WIRRAL ARTS: Images of Birkenhead’s docklands in new exhibition

Mar 3 2010 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

AN exhibition featuring images of Birkenhead’s docklands and other faded industrial scenes is currently showing at St Helens World of Glass.

Artist Tony Garner first drew inspiration from the once bustling seascape while on childhood walks with his father.

He has since revisited but the magic of those early days hasn’t left him, even if much of the shipping traffic, traders and workers have.

His enthusiasm for the area extends to Wallasey as well, where the East Float Dock provides much to commit to canvas.

Tony said: “As a boy I can remember exploring the dockland areas with my father.

“Today, I find real inspiration painting dockland buildings, factories, chimneys and canals.

“There’s a raw power about industrial scenes that’s always appealed to me.”

And the decay, so evident today, compared to the docks’ peak, provides more opportunity to record and reflect an area that could soon be transformed by planning proposals, such as Wirral Waters.

Tony only began painting 15 years ago, and has no formal experience.

He travels around Merseyside visiting industrial scenes, and, as well as Birkenhead and Wallasey, counts Liverpool’s Stanley Dock tobacco warehouse and areas of home town St Helens as some of his favourite spots.

Tony Garner’s exhibition, Industry, is on show at St Helens World of Glass until March 14