Mixed Media on Steel

Painted, drawn & scribbled on three plates of galvanised steel is a poem I commissioned Geordie Laureate Harry Gallagher to create for the project. I worked with Harry before, on my Northumberland Folk project & found him an inspiring wordsmith, able to turn any situation, no matter how uplifting or woefully politically inept, into a verse or two of cleverly chosen words & phrases. So I asked him, being a Middlesbrough lad originally, to write a few lines to help illustrate the ups & downs of the place you’re standing in. The poem has been published as a book, by my own small venture called the Cakes & Ale Press, so feel free to buy a copy on the way out. But here it is again, written & embellished with gusto & verve on a suitably robust & unforgiving surface. The tide, as the great poet says, is all ours… & it’s coming back in…