College News

Festival of Thrift

QE Art students  made a massive contribution to Darlington’s Festival of Thrift, an event which attracts thousands of visitors each year.  They worked with internationally renowned artist Olivier Grossetet to help construct the People’s Tower,  a five storey cardboard structure inspired by Darlington’s clock tower. The students participated in workshops in St Cuthbert’s Church and were delighted to witness the final installation in the Market Place  to  launch the Festival.

In addition, in the lead up to the Festival, Art Foundation students worked with Mimi Banks from Home Live Art to create a sculptural archway entrance to the Festival, securing a Young Arts Grant of £200 from North Yorkshire & South Durham Decorative and Fine Arts Society to cover printing costs; the materials to build the structure were sponsored by Tyne Tees Packaging Ltd . The  students’ work celebrated Darlington’s  railway heritage and  were inspired  by artefacts in the  Head of Steam Railway Museum where the styudents captured imagery through observational drawings and photography. The  QE display in the Student Loans Building at Lingfield Point was a huge success and  the workshops organised by the students over the weekend of the Festival were extremely popular.

The Festival of Thrift is a cultural celebration  where people find  fun in learning how to reuse, recycle and upcycle, saving both money and benefiting the environment.