Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness - Mining Art Gallery

About

Our new Tom McGuinness exhibition opens on 18 February 2026. In his centenary year, the Mining Art Gallery celebrates this quiet man who communicated through his art – he did not seek simply to record details of the mining industry but expressed what it really felt like to be a miner.  

Tom McGuinness found a rich seam of artistic inspiration in the coal mines of County Durham, painting the industry and its people from his own experiences.

The studious Tom saw more in the scene than most people would and, with an artist’s eye, a comprehensive knowledge and a clarity of thought, interpreted this for us all to comprehend. His visceral depictions of life underground serve as a powerful, emotive reminder of the lives lived by many in the mining communities of the North East.