She stands ten meters high – the height of two London double decker buses – and she is beautiful. Her name is Arria and she will guard the entrance to the Scottish town of Cumbernauld, a symbol at once of its aspirations and potential for renaissance.
One can only hope that the man helping to install Arria
from the inside managed to get out before the pieces were fixed together permanantly. Arria was created by the internationally renowned artist Andy Scott (who you can see in the pictures here), who is best known for his Helix Water Kelpies and the Heavy Horse, two pieces which also have their home in Scotland.
Her position on the A80 motorway means that she will be seen by close to a million people every day, which will soon make her one of the most viewed sculptures in the UK. She already has her own
Facebook Page too, so if you like her, give her the thumbs up!
Cumbernauld lies two miles away from the line of the Antonine Wall, perhaps lesser known than Hadrian’s Wall but which was built to replace it and to extend Roman influence in to Scotland by another 100 miles.
Arria Fadilla, from whom the statue takes its name was the mother of Emperor Antoninus who ordered the construction of the wall. The name was chosen as a result of a competition. Of course, we also know aria as a type of song commonly found in operas, and the sculpture does indeed, with her arms outretched, look as if she is about to burst in to song - like some sort of four armed sixties pop diva.
The name Arria was suggested by Pete Reid and his two daughters Louise who is fourteen and eleven year old Bethany who live in Cumbernauld. We have previously featured the sculpture on
Kuriositas when we showed you a
behind the scenes glimpse of her creation.
Of course, she may end up being better known by a nick name - and the most popular one at the moment seems to be
The Metal Mermaid.
Arria did not come cheap – she cost over a quarter of a million pounds (as part of the Cumbernauld Positive Image Project) but the local council is delighted with the work and it is hoped that Arria will bring pleasure to the many millions of people who will pass her each year.
It is hoped too that the sculpture will give a boost to the town, towards which Arria’s arms are outstretched. The artist’s inspiration for the work came from the idea of using the past as a way to look towards the future and as such the piece is a visual metaphor for the aspirations of the local community.
And what a wonderful metaphor Arria is! Perhaps she is a talisman for the town and knows that the fortunes of Cumbernauld are about to improve. After all, four armed is forewarned.
All images courtway of Cumbernauld Positive Image Project and North Lanarkshire Council.
5 comments:
Interesting sculpture, suppose it will bring more visitors.
That is an amazing sculpture masterpiece. I love sculpture art. thanks for sharing.
Personally, I don't like it. They could have spent that money on housing instead of that. That's just my opinion though.
thats some seriously bad art, the technique is kinda cool, but some 4armed kitsch 60's looking drag queen nightmare?! (not thats theres anything wrong with drag queens, but context is everything), I bet theyll light it up with all kinds of coloured LEDS too.
"THE HORROR" *apocalypse now voice*
look at gormley if you need art with mass appeal, he does it with taste
oh and regarding "beauty and health editors" comment. Saying the money spent on this sculpture could have been spent on housing is alot like saying the money you spent on yr computer to view this webpage could have been spent on a local soup kitchen.... whilst possible, its neither here nor there, and as a "beauty and health" editor I dont really think you can comment on the futility of funding arts programmes when the job of a beauty and health editor largely consists of telling women not to eat and spend money on surgery/creams/clothes they dont need nor can afford.
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