AN ARTIST who has been labelled the "Geordie Lowry", Bob Olley, of South Shields, has been invited to exhibit for the first time in the Hutchinson Gallery in Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

A private view takes place tonight when the show is officially opened by David Guy, president of the Durham Miners' Association and NUM, North-East area. The work opens to the public on Monday.

Much of his painting is inspired by aspects of everyday life in the North-East, but for this exhibition he has returned to mining subject matter.

An ex-coal miner, he worked in the pits for 11 years, from 1957-68 at Whitburn Colliery. The broad technique he uses for his mining subjects is totally different from the busy, detailed street scenes for which he is better known.

"Apart from returning to my roots as a coalminer, I am also returning to my family roots at Bishop Auckland," he said.

Mr Olley's great grandfather, Robert Smith, was an illiterate miner who lived at 440 William Street, Coundon, where his grandmother was born in 1876.

"The family moved to South Shields where my great grandfather worked at St Hilda pit in the town," said Mr Olley.

His other great grandfather, Peter Greenwell, lived at Croxdale and managed several public houses in the area.

"My grandmother Greenwell met my grandfather, Robert Olley, a Shields man, while on a charabanc trip to the seaside. They married and settled in Shields. My granny told me of the time she went back to Tudhoe to stay with her sisters on a week-long holiday to find they had booked her for a mystery tour that took her back to South Shields for the day!"

Many of his paintings in oils of Geordie town life are characterised by a dash of humour. Titles include Recycled Bikes, Night Life, The Mecca Bingo Hall and Windows, a large highly detailed study of a block of flats revealing the activities of the inhabitants while below the vibrant night life continues.

In his last exhibition, he exhibited a very large work, Off the Way, depicting three coalminers lifting a derailed coal tub back on the tracks. It was his first mining-related painting for almost 25 years, and was so well received it revived his interest in the subject.

The present exhibition reflects this rekindled interest for which he has produced 15 paintings and sculptures based on his experiences in the industry.

Toil, Sweat, Dust and Water, runs from Monday until Saturday, April 13.

Right, one of the recent

works on a mining theme.