Art within West Park Garden Village

Art is central to West Park both in the form it has taken, the process by which decisions have been made and the historical and cultural references it is based upon.

The art has predominantly taken the form of a scheme based on placing text in key areas of the landscape, marking entrance points into particular spaces within the development. To date it has drawn on a set palette of colours and materials and deployed a specific font.

The materials used are local stone, often Catcastle, coupled with ironwork, Corten steel, glass and enamel work. Whilst all the materials have, at some point, been used in different forms an underlying unity can be identified. The subject matter which forms the basis of the text in the existing development is generally based on local history, ecology and culture.

The poetry which appears on the stones and bridges, the street signs and windows of West Park focuses on the interrelationships with people, with the past, and with the environment.

The new site borders on three areas of historical importance to Darlington: the medieval villages of Archdeacon Newton and Whessoe, and a site where Romano-British remains have been discovered. This provides the artists with the opportunity to explore how the interrelated areas of agriculture, trade and technical innovation which has defined the identity of region over the centuries.

For more information regarding art in WestPark please visit Friends of WestPark here, or visit here for the information about the Jubilee Poetry Walk.