Work, Rest and Play, Woodhorn Museum, Northumberland.
Work, Rest and Play by Bethan Maddocks 28th May 30th October 2022
This art installation, ‘Work, Rest and Play’ by artist Bethan Maddocks, is inspired by the pit ponies that worked in coalmines including here at Woodhorn Colliery. Pit ponies spent most of their lives underground, working and living in underground stables. Bethan was inspired by the story of Flax, the last working pit pony brought up to the surface at the nearby Ellington Colliery when the colliery closed in 1994. ‘My research began with an article in Ashington Colliery Magazine from 1939 that imagined the ponies life underground from their perspective, and through handling Flax’s headgear, and connecting his name to the flowering plant he is named after.’ Bethan Maddocks
The artwork explores three key parts of pit pony life; hard work down the pit, being brought to the surface for heydays and holidays, and being put to pasture at the end of their working life. The wooden structures are inspired by woodworking ‘horses’- simple wooden structures used for making and manual work.
“The black diamonds, the regional nickname for coal, represent the weight that the ponies would have pulled. The paper headgear and harness were recreated to scale from the equipment held in the collection stores.
The ponies were brought to the surface for two weeks of every year, when the miners had their holidays, so I wanted to create delicately spun paper candyfloss, ice creams and coconuts to playfully imagine how the ponies would have spent their holiday.
The last scene is recreated from flowers collected from around the Woodhorn site and the Country park- to reference both the idea of the ponies being put to pasture for their retirement and also the retirement of the land, post industry. This work celebrates the land slowly being reclaimed and becoming a site of rest and leisure for the local community rather than a site of industry; the balance of work, rest and play- an ideal often fought for and depicted within the mining banners and work of the mining unions.” Bethan Maddocks
You can see a display of objects connected to pit ponies (including Flax) from the museum collection in the display cases outside this gallery. You can also find out more about pit ponies in the Colliery Stables during your visit today.
With artist thanks to the staff at Museums Northumberland, Rerni Bec for design and cutting of the diamonds, Catriona Maddocks for artist assistance, flower picking, horse dancing and headgear paper construction, Tim Kendall for woodwork assistance, Jona Aal for technical assistance. Also to Mike Kirkup for his book ‘Pit Ponies’ that helped inform the work and lastly to the people and ponies who toiled underground and whose stories inspired this artwork.
© I do not hold the copyright for this image of a painting. All rights reserved by the artist. Please do not request an un-watermarked copy as I cannot supply this.