Exhibition of Paintings
Black Wound / Bargoed Colliery Tip Project by D Alun Evans. National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 10 January to 26 February 2000 Monday to
Saturday 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. Admission free.
D Alun Evans first went to Bargoed Colliery in 1964 to visit his
girlfriend who lived in the Rhymney Valley. In 1967 her family moved
into a house in the shadow of the colliery tip. The house was
previously the residence of the manager of Britannia Colliery which
adjoined the Bargoed Mine just up the valley.
The tip which featured in this project is the third largest in Europe
and two years ago a regeneration program was set in motion to flatten
the colliery which has long ceased production and to landscape the
valley.
The slag heap is such a significant landscape feature, in both literal
and figurative terms that Alun decided to monitor and record the changes
through a suite of drawing and paintings which absorb the changes slowly
integrated by the contractors as they landscaped the tip.
Bargoed Tip has attracted the attention of many artists over the years.
The postcard company F Frith & Co Ltd produced a selection of postcards
and, in 1965, L S Lowry painted one of his characteristics
interpretations of the tip.
The exhibition is surprisingly colourful and provides a unique insight
into the beauty of the area. I had expected to see a collection of
black and white silhouettes but the artist has used acrylic paint and
crayon to startling effect. As to be expected there is some duplication
there are only so many views of a tip. The most expensive painting is
£2950.00 but there are plenty at lesser prices to temp the collector.
As Homer Simpson says, “If they are that expensive they must be good”.
Tony Oldham, Retired Mine Art Specialist.
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