BFI

"These are the eyes of Oliver Kilbourn, a salvage drawer at Ellington Pit". This story is about the Ashington Art Group, of which Kilbourn was a founder member. It evolved in 1934 out of evening classes organised in the local mining community. Their tutor, Robert Lyon, did not give any instruction in art techniques and so, as one of the group later recorded, "We came to realise that artistic effort, to be genuine, must first of all be felt by its creator, and that would determine the technique." The Group went on to be hailed by art critics and hold celebrated exhibitions in Newcastle and London.

Ros Cranston

*This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'Portrait of a Miner: The National Coal Board Collection Volume 1'.

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