Port Glasgow Sculpture Vote

From Clutha Dreaming proposal by Andy Scott

I think I've made my feelings on the pros and cons of public art and sculpture fairly plain. I enjoy public art sculptures so much so that they are one of the main features of my book Tin Jimmy. I'm just not always so keen or convinced by the "engagement" which goes on around them...

HOWEVER....right now, you can vote on 1 of 4 potential new sculptures for the Port Glasgow roundabout. This is just down the road from me, so for once, I have a bit more inclination to be interested in how this one goes.

Once you get by the "waste of time and money" debate that will doubtless surround this particular piece given the timing, all art is subjective - we are all right and all wrong for our own contextual and aesthetic reasons. And so for me, hands down, its Clutha Dreaming on this one. I think we have a tremendous amount of sculpture and material which celebrate our shipbuilding heritage, in Greenock and Port Glasgow town centres, even on the cycle track, so it would be nice if we looked to our myths and legends for once. It's a right outside bet though, it was in last place when I voted, and its a guilty pleasure cos it is just a wee touch "new agey" for round our way. I'll even be honest and say I'm not 100% sure its not just my favourite cos its called Clutha. We are big fans of personified river Clutha and as well as starring in both our folklore books, the sinister Cluthee cult are also part of our new graphic novel due out next month.

So...thumbs up for Clutha....though if ye push me...that big red heid is pretty funny...
Is art meant to be funny? Whole other debate.

Like they say, writing about music is like dancing about architecture...

Sea Stories - The Serpent and The Saint

When the Tall Ships first arrived in 1999, we were just beginning our local research into folklore and heritage, and we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to get involved in a number of the local art projects organised for the Tall Ships Celebrations. The first involved us creating an illuminated medieval manuscript, with celtic knotwork borders designed by local schoolchildren, stories we collected from the community, and a hand carved wooden cover. It's still one of the most enjoyable things we've ever done.

The other was to write and illustrate a short story in a single afternoon, which was then published in a book produced to commemorate Tall Ships 1999, Tall Ships, Short Stories.

We chose to create a traditional fable or parable involving one of the Saints associated with Greenock, and a mythical encounter he had with our local sea serpent. The story was eventually reworked and expanded for our book of folktales and fables "Tales of the Oak" (available this weekend at Tall Ships!)

This is a recording of that story.