John Hall

Tin Ships, 2025

 

Sea Like a Mirror is an ambitious national partnership programme, commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), inspired by the profound legacy of their life-saving work and the special status its volunteer crews occupy in the collective consciousness of our island nation.

In each setting, White Horses will be accompanied by a series of commissions by local artists, made in collaboration with the area’s community. In Barrow, Art Gene are working with John Hall and Maddi Nicholson of Art Gene.

John Hall is collaborating with pupils from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School. They’ll delve into Barrow’s rich history of shipbuilding, reflecting on their relationship with the sea and the importance of the coast and shipbuilding to the growth and development of Barrow.  

Drawing from their own ideas, the sessions will invite pupils to design and craft ships and experiment with various shapes and structures using recycled mackerel tins and other materials. After a period of research at school, in which the students will look at the history and development of shipbuilding in the town, they will undertake a step-by-step assembly process to create their own fleet.  

The results of these sessions will be presented on Roa Island, in the RNLI station in Spring 2025.  

Tin Ships is part of an ongoing initiative celebrating Barrow’s unique coastal heritage and locals’ connections to the sea. The project has been commissioned by Art Gene as part of Sea like a Mirror.

About the artist 

John Hall is an artist with a history of working in community and educational contexts, in Barrow. His work in the community draws on people’s experience of locality, social history, and pop culture. He was a founding Director of Full of Noises, Barrow’s sound art organisation, and now manages the Arts Space project, which places artists within community contexts in Cumbria. John and Arts Space collaborate with schools, museums, mental health groups, Alzheimer’s groups and the wider community to produce multi-media projects involving text, video, sound and visual art.  

https://www.johnhallartist.com/

Maddi Nicholson of Art Gene will also be showing a series of placards alongside Sea Like A Mirror.

 

Above and Beyond, 2025

The RNLI and Peggy Braithwaite, MBE (1919-1996)  

Peggy Braithwaite, born Margaret Grace Braithwaite, was Britain’s first and only female principal lighthouse keeper in the UK. 

She followed in her father’s footsteps and started her career as an assistant keeper. In 1975, working for the Lancaster Port Commission, Peggy became the principal lighthouse keeper at the South Walney lighthouse.  

Peggy actively supported the work of the RNLI and the Roa Island lifeboat station, a short walk across the sands from Walney at low tide. She coordinated other women to knit woollen hats to raise funds for the RNLI at Roa.  

Maddi’s placards celebrate the achievements of both Peggy and her connection to the brave RNLI volunteers who dedicate themselves to saving lives. The works honour Peggy as an unsung heroine of the area – an inspirational woman who, much like the RNLI volunteers, braved the elements on Walney to aid those at sea.  

In 1984, Peggy was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire Medal. The citation said she kept the lighthouse in ‘immaculate condition.’ Notoriously, when the mechanism failed, she would manually push the light herself throughout the night; she painted the entire external structure more than once.  Peggy retired in 1994 aged 74; the lighthouse was automated in 2003.  

Beanies for Barrow

Celebrating Peggy Braithwaite’s commitment to fundraising for the RNLI and supporting the fishermen of the time, Maddi is galvanising local Barrow knitters to make beanie woollen hats to a standard pattern. The hats will be gathered together and shown during the Sea Like a Mirror installation. They will be offered for sale to the public with all profits being donated to the Barrow RNLI lifeboat station.  If you would like to get involved with this creative project, see more details here.

About Sea Like a Mirror 

Opening in Whitstable over the May bank holiday weekend (2-5 May 2025) the work will tour to Cromer (15-18 May), Barrow-in-Furness (22-25 May), Weston-Super-Mare (5-8 June), Cleethorpes (12-15 June) before returning to Gravesend for its final weekend (21-22 June).

Sea Like a Mirror is a partnership project led by Cement Fields, with Art Gene, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, North East Lincolnshire Council & East Marsh United, and Super Culture. Delivered in collaboration with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and supported with public funding from Arts Council England. Presented in Gravesend for Estuary 2025 with Estuary Festival.

Click here for more information about the project.