Yes, industry. Port Talbot is an industrial town, and that’s nothing we should feel ashamed about. Now, you might well be thinking, okay, but industry’s not pretty, though, is it? True, it’s not, but that doesn’t have to mean that it’s ugly, or not worth looking at.
One industry is of course
indelibly associated with our town, and that’s the steel industry. And you can
by all means disagree if you wish, but I think you have to consider the steel
works in any reckoning about what’s notable in Port Talbot. I’ve made sketches
of parts of the steelworks on a number of occasions.
The steelworks dominate the town, and the blast furnaces dominate the steelworks. Beautiful? Well, maybe not, but on the other hand, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder. They are grand, magnificent, intricate, and an absolute joy to sketch. The play of light and shadow off all the different structures which combine in them makes them an interesting subject to draw at any time of day. Over the years I’ve become strangely fond of the appearance of the blast furnaces – whenever I’ve been away, and I first see them from the motorway, I feel that I’m nearly home.
I’ve also drawn the town’s other
striking industrial structures several times. The ore cranes have a very
similar appeal to the blast furnaces. They’re huge, for one thing. They’re
intricate and functional for another. And more than anything else, they are a
fantastic subject to sketch. I don’t think it’s going to far to call them
iconic images of Port Talbot.
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