Dartington Ars College

The governors of Dartington College of Arts recently decided to relocate the college to Falmouth University (Cornwall) by 2010. An estimated £20 million is needed to refurbish essential buildings and as the College rents studio, performance and residential halls from Dartington Hall Trust, this is not possible. This is a serious issue for me as I have grown up on the Dartington Hall Estate and I know that: the college, Totnes and South Hams district will never have the same liberal atmosphere if the college is relocated and “above all Dartington changes people’s lives. It does so by providing a place where inspired ideas can be realised through imagination, exploration, reflection and practice” (extract from Dartington Hall Trust annual report) The beautiful medieval Dartington Hall Estate’s stunning buildings and gardens create a very unique calm small community (600 students) that both students and tutors absorb making the college excel at creative subjects such as music, performing arts, creative writing and fine art. “The college offers opportunities of studying within an environment which is on a personal scale. The college is a close knit community of high calibre arts practitioners, teachers and scholars”. The Dartington Hall Gardens are central to the estate and connect the various campuses and halls of residence and there are commuter routes crossing the gardens at all angles similar to roads on any other normal University Campus. In this project I intend to show the symbiotic relationship between the environment and students of Dartington College of Arts on the Dartington Hall Estate. The project will focus primarily on the more artistic students stereotypical of Dartington College of Arts which give the place its slightly eccentric reputation. I want to show how important the location of the college is in its effect on individual character and how it is influential in making the art college what it is today. I will do this through a set of environmental portraits showing the students almost blending into their landscape and physically becoming part of it, similar to the way it has become a part of them mentally. They will be photographed individually in a variety of locations ranging from the gardens to the workshops and even the Great Hall. These locations are either where the individual students are commonly found or an area that is particularly special and significant to their D.C.A experience

Protest cover Media MA studen… Great Hall Entr… prepaing for Pu… Tree Portrait Poi Library Bench

Keywords dartington arts dca student environmental portrait english country estate hall gardens art elmhurst high cross house