THE 80th birthday of North East mining artist Bob Olley is being celebrated with a special exhibition at a County Durham gallery. Backshift: Bob Olley at 80 will open at the Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland, on Saturday, February 15.

It will feature more than 30 of Bob's works, offering a window into his perspective on the heart, humour and quirky reality of the mining world and community life surrounding it in the North-East. On display are some of his earliest drawings from the 1960s, when he dreamt of a career as a magazine illustrator before fate sent him to follow in his father's footsteps, into the local colliery.

Bob's style captures iconic scenes and figures of the North East, from the Blaydon Races to the devastating miners' strikes of the 1980s. Oil paintings, sculpture and preparatory sketches of his most-loved works are brought together as Bob looks back on over five decades of his artistic career, where life above and below ground is chronicled in his distinctive, graphic style.

His artwork shines the warm glow of a miner's lamp on the camaraderie of miners hewing and hauling coal in dangerous and inhospitable conditions. And the pieces on show at Mining Art Gallery span the gradual decline of the mining industry.

One of the paintings featured, High Speed Drifters, illustrates Bob's very last job at Whitburn Colliery and captures the constantly wet and noisy environment in which miners spent their working hours. Other pieces on display turn the spotlight on daily life in the tight-knit North East communities of the 1960s and 70s. This includes what is arguably his most famous work,

The Westoe Netty, a humorous depiction of a public urinal. Though globally recognised now, the artwork sparked controversy at its first showing, nearly closing the entire exhibition on the grounds of indecency.

The Northern Echo:

Bob, who lives and works in South Shields, said: "I have always expressed myself best through art. When I first went down the mines I found it hard to articulate how I felt about the blinding dark, the noise and the constant movement – the only way to describe my life underground was to draw it.

"It was the camaraderie, friendships and laughter that carried everyone along, that famous Geordie humour. I have a great love for the people of the North East and the mining communities, there's something special about them and I love bringing that to life on canvas."

Born into a mining family, Bob was just 17 when he became a miner in 1957, embarking on an 11-year career at the coastal pit in Whitburn. But his life-long love for art saw him leave the mines in 1969 and begin exhibiting artwork, before becoming a full-time artist in 1974.

As well as paintings and drawings, Bob has been commissioned to create a wealth of public art across the North East. This includes the life-sized sculpture of Stan Laurel, which stands at Theatre Corner in Bishop Auckland, and a mural of the town's history at Bishop Auckland Railway Station.

Angela Thomas, Exhibitions Curator at the Mining Art Gallery, said: "Bob is one of the most instantly recognisable artists in the North East. His unique graphic style brings to life the world of the miner and the solidarity of the communities that still exist. It has been such an honour for us to work with Bob on this exhibition. It seems fitting to

have so many of his works, pride of place, in the Mining Art Gallery."

  • Backshift: Bob Olley at 80 will be on show in a new, larger exhibition space in the Mining Art Gallery from Saturday, February 15 to Sunday, May 10. It follows another exhibition in tribute to a great mining artist, Norman Cornish, which was part of a county-wide celebration of the artist's centenary year.
  • Art-lovers can meet Bob in person at a special event, In Conversation with Bob Olley, on Thursday, April 23. The event, from 6.30pm-8pm, will see the artist discuss the new exhibition with Bob McManners who, with Gillian Wales founded the Gemini Collection, which is housed in the Mining Art Gallery. The talk will take place at Auckland Tower and will be followed by a private tour of the exhibition at the Mining Art Gallery with Bob Olley. Tickets are £10 and include a glass of wine. To book, visit Auckland Tower, or book online at aucklandproject.org/whats-on