Phil Bartle - Red Dust Artist Part 2
Phil has been interested in painting and drawing all of his life and has been lucky to have always had an element of it in his working life. He told us, he went straight from school to become a ‘painter and decorator’ as his school report said he was good at Art, he then worked as a Graphic designer until retiring about 8 years ago.
Phil has always been proud to come from Consett and has used this as his inspiration behind the Red Dust paintings, drawing on his own memories of Consett from the 60's and 70's. And its not just the buildings and sites that have found their way into his paintings, but also the fantastic characters that he remembers, and the humour of the Consett people themselves, this is something he is keen to continue and was keen to tell us that he doens't want his own Art to be thought of too seriously – hence his son’s Photo-bombing during our photoshoot.
Finally, his title – ‘Red Dust Artist’ - for all of the newcomers to the town - up until the closure of the steel works in 1980, most of the town used to be covered with it!
Finally, his title – ‘Red Dust Artist’ - for all of the newcomers to the town - up until the closure of the steel works in 1980, most of the town used to be covered with it!