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Harlow Art Trust (HAT) is a registered charity based inHarlow,Essex, established in the 1950s to acquire and display public sculpture. Founded byFrederick Gibberd, lead architect ofHarlow New Town, the Trust aimed to make high-quality art accessible to all. Its nationally significant collection is now displayed throughout the town in open-air locations such as shopping centres, housing estates, and parks..[1]
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Harlow Council has produced a 'Sculpture Trail' for visitors to the town which features many of the sculptures held in the collection.[2][3] These include:
On 26 March 2009 Harlow Council voted to approve a proposal made by Harlow Art Trust to rebrand Harlow Town as 'Harlow Sculpture Town'. This is to highlight the significant collection of public sculptures cited around the town.
The new title will be used on council and other tourist publications from the Summer of 2009 onwards, and aims to emulate the former name of Harlow (Harlow New Town).[5] This not only celebrates the sculptures owned by Harlow Art Trust but other sculpture collections in Harlow, including those of the council, the Gibberd Garden and Parndon Mill.
In rebranding the town the aim of Harlow Art Trust is to associate Harlow with the name Sculpture Town as readily as the town ofHay-on-Wye is known asBooktown.[1]
The Harlow Art Trust also runs The Gibberd Gallery (named in honour of Sir Frederick Gibberd). The trust has run the Gibberd Gallery since 2011 after taking it over from Harlow Council. The gallery houses the town's sculpture and permanent watercolour collection. One of its previous trustees was the sculptorAngela Godfrey.[6]
