Birkin
Haward
b. 1939 Ipswich , lives and works in London
Donated Artwork
This painting is one of a number of paintings done by the artist based on Easington Colliery, a large coal mine in County Durham. At its peak it employed over 4000 men but it closed in 1993. The artist went there in the 1970’s when it was still operational and did a lot of drawings. He was initially attracted to it because it is built very close to the sea and had some extraordinary structures most of which have been demolished. Together with other industrial installations such as power stations, dockyards, silo’s, granaries etc, he have always found these places inspiring.
Easington Colliery 3
Acrylic on Card
48 x 39 cm
Unique
About the Artist
Birkin Haward was born in Ipswich into a family where drawing and painting were regular activities and his own work was first exhibited when he was still at school. However he decided to pursue an architectural career and studied at the AA from 1953-63 where his teachers included Robert Maxwell, John Killick and Cedric Price.
He worked for many years with Norman Foster and was a team member on most of the practices projects from 1969 to 1983 including the Willis Faber and Dumas offices in Ipswich, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual arts at UEA in Norwich, the New Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong and Stansted Airport.
Since 1983 he has been in partnership with Joanna van Heyningen as van Heyningen and Haward with an office in London, engaged mainly on cultural, heritage and education schemes. Buildings and Projects, a monograph covering the work of their practice was published in 2010. In in the same year he became a consultant to the practice, a move which gave him more time for drawing, painting and travel with the most recent expeditions to Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Poland, Italy and Japan.
Collections & Exhibitions
His first solo exhibition was held in Salthouse Church Norfolk in 2010, largely showing works that drew on the surrounding Norfolk Landscape. He joined the Beardsmore Gallery in 2011 and one man shows followed in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 with a further solo exhibition in Salthouse church in 2019.