Letter in response to AHM's opposition to Star of Caledonia

David received the following letter through the post the other day in response to the article written in the Herald opposing the Star of Caledonia.

Spending on art needs a fresh eye

Spending on art needs a fresh eye

Published on 6 Aug 2011 in The Herald in response to the letter written by AHM and published on 3rd August 2011

I agree with correspondents who take issue with the proposed erection of the Star of Caledonia sculpture to welcome visitors at our frontier with England (Letters, August 3 & 4).

If implemented, this will join the ranks of other monuments to money wasted, which include the thing that resembles a rack of lamb at the A82 roundabout in Balloch (at a cost of £750,000, I believe) and Arria, the monstrous multi-limbed silver mermaid at Cumbernauld.

Like many communities in Scotland, Cumbernauld suffers from many ills, none of which will be solved by the erection of costly conceits such as this. Likewise, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, with its splendid scenic backdrop, hardly needs the embellishment of a roundabout.

As a designer I am supportive of public artworks (the prefix art being of most significance). In these cost-cutting times it appears that spending priorities are skewed, to say nothing of the artistic preferences of those who commission such works.

Bob Murray,

6 Napier Avenue, Cardross.

an alternative view about the Star of Caledonia

Star of Caledonia a bright and brave Border landmark

Published 05 July 2011 in the Scotsman

CONGRATULATIONS to structural designer Cecil Balmond in conjuring up, through the swirling mists of constitutional uncertainty and the bleak gloom of our financial circumstances, a giant, soaring, jewel-encrusted sculpture - the Star of Caledonia - to straddle the Border with England.
It is a fitting landmark at an iconic location and should inspire first time visitors and returning Scots alike - so long as the vandals don't get at it. Other shapes - a swirling claymore, a sparkling clump of heather, a permanently gurgling bottle of whisky - would have dragged us into banal cliché, triggering a torrent of caustic derision.

Mr Balmond has avoided the conventional symbols and the vainglorious posturing of the grandiose in favour of a design that is novel and inspirational in equal measure. How wise not to have opted for a giant bronze statue of Grandpa Broon, or a massive can of Irn Bru, or Jimmy Shand playing on a diamond-encrusted accordion, the music broadcast through tannoys cemented into the roadside to keep up travellers' morale. Mr Balmond has done well to dodge these images and celebrate instead the enduring contribution of Scottish civil engineering. As such, the Caledonian Star is a tribute to our past as well as a beacon to our future (toilets and services: two miles).