Exhibition: Shipyard Faces and Intriguing Spaces
Tyneside 'shipyard' painter launches exhibition in North Shields which features 50 years of his work. He talks to Tony Henderson
It is said that throughout the ages only the wealthy or powerful had their portraits painted.
But shipyard worker Tommy and his cat Tiger bucked the trend thanks to artist Peter Burns.
Peter painted Tommy at the Wallsend Swan Hunter yard where they both worked – Peter as a plater and Tommy as a general labourer.
At 5ft 1ins, Tommy’s choice of footwear was waders. Like the majority of yard workers, he had a nickname and his was ‘The Duke of Wellington’.
“Tommy was a real character. He adopted Tiger from the population of feral cats at the yard and he loved him. That painting is one of my favourites,” said Peter, 81, who lives in Low Fell in Gateshead.
Now around 70 of Peter’s paintings and drawings from across the last 50 years will go on show in an exhibition titled Shipyard Faces and Intriguing Spaces at the Old Low Light heritage centre on North Shields Fish Quay from October 28 to December 20.
As well as his shipyard work, Peter will also exhibit his images of various locations and buildings, such as the Cooperage on Newcastle Quayside, the Central Station, and the 18th-century St Andrew’s Church in Lamesley, in Gateshead.
“I have always loved history, architecture and buildings,” said Peter, who grew up in Walker in Newcastle and started work as an office boy at Swan Hunter at the age of 15 until he could start his apprenticeship as a plater.
Until being made redundant at the age of 48, Peter worked at every shipbuilding yard on the Tyne.
In 1978 he was given permission by British Shipbuilders to undertake an 18-month secondment capturing shipyard people and working scenes. These resulted in a major exhibition at Northumbria University.
This led to a commission from Shell UK to provide illustrations for their 1984 calendar Shell in the Community.
The calendar won the top award at the British Calendar Exhibition in Stuttgart in Germany, and Peter’s paintings later featured in a Shell UK exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London.
One of his paintings was on show in the White House in the United States and is now at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
His work is represented in UK private and public collections, including the Laing Art Gallery and Discovery Museum in Newcastle. They also feature as part of the Shell Heritage Art Collection at the National Motor Museum Trust at Beaulieu.
Peter said: “Over the years I have captured many scenes that have caught my attention at home and abroad. I always have my sketch pad handy.
“Drawing and painting has always been an interest from being very young. In the shipyards, the subject matter was great, and I sketched at lunchtimes, just whatever I came across.
“As I worked there, I could get up close. If I had been an artist visiting the yards, I would never have got that close.”
Dave Young, who has curated the exhibition, said: “While the exhibition will include a broad selection of Peter’s artwork, I know that visitors to the Old Low Light will be very pleased to see drawings and paintings depicting characters and scenes from the shipyards, which were so prominent in our local area.
“Although Peter has become known as the ‘shipyard painter’, he was very keen to also display other drawings and paintings from urban and rural scenes that have inspired him over the years, and some of these have never been exhibited before.”
Some of the original artworks will be for sale, including a selection of prints.
The exhibition is in a multi-purpose room, used by community groups. While it will be open 10am to 3pm from October 28 to November 1, thereafter there may be times, especially on Wednesdays and Thursdays, when the room is in use, so best to check in advance.
Admission is £5 per person and free for Old Low Light members.