Sculpture honouring North East's mining heritage to make public debut at Woodhorn's Miners' Picnic
A landmark sculpture honouring the North East's mining heritage will be unveiled to the public for the first time at Woodhorn Museum's Northumberland Miners' Picnic.
The Northumbrian Miner is the vision of internationally renowned sculptor and Northumbria University graduate Dr John O’Rourke and features the figure of a miner surrounded by pit village houses and industrial structures.
Over the last three years a scale ‘maquette’ or model of the sculpture has been produced in the engineering workshops of Northumbria, with many of the students involved going on to build careers on the strength of the experience.
The proposed full sculpture would be made from Corten steel, the same material as the Angel of the North, and would stand at 12.3 metres tall, making it one of the most significant public artworks in the region.
A site near Bedlington on the River Blyth has been identified as a possible location for the structure, with funding now being sought to make the project a reality. The proposed full sculpture is estimated to cost around £3 million.
Six of Northumbria undergraduate engineering students have been involved in producing the maquette – creating detailed 3D CAD models of the different components from John's original drawings and scale models.
Since graduating from Northumbria University with a Master of Fine Arts in 1989, Dr O'Rourke has gone on to become one of the region's most distinctive sculptors, with works including Sentius Tectonicus – a 2.8-metre Corten steel Roman centurion at Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend, marking the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall.
He said: "This sculpture is about the people of this region – their history, their labour, their transition into a new future – and it has taken a community effort to bring it this far.
“I'm enormously grateful to Northumbria University, to the students who brought my drawings to life in CAD, to the technical team in the workshops, and to Professor Martin Birkett for making our residency and the internship programme possible.”
The maquette will be unveiled at Woodhorn Museum's Northumberland Miners' Picnic on Saturday 13 June, where it is expected to be seen by at least 2,000 visitors.
The project is currently seeking a regional champion and funding partners to bring the full sculpture to life. To find out more, please contact Colin Herron at [email protected]