of paintings, drawings and sketches this week.

Simply Norman Cornish runs from Friday until September 9 in the University Gallery and Baring Wing at Northumbria University, in Sandyford Road, Newcastle.

Born in Spennymoor, County Durham, in 1919, Mr Cornish is famous for studies of pitmen at work and play, inspired by the 33 years he spent down the mines from the age of 14.

He began as an apprentice at the Dean and Chapter Colliery and worked in several other Durham pits, painting at weekends.

He recorded pigeon crees, allotments, pubs, fish and chip vans and market stalls.

Mr Cornish, 85, won his first drawing prize at the age of four, later learning his craft in the Spennymoor Settlement, an educational and cultural project opened in the 1930s, where Shildon-born writer Sid Chaplin was also a regular.

Subsequent paintings were inspired by the work of Van Gogh and acquired a reverential spirit.

Experts have hailed him as a superb portrait painter, particularly when picturing himself, his wife Sarah and their children, Anne and Josh.

He has been a full-time artist since the age of 47, and has been the subject of several television films. Among his numerous commissions are a mural of the Durham Miners' Gala, hanging in County Hall, Durham.

The free gallery is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10am to 5pm.

Published: 27/06/2005