Lisette Auton, photograph Laura Tindall

Kate Fox

Rowan McCabe

As part of the Your Library Story project to creatively celebrate the reopening of Darlington Library in September 2023 post restoration, Darlo based writer Lisette Auton has coordinated monthly ‘Do Stuff With Words’ sessions for adults at Darlington Library, encouraging people who signed up or dropped in to create new work and explore their writing practice. Supported by Arts Council England through Project Funding, this writing programme will reach its finale with an evening Do Stuff With Words event at Darlington Library, on the evening of Wednesday 23rd October 2024, details below, for which tickets are on sale now priced £4. Click here to book yours now or find out more about this event. At an earlier March 2024 evening sharing this year, a number project participants, joined Lisette at Darlington Library to share readings of their work to date, no mean feat given there wasn’t a free seat in the Art Gallery. With months more writing in place for participants to share, alongside the brilliant Lisette Auton, Kate Fox and Rowan McCabe, we’re looking forward to a great evening and hope you’ll join us there!

Do Stuff With Words sharing event, March 2024

Darlo Does Stuff With Words with special guests Kate Fox and Rowan McCabe, hosted by Lisette Auton

Wednesday 23^rd October 2024

Doors open 6.30pm

Event starts 7.00pm (running time 2 hours with an interval)

Children’s Library at Darlington Library 

£4 per ticket – ticket price includes complimentary drink

Welcome to a celebration of writing with headline sets from the sensational and nationally renowned poets and performers Kate Fox and Rowan McCabe, featuring the work of talented local writers, and all glued together and hosted by Darlington author and performer, Lisette Auton.

Since the beginning of this year, Lisette Auton has been playing with words with a group of writers at Darlington’s Crown Street Library and as their time together draws to a close we invite you to come along and celebrate their writing.

Kate Fox and Rowan McCabe headline this event: Lisette wanted to bring a group of writers together to create community and support each other in their writing, so it’s perfect that two of her absolute favourite writers and performers, who were instrumental to her writing journey, are joining us this evening. Each artist will perform a set from across their widely encompassing catalogue of work – if you’ve seen these artists perform before, you know how much of a treat you’re in for, if you haven’t, prepare to be delighted. Kate and Rowan will have books to sell and sign for you during the interval and after the event.

With writing cutting across all genres and forms, expect the unexpected, high drama, belly laughs and pride at the talent our town holds. Held in our beautiful library, this is a chance to not only listen to writers of national acclaim, to remarkable new writing, but also to meet fellow creatives and word lovers, readers, and listeners.

Kate Fox:

Kate Fox is a stand-up poet, spoken word artist and broadcaster. 

Kate is a regular contributor to Radio 3’s spoken word cabaret “The Verb”, has made two comedy series for Radio 4, been Poet in Residence for the Glastonbury Festival and the Great North Run and completed a PhD in stand up comedy! 

She is the author of “Where There’s Muck There’s Bras: True Stories of the North of England’s Women” published by Harper North, and various poetry collections. She is also a neurodivergent advocate whose latest show “Bigger on the Inside” explores neurodiversity through the lens of Doctor Who. 

Rowan McCabe:
Rowan McCabe is a poet and a professional waffler from Newcastle upon Tyne. Aware that poetry isn’t a proper job, he decided to create his own and became the world’s first Door-to-Door Poet. Knocking on strangers’ doors, he asks what is important to them. He then goes away and writes a poem about this, free of charge, before bringing it back and performing it on their doorstep. It’s sort of like the Avon lady… but with rhymes.

Rowan has also written for Channel 4, Radio 3’s ‘The Verb’ and his work has been featured in the Guardian and on BBC Breakfast. He has performed on stages around the UK, including Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall. In 2022, the National Trust published a collection of his work in honour of William Wordsworth’s 250th birthday.

“Ingenious” – BBC Radio Scotland

“Highly talented with verse” – Broadway Baby

“Absolutely riveting” – Attila the Stockbroker

Lisette Auton:

Lisette Auton is passionate about telling the stories she struggled to find – those that reflect her northern, disabled and neurodivergent experience – and making sure that everyone can see themselves in, or are authors of, the stories that are being told. She’s an award-winning multidisciplinary artist based in Darlington, who does stuff with words as an author, playwright, creative practitioner, film and theatre maker, and performer.

She is the author of three children’s books published by Puffin: THE SECRET OF HAVEN POINT; THE STICKLEBACK CATCHERS; LIGHTS UP; and a fourth publishing in 2025, and has multiple commissions writing plays for children and adults. Her film commissioned by New Writing North/Durham Book Festival WRITING THE MISSING – A RIVER CYCLE, the first part of THE WATER TRILOGY, won the Journal Culture Award 2021 for Performance of the Year. She is currently a TVCA Artist of the Year 2024-2025.

Basically, making things with words is the only thing she’s remotely good at, and she’s therefore very relieved that it’s her job.

ETCH the home for North East Creatives have asked us to help spread the word about these forthcoming dates,. They advise there’s a great line up planned and that ETCH has now grown to a community of over 800 and invite you to come along and expand your network and gain some business support.   They look forward to seeing you all soon!!

We try to share exhibitions of many different types in the Art Gallery at Darlington Library, open Monday to Saturday with free entry during standard Darlington Library opening hours. The latest exhibition is by 77 year old artist Roger Birchall, and it was great to see so many people enjoying its opening with Roger on the evening of Friday 27th September 2024, and to read positive comments from those who’ve made them to date,.

Roger selected two works from Darlington Borough Art Collection for display alongside his exhibition, Carnival | Art UK and Well | Art UK, the latter gifted by the Contemporary Arts Society.  We offer artists and groups mounting new exhibitions in the Art Gallery at Darlington Library the opportunity to select works for display from Darlington Borough Art Collection, in a small section of the Art Gallery that’s reserved for this purpose.

A selection of visitor comments on Roger’s exhibition, which contains includes a small selection of paintings and prints for for sale, to date is shown below, and it would be great to read yours on the exhibition, or on other aspects of the visual arts here in Darlington, if you pop into Darlington Library during standard opening hours.

• Amazing artwork that is great to see hung in this exhibition.  The space and light in the building is super.
• Lovely to have a local artist.
• Excellent exhibition – the second in succession in my view!
• Brilliant exhibition, keep up the great work.
• V. impressive. Sort of photo-realism? Good to see DBC collection.

TeesDance & Darlington Hippodrome are looking for dancers aged 13 – 19, or up to 25 with disabilities, who want to embark on an 8-month development programme to become young choreographers!

Apply by the 13 October via TeesDance website: https://teesdance.org.uk/move-up

To find out more about the programme, watch the full video from the last programme funded by Creative Darlington in 2022 https://youtu.be/CY4X66iczok

Repurposed, Recycled, Revealed, the new exhibition by Helen Winthorpe Kendrick will open at Darlington Library Art Gallery on Saturday 9th November and close on Thursday 19th December 2024. The Art Gallery at Darlington Library is open Monday to Saturday, during standard Darlington Library opening hours.

Helen has shared several exhibitions of her work in Darlington Library previously, and there’s an opportunity to meet the artist and ask questions about their practice in the Art Gallery at Darlington Library, from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday 9 November 2024. Each of Helen’s previous exhibitions in Darlington has explored different themes, and with Repurposed, Recycled, Revealed. she advises:

There is growing emphasis in todays’ society to reduce waste and to recycle wherever possible. There is a huge amount of energy required to produce fabrics and sadly, a huge quantity of clothing goes into waste. As a textile artist, I am aware of the great attraction to buy beautiful fabrics and interesting threads with which to work. As a result, I have a room stuffed with threads and fabric that I have not yet used along with textiles from many sources, and short lengths of thread that may one day become useful. In this exhibition my aim is to use what I have, to revitalise and finish projects from the cupboard, to give fabrics another purpose and to turn my stash into something useful. As William Morris said: ‘If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.’

We welcome your thoughts on exhibitions in the Art Gallery at Darlington Library, where local artist, Roger Birchall, exhibition of paintings is on display until Thursday 7th November 2024.

Get ready to bring your creativity to life at the Wey Aye Lego Man 2025 Exhibition! Ngage NE Ltd are on the hunt for artists like you to join this extraordinary event, kicking off on Friday, 2nd May at the John Marley Centre in Newcastle.

This year, Ngage NE Ltd mixing things up! Alongside a stunning display of Lego-themed photography by neurodivergent artists, Ngage NE Ltd are inviting all artists across the UK to take part. Sign up, and they’ll send you a 9cm x 6cm Lego man statue to transform into a unique piece of art. Paint it, sculpt it, bedazzle it—let your imagination run wild!

How to Join the Fun:

1. Sign up now: Visit www.ngageneltd.com to get started.
2. Receive your Lego man: It’ll arrive in January 2025, ready for you to work your magic.
3. Send it back by 14th April 2025: Your masterpiece will be featured alongside other incredible works in the exhibition.

This is your opportunity to showcase your creativity, connect with an inspiring community, and help make the Wey Aye Lego Man 2025 an unforgettable art event. Every customised Lego statue in the exhibition will be auctioned off, with all proceeds supporting projects for neurodivergent people in Newcastle and the surrounding region.

Don’t miss out on this creative adventure—sign up today and let’s make art together!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the Wey Aye Lego Man Digital Gallery to explore all the Lego-themed portraits from the 2023 and 2024 exhibitions.

Middlesbrough Art Week returns from 28 September – 5 October 2024 with an eight-day packed programme of exhibitions, events and new commissions filling the streets in Middlesbrough town centre. Mark your Calendars and visit here to see the full festival programme.  

This fantastic festival showcases work by both established and upcoming artists, from near and far. Middlesbrough Art Week 2024 includes works by international artists Francis Alÿs, Kyriaki Goni and Karrabing Film Collective; new commissions by Natasha Thembiso Ruwona and Alia Gargum; performances by Amy Dover, Olana Light and a mass participation project called Uproot Collective. This year Middlesbrough Art Week been working with community leaders, migrant support networks and schools across the Tees Valley to form Uproot Collective. Uproot is this year’s festival hub at Pineapple Black. 

Look out for artist talks by acclaimed artist and writer Jace Clayton, civil rights activist and author Gracie Mae Bradley. Alongside seed harvesting drop in sessions where you can learn about wildflower seed harvesting and have a go at gathering some of your own seeds.

Within the festival Summat for the Bairns offers fun FREE creative and playful drop-in workshops for families and kids of all ages. Discover what is ‘growing on’ at the festival hub. With multiple workshop stations where kids of all ages can get creative using drawing, sculpture and design. 

Middlesbrough Art Week also sees the return of the North East Open Call and the New Graduate Award, both of which celebrate artistic practice across Tees Valley and beyond. Keep an eye out for new public artworks and participatory initiatives at this year’s festival, including Most Creative Station delivered by Navigator North, Comedown Comedy, SPARK and Words Per Minute.

Across Middlesbrough, visitors can expect an inventive and richly diverse programme of free exhibition and events by partner venues & cultural organisations including MIMA, Navigator North, Platform A, Hypha, Industrial Coast, Python Gallery, Eden Arts, The Word, 2b Creative, and Freestyle amongst many more.

CALL-OUT for talented young people for our MoveUP programme!

TeesDance and Darlington Hippodrome are looking for dancers aged 13 – 19, or up to 25 with disabilities, to take part in MoveUP 2024/5. This FREE programme at Darlington Hippodrome, takes place over 8 months to develop choreographic skills in showcasing your own dance creation on a 1000-seated auditorium stage in June 2025.

Find out more and how to apply via TeesDance’s website (linked in bio) https://teesdance.org.uk/move-up

Deadline to apply: Sunday 13 October, 5pm

MoveUP is produced by TeesDance, delivered in partnership with Darlington Hippodrome and funded by Arts Council England and Tees Valley Combined Authority.

The next exhibition in Darlington Library Art Gallery, opens on Saturday 28 September and is on display during standard Darlington Library opening times (Monday to Saturday) until Thursday 7 November 2024. It will include works from different decades of Roger Birchall’s life, including Late Sun, Oil on canvas,         2020, pictured above.

Roger is a 77-year-old artist, living in Darlington. After leaving art school in 1970 Roger had a varied working life mainly in education but he also earned a living for ten years as a graphic designer. He moved to Darlington in 2000 and was immediately impressed by the variety of landscapes and seascapes that you can visit so easily when living in the town. His response was to start painting again in a concentrated way. He regards his art education as vital to the way he works now but there are other influences. He says, ‘My ability to draw came from both sides of my family and oil paints were the commonest medium at that time but the way I combine these skills definitely depends on what I learned at art school’.  

As  well  as landscapes, the other part of his exhibition features portraits of friends and family some of which date back to the 1980s. Roger works from photographs which help him achieve likenesses but he is also very concerned to create an image that adds to the experience of seeing the person, even if you don’t know them.  

Roger advises Birchallreality ‘will be full of very approachable paintings that often contain small experiences we all can enjoy; light seen through leaves, a distant horizon or an old brick wall’, tries to do the ‘seeing’ for us and then attempts to duplicate that experience through the medium of paint. 

The latest exhibition at Darlington Library’s Art Gallery, Places In Time: The Art of Kenneth Steel , is open during standard Darlington Library opening times (Monday to Saturday) until late September 2024, and contains brilliant depictions of places which may be familiar to many visitors, including Durham City, High Force, Lindisfarne and Robin Hood’s Bay.

Kenneth Steel (1906-1970) was a consummate printmaker who found critical acclaim during his lifetime. Yet today the Sheffield artist and designer, remains a largely unknown figure, outside a small group of dedicated enthusiasts and loyal collectors.

This exhibition hopes to further his reputation, not only as an important twentieth century figure in the field of British printmaking, but also an exceptional artist and designer in the fields of both railway art and commercial art.

Thankfully for us his keen eye for detail, colour and composition has left us with a unique record of areas of the British landscape, and those visitors to the Art Gallery who’ve left comments in the visitor comments book there, have been fulsome in their praise of Steel’s work.

During the exhibition there will be an opportunity to view a Gallery copy of the Kenneth Steel. Catalogue Raisonné of Prints and Posters publication in the Art Gallery, with hardback copies of the publication on sale from the Hive at Darlington Library, and visitors can also try their luck at completing a jigsaw depicting one of Kenneth Steel’s works, with the original on display in the exhibition.

• I love this exhibition, great history.
• Wonderful stuff, the best exhibition since the gallery’s refurbishment.  Great to see Steel’s progression through the years and the range of his work and the catalogue is superb!  Well done for bringing this exhibition here!
• Thank you – excellent display.  Loved the artwork.
• Excellent exhibition – fantastic work.
• I love the line engravings/drypoint pieces – especially Elvet Bridge.  But what a fantastic artist steel was across a range of media.
• Most interesting.
• Super exhibition, love the different mediums Kenneth used, so expressive, making one feel they are at the venue, in the picture.  Stunning.  Extra bonus having the catalogue and line engraving book to peruse.  Enjoyed completing the jigsaw too! 🙂
• Born in Durham, the fine details on Framwellgate Scenes & Framwellgate  Bridge are truly amazing.  An exceptional exhibition.
• A feast for the eye – a delight for the senses.  Truly lovely!
• Most interesting, lovely painting.
• Fascinating.  Unique style – especially the line engraving. 
• Quite a range from a clearly very talented artist and beautifully lit, taking advantage of this wonderful building’s assets.  Best exhibition we can recall in Darlington. 
• A wonderful feast for the eyes.  What a talent. 
• The best exhibition in the Art Gallery for the last 50 years. 
• Superb exhibition, beautifully displayed and curated.
• A brilliant exhibition.  I have enjoyed it! 🙂
• Fabulous exhibition!
• Excellent opportunity to see such outstanding work.
• Interesting exhibition.
• This exhibition is superb in every way.  What a treat!

If you do pop into Darlington Library Art Gallery we hope you’ll enjoy this exhibition.