Swansea Print Workshop

ACCESS TO THE SOUTH WALES MINERS LIBRARY

Please note: Due to building work, there is not currently car or pedestrian access to the South Wales Miners’ Library from Gower Road. Therefore, please access the library via the entrance off Hendrefoilan Road. Follow the directions given in this link from Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/sR9eupmpvpbLqFek6

The postcode for SATNAV is: SA2 7NB

Update September 2023

Meeting Tuesday September 5 | 2023 |

Many thanks to all the printmakers who were able to attend our first meeting either in person or by zoom.

We were able to run through some of the practicalities of the project and what sort of support SPW would be able to offer. It will involve a considerable amount of individual effort in pursuing information but there will also be opportunities for working together and sharing resources.

We identified that there is a very wide area of opportunity of subject matter and that part of the groups’ initial research and collaboration will be to narrow down our focus to come up with a coherent framework for a set of prints for the exhibition.

The Miners Library was very much about educational opportunities for mining families. The re-opening of the library in new premises in 2023 will see it in its new role – as an amazing archive of a rich social and cultural heritage of South Wales.  

Our role will be to reflect some element of that.

The collection

There are donated book collections put together to cover a wide range of interests.

Additionally there are bound copies of regularly published magazines which chronicle almost identical concerns today in terms of employment but also illustrate domestic concerns and childrens’ pages

There is an absolute treasure trove of posters some of which are very early handrawn items. The range of posters from other countries reflect an interest and concern for workers elswhere in the world struggling for decent working conditions

There are also some Miners banners from the marches representing the individual lodges. There are replicas of these which were borrowed for the Pride film.

We did discuss a few ideas in the course of looking through the collection.

1. There are significant people in the history of the library and one approach might be to have a series of portraits / perhaps with some text. I’m thinking of Paul Peter Piech, Alan Figg and Peter Spriggs who have all successfully tackled portraits in interesting ways. As well as the people who taught and put the resources together there were people like Paul Robeson who formed a close connection with the ethos of the movement.
2. There are obviously significant political events marked by strikes and marches.
3. Then there is the whole background of living conditions and the struggle for improvement. For instance, getting the mine owners to provide public baths for the miners must have had huge benefits for the women struggling to deal with all the coal dust at home. The role that women took on during the strikes etc.
4. The issues of health and safety in the mines and looking after families after injuries and death from accidents / use of young children working in the mines
5. Anyone with personal memories and connections to the mining community within their own families
6. There were a wide range of ocupational and ancillary roles around the mining industry. Some of them have specialiized names and very specific roles. Having a list of these might be useful especially if anyone wants to use letterpress as part of their print

Website/Blog

We intend to set up a website/blog which will allow us to share any information we are working on. You will be able to post images/ sketches/reference material/ prints in progress. Details to follow soon

Paul Peter Piech

 The University has a great collection of the work of PPP. In particular his set of linocuts about the miners. He obviously had close contact with the day to day experience of a mining community. We then showed a sequence of photos of this collection that we had taken on our last visit

Sarah Hopkins has made a sequence of these  photos which you can access if you missed them.

Format

At the moment we are thinking of black and white prints only for the final prints. These will be of a standard size 12 inches square. You will need to use a process that will give you a reasonable number of prints for an edition

Places of interest

There will be many places that could be visited to extend our knowledge and provide some visual material. The Big Pit is an obvious one and we will be looking to arrange a visit as soon as possible.

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Queries raised at the meeting

Mark has responded to some suggestions and queries raised at the meeting

Hi Jackie, 

Great to be able to pop in to see the mini print exhibition on Saturday, fantastic work!

I thought I’d send this link to some of the events the Miner’s Library are organising that may be of interest to you and the members –

Online Course Engagement by Country (Shown in Red). (dotdigital-pages.com)

best wishes

Mark

Can we visit the library

How do we contact the collection

Participants can email the library at miners@swansea.ac.uk or call 01792 518603 for any assistance or to arrange a visit to view material.

South Wales Miners Library

Anyone interested in portraiture

There are a lot of potential prominent figures associated with the library. For participants interested in portraiture it may be easier for them to contact the library for individual research.

Sian would also be happy to talk to the group with suggestions if that would be helpful.

Occupational and ancillary roles around the mining industry.

The full list and description is too big a file to put on here. We will have to process it down to smaller files

Attachments from the Miner’s Library with lists of various roles and some information about the women working at the mines

Update July 2023

A MEMBERS ONLY opportunity to take part in this prestigious project

Being part of the project will involve:

Taking part in activities to familiarize the group with various aspects of the collection : for example the collection of posters and banners in the Library, drawing expeditions to relevant sites.

• Group meetings to discuss work in progress and share ideas
• There will be some free workshop sessions to upskill any areas of expertise we think are necessary
• Some materials will be available for the exploratory sessions
• A small panel will make the final choice of images to go into the Collection

Each artist will then produce a small edition| materials and studio time provided by the project

• 2 prints to go to the University, one will be framed for the exhibition and one to go in a boxed set
• 1 print to go to Swansea Print Workshop to go in boxed set
• The rest of the edition will belong to the artist to be sold on SPW website | pricing at artist discretion