"At the Coalface" is a deeply personal exploration of the subterranean world, descending into the claustrophobic tunnels and heavy atmospheric depths of coal mining. The piece holds a profound familial connection, rooted in the lived experience of the artist's father, who worked underground as a coal miner in the early 1970s. This print serves as both a psychological window into that hidden, sub-surface reality and a tribute to the industrial heritage of the North East of England.
The composition utilizes the stark, high-contrast constraints of monochrome relief printmaking to convey the intense weight of the earth overhead. Jagged, directional cuts mimic the raw rock faces, timber pit props, and mechanical infrastructure of the mine shafts, carving light directly out of a dense, suffocating blackness. The lines guide the eye down an immersive, receding perspective, capturing the physical and mental isolation of working deep within the seam.
Through countless, deliberate, hand-carved marks, the artwork transforms historical and personal memory into a tactile, physical presence. It captures the grit, darkness, and unrelenting labor of a bygone era, rendering the industrial heritage of the North East not as a distant memory, but as a vivid, structural landscape etched permanently into the paper.
2026
This is a linocut printed on lovely Arnhem 1618 white 245gsm paper.
From a limited edition of 25
Size: 19.2 cm x 27.5 cm (7.559 in x 10.827 in)
The work is signed and numbered by the artist.
Each linocut print will not be identical to the next, due to the nature of the printing process, but this adds to its unique quality.
"At the Coalface" is a deeply personal exploration of the subterranean world, descending into the claustrophobic tunnels and heavy atmospheric depths of coal mining. The piece holds a profound familial connection, rooted in the lived experience of the artist's father, who worked underground as a coal miner in the early 1970s. This print serves as both a psychological window into that hidden, sub-surface reality and a tribute to the industrial heritage of the North East of England.
The composition utilizes the stark, high-contrast constraints of monochrome relief printmaking to convey the intense weight of the earth overhead. Jagged, directional cuts mimic the raw rock faces, timber pit props, and mechanical infrastructure of the mine shafts, carving light directly out of a dense, suffocating blackness. The lines guide the eye down an immersive, receding perspective, capturing the physical and mental isolation of working deep within the seam.
Through countless, deliberate, hand-carved marks, the artwork transforms historical and personal memory into a tactile, physical presence. It captures the grit, darkness, and unrelenting labor of a bygone era, rendering the industrial heritage of the North East not as a distant memory, but as a vivid, structural landscape etched permanently into the paper.
2026
This is a linocut printed on lovely Arnhem 1618 white 245gsm paper.
From a limited edition of 25
Size: 19.2 cm x 27.5 cm (7.559 in x 10.827 in)
The work is signed and numbered by the artist.
Each linocut print will not be identical to the next, due to the nature of the printing process, but this adds to its unique quality.