Visit Scotland With no rides and no news, we’ve ventured off the beaten path for SERC’s contribution this time. In 2014 Lothians’ member Sarah Perkins was very taken with the story of the giant horses’ heads – the Kelpies – that were built alongside the M9.
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everal years ago my job was occasionally taking me into Clackmannanshire and I discovered a sculpture that I really liked on a little rural roundabout. I was intrigued and started to investigate. I discovered that this sculpture was just one of several in Clackmannanshire by a chap called Andy Scott, so one fine day I headed off with my camera to find the Andy Scott Sculpture Trail. Scott was brought up in Glasgow, studied at the Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow is his home still. Apparently his father came from Falkirk though, which is kind of fitting for his most famous work to date. I can’t believe what a prolific artist he is, given the size of his sculptures, but I have read that he works 12 hour days, often seven days a week!
Andy Scott's
Kelpies
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Hoardings started to appear in Falkirk advertising a project called the Helix, featuring two horses’ heads designed by Andy Scott. They were to be the centrepiece of a huge regenerated piece of wasteland at the canal basin, which would be known as the Helix and hopefully become a big visitor attraction. I immediately fell for the pair of 3m high prototypes or maquettes (miniature versions) that appeared beside the lock gates in full view of the M9 where I could admire them on my way to work. Sometimes they sat on the back of a small truck and then disappeared for days or weeks at a time. There are two pairs of maquettes, which have been displayed locally and across Scotland and simultaneously around the world. One pair popped up for a while at the Falkirk Wheel and also outside Edinburgh Airport and you may have seen them here or elsewhere.
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