The newest art in town has been created in Gorgie with the addition of the newest sculpture to the Gorgie Street Art Sculpture Trail at LOVE Gorgie Farm.
Gorgie Collective is a community arts and cultural heritage organisation led by a volunteer committee and members are artists and art lovers from Gorgie and beyond.
The body delivers public artworks and free creative workshops for adults in Gorgie.
Artists from local community arts group Gorgie Collective launched the art trail in 2021 after developing a range of public artworks in their local area during the pandemic. Mike Spring’s ‘Pieces of Gorgie’ sculptures are the newest addition to the trail, as Gorgie Collective Chair, Katriona Gillespie, described: “Mike won our competition to design and install a new public sculpture for Gorgie. He has created not one sculpture but in fact a whole series inspired by local Gorgie characters, including the Gorgie Farm alpacas, infamously known as the Dalry Llamas! His artworks are beautifully observed portraits cast in concrete. We are proud to have Mike’s work on our sculpture trail, which now features work by seven different artists at multiple sites throughout Gorgie.”
Katriona continued: “We are also passionate about creative placemaking, improving public spaces and protecting the cultural heritage of our community.
“Our artists have created Edinburgh’s first ever Street Art Sculpture Trail, bringing sculptural artworks by local artists to public spaces in our area. “
Gorgie Collective is a community-led and community-embedded organisation. Their leading artists have socially engaged practices and are committed to bringing high quality art and free creative opportunities to the local community.
Katriona said: “Gorgie-Dalry is one of the most culturally disengaged areas in the whole city, and we have been historically overlooked and under-resourced by The City of Edinburgh Council. Gorgie Collective advocates for equality of access to the arts for everyone in our city, and we also support our local creative community through important policies such as ensuring that artists are paid at the correct rates as recommended by the Scottish Artist’s Union for their work.
“We promote the benefits of creative activity for health and wellbeing. There is a growing evidence base demonstrating the benefits of public artworks for individual mental health and wellbeing, as well as creating a sense of place. Through our work, we seek to create more welcoming and stimulating public spaces that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
“Making art more engaging and accessible is an important priority for our artists. Because all our sculptures are located in public spaces, they are completely accessible and can be visited at any time, so we encourage people to get down to Gorgie to appreciate them first hand.”
Gorgie Collective is one of the grant recipients of the Creative Communities programme, a national programme funded by the Scottish Government. GC consider improving accessibility to the arts as very important and their volunteers work hard to raise funds for their activities. All of their events are free for local residents and the public artworks are viewable any time.
The artworks are located at multiple locations around Gorgie. You can find sculptures in different medias such as concrete, stone, ceramic, brass and resin by seven different artists on the Street Art Sculpture Trail.
A map is available on the website www.gorgiecollective.com to help everyone find the works, or just have a wander around Gorgie and see what you can discover.
Katriona concluded: “GC is continually expanding the trail to bring fresh artworks to new audiences. We ran a sculpture competition last year and our competition winner, Mike Spring, who lives in Gorgie, has just installed several beautifully observed cast concrete portraits on the trail. These sculptures were inspired by and in tribute to the people of Gorgie and the series is entitled ‘Pieces of Gorgie’.
“We’re excited to be transforming our public spaces in Gorgie one public artwork at a time! Watch out for our first sculptural benches – hopefully to be installed this autumn.”
Mike has lived in Gorgie for over 20 years and has a studio in Dalry. He has installed 4 new sculptures at locations on Wardlaw Terrace, White Park and LOVE Gorgie Farm on Gorgie Road. Three of the sculptures are inspired by local people the artist observed in his daily life in Gorgie and the fourth features the alpacas. He explained the inspiration for his work:
“I loved having the opportunity to make work that celebrates the people getting along here, with the addition of some local wildlife like the well-loved Gorgie Farm alpacas. I’ve tried to show the outgoing, caring side of people I see in everyday life.
Each piece goes from an observation, to drawings, then a clay figure. From these I made moulds and cast the final pieces in mortar (sand and cement) with a little cement dye.
Ultimately the sculptures making up Pieces of Gorgie are inspired by and my tribute to the great people of Gorgie and some of their fellow creatures.”
LOVE Gorgie Farm Manager, Mark McInally, thinks the sculpture makes a great addition to the site: “We’re delighted to have this public artwork by a local artist installed at the entrance to the farm. It is yet another reason to come to Gorgie. Families can make a day of it, enjoy visiting the animals and check out the Gorgie Street Art Sculpture Trail.”
A free map is available on Gorgie Collective’s website to help visitors and local people locate all the artworks: www.gorgiecollective.com
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