A BID to put South Tyneside on the world heritage map has received a boost with the launch of a striking new art exhibition.
Called Time Lines, the display at Bede's World, in Jarrow, was inspired by the site of Wearmouth-Jarrow, which is the UK's nomination for World Heritage Site status in 2010.
A successful bid will put the dual monastic attraction on the same histor
ical footing as the Great Wall of China, Durham Cathedral and the Taj Mahal, and provide a massive tourist boost to the area.
Kevin Petrie, an art lecturer at the University of Sunderland, has created works based on the landscapes around St Paul's Church and monastic remains, in Church Bank, Jarrow, and Monkwearmouth, Sunderland.
The exhibition, which runs until November 11, captures such images as the famous tower of St Paul's Church, the pylons and industrial setting of the old church, and even a Nissan car carrier, at nearby Jarrow Slake.
Mr Petrie, 38, who studied at the Royal College of Art, London, said: "I wanted to capture the communities at both Jarrow and Sunderland."
"I worked on the exhibition for about a year, creating the paintings on-site. I wanted to work in the landscape and capture fleeting moments of time."
Apart from a series of striking pastel paintings, Time Lines features several works in glass, reflecting the fact that St Paul's Church still contains some of the oldest examples of stained glass in Christian Europe.
Ancient and modern life are both present in the exhibition, ranging from the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farm at Bede's World, to St Peter's Church at Monkwearmoth, and a painting of the City of Rome car
carrier, moored at Jarrow.
Mr Petrie is a professor of glass and ceramics and programme leader for the Master of Arts courses at the University of Sunderland.
He added: "With the glass works, I pour powdered glass into a mould and then scratch the drawings on."
Contact Bede's World on 489 2106 for more information.
The full article contains 341 words and appears in Shields Gazette newspaper.
