Greenfield Arts are delighted to welcome collaborative artist and tailor Richard Bliss who will be showcasing and talking about his unique exhibit that shines a spotlight on the previously overlooked and underrepresented working class from this area’s social history.
Richard will be hosting a ‘Meet the Artist’ event at Greenfield Arts to talk about his creative work and offers the opportunity to enjoy his piece which has recently been part of a project and exhibition at Ushaw entitled Workers’ Thread. The event will take place on Wednesday 10 November from 18:30 and is open to the public.
Richard brought this exhibition together by studying photographs, by looking at historic clothing held in the collections of The Bowes Museum, The V&A, and the Harris Museum in Preston. He also held collaborative discussions with Bishop Auckland Heritage Action Zone, students from Greenfield Community College through Greenfield Arts and volunteers at Ushaw.
The piece on show, The Socialist Pioneers Coat, is very close to home as it celebrates the Pioneering Women of Newton Aycliffe, who developed the first schools, libraries and community centres in the New Town. “I like to think of the exhibition as an historic object that never existed, but should have been collected at the time they were made”, explained Richard.
The Workers’ Thread project has been funded by Arts Council England, the Durham County Council Arts Team and Ushaw’s COVID recovery funding.
Greenfield Arts are committed to offering high quality arts activity that helps stimulate creativity, questioning and enquiry.