THE worlds of mining and fashion don’t appear to have much in common.
But artists Claire Barber and Steve Swindell have merged the two in a new exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery.
The University of Huddersfield staff members, who formed an artistic collaboration back in 2010, are showing works based on what they found at Snibston Discovery Museum in Leicestershire, which is a mining museum and also hosts the largest collection of fashion outside London.
Mining Couture explores the working lives of miners, their families and what was important to them, in a multi-disciplinary way.
For example, one of the major pieces on show is a life-size sculpture of a booster fan used to push fresh air into mines, covered in the floral patterned fabric worn by the 1972 National Coal Queen.
Claire, a lecturer in textiles, and Steve, a researcher in the faculty of art, design and architecture, are the latest artists to take part in the ROTOR series of exhibitions being mounted as a joint venture between the university and Huddersfield Art Gallery.
Guided tours around the exhibition, which is free, are available from student ambassadors on Saturdays from 11am until 1pm and Tuesdays from noon until 2pm.
