Cooplands Bakery 1983

In 1983 I was awarded one of six Yorkshire Arts Association Artist in Industry residencies and I was to work, for two months, with the relatively small (200 employees) Cooplands (Doncaster) Bakery.   Cooplands was a family business making bread and cakes and also cooked meats.  

Quite early on in this residency I made the decision to make mostly drawings and to focus my attention on the workforce - on people at work.   As I was living and working on site (sleeping at night in the board room) I was working close up with everyone else in the building . . . which is probably why my drawings tend toward portraits of fellow workers.   I continued working on these drawings and paintings for about eight months . . . until a touring exhibition of the work of all six artists opened at The Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield - curated by James Hamilton. 

Paula
Paula and Margaret
Daz in Cooked Meats
Albert
Alan and Harry Hosing Down
Alan and Harry Hosing Down
The Pastry/Mixing Department
Steve in the Mixing room
The M.D.'s Office
Lesroy
Lesroy
Alan Washing Down
Alan Washing Down
Eric in the Washroom
Sandra
Pinky at the Coppers