STRIKE INSPIRES ARTIST
Art Decor Gallery is set to host a ground-breaking exhibition which in part focuses on the struggles and emotions within the communities during the 1984 miners’ strike
Therese James, who has lived most of her life in her home town of Llanelli, South Wales, says her work can be described best by the Welsh words hwyl and hiraeth. Hwyl being an inner passion one would feel for something that stirs your soul and hiraeth, which loosely translated means a longing for home.
All of the paintings within Art Decor Gallery’s exhibition, entitled A Sense of Community, touch on how we connect.
Sixteen of the paintings, The Miners’ Strike Collection, celebrate the community and how they generally stood side by side through those hard times together. Other paintings reflect how life was in small towns and villages when Therese was growing up along with more spiritual paintings that she describes as moments when we are ‘at one’ with the world.
During her research for the paintings, Therese met with Sian James, Betty Cook and Anne Scargill, the wife of Arthur Scargill who led the National Union of Miners through the strike. “It soon became obvious that my inspiration for this collection would very much be coloured by their experiences and tales.”
“Sian retold the story of how things had been for her community in the Dulais Valley during the strike. Many colourful stories were told, with animation and vibrancy, some funny, some sad but all of them were full of emotion.”
One of the paintings to be featured in the exhibition, United We Stand Divided We Fall, tells the story of a lone miner who broke the strike, walking through the angry picket lines.
In her naïve style, James who works with acrylic on canvas, adds: “When I first heard this story my immediate reaction was, who was this man? Why would he do this? I understand that poverty and hunger makes principles falter but when the whole community is united in a fight, why was his need greater?”
In all her paintings James, who was born in 1959, very much focuses on community spirit and the emotions within it: “This exhibition touches on how I remember life growing up in an industrial town, the scenes are representative and illustrate life for many of us from those times.”
“However the major part of it displays the fight that the mining communities put up … these are my heartfelt observations as an outsider.”
Delighted to be hosting A Sense of Community, gallery owners Chris and Julie McCabe, explain: “The one thing that connects all of Therese’s work is an honest emotional thread. Her strong sense of community and admiration for her characters is palpable within all her work. She finds inspiration from people and their emotions – all of her paintings have a narrative.”
Art Decor Gallery
6 The Arches, Whalley BB7 9SG
01254 824840
www.artdecorgallery.co.uk
