'On Track' - Celebrating 200 years of the S&DR

The Darlington Stitch and Create group of over forty members has been working towards the ‘On Track’ exhibition for four years. Our aim was to use textile art to celebrate the possibilities that the first passenger journey, two hundred years ago, created for people over the whole world. Members have been able to contribute in many ways depending on their skills and worked on a different topic each year.

• In our first year we explored ‘Through the Carriage Window’. As the train speeds along, you can catch glimpses of the landscape near far.
• In the second year we considered the many places in the North East where the trains can take you for a day out. In 1942, for example, there were train stations in every pit village.
• In the third year we began our collaborative piece entitled ‘Full Steam Ahead-Locomotion no.1’. Small sections were worked by members which were stitched together creating the finished triptych.
• In the fourth year the theme was ‘Wagons Roll’. Each piece has a common bogie onto which members could use their imagination to create a wagon.

This work will continue to be shared beyond this exhibition in Darlington Library Art Gallery, journeying to Hopetown Darlington and The Locomotion Shildon next.

Darlington Stitch and Create welcome people with no stitching skills as well as the experienced embroiderer.

To find out more about the group please e-mail [email protected]