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Chamber and committees

New Gallery Dedicated to Glasgow Running Clock Sculptor

  • Submitted by: Annie Wells, Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
  • Motion reference: S6M-12954

That the Parliament acknowledges the opening of a new gallery dedicated to Glasgow-born sculptor, George Wyllie; acknowledges that the sculptor was responsible for some of Scotland’s most memorable artworks, including the Running Clock outside Buchanan Street Bus Station, The Paper Boat, which made it onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal in 1987, and the Straw Locomotive, which caused a stir at the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988, along with the giant safety pin on the site of Rottenrow Maternity Hospital; notes that many of his other works included his trademark "big question mark" sculptures along the Firth of Clyde at Langbank, and two giant "wally dugs", which toured the city; notes that the sculptor started making art full-time after a career that included the Royal Navy and 30 years as a customs and excise officer; acknowledges that the purpose-built gallery is housed in the new Ocean Terminal; understands that The Wyllieum is the first new major exhibition space to open in Scotland since 2011, and that it will house the world’s largest collection of the artist’s works, alongside a rolling display of exhibitions that connect to Wyllie by outlook or ethos; further understands that, alongside a permanent collection display showing items from The Wyllieum’s own collection, The George Wyllie Estate, as well as generous long-term loans from private collections, the artworks will be accompanied by archive material building a fuller picture of how Wyllie worked, and notes that the first exhibition, George Wyllie: Spires, will run from 26 April to 11 August 2024.


Supported by: Clare Adamson, Jeremy Balfour, Miles Briggs, Alexander Burnett, Jackson Carlaw, Finlay Carson, Sharon Dowey, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Tim Eagle, Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser, Meghan Gallacher, Pam Gosal, Dr. Sandesh Gulhane, Jamie Halcro Johnston, Craig Hoy, Liam Kerr, Stephen Kerr, Bill Kidd, Douglas Lumsden, Edward Mountain, Douglas Ross, Alexander Stewart, Paul Sweeney, Sue Webber, Tess White, Brian Whittle