Edinburgh, Edinburgh Park, Sculpture Park

The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.

The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.

Questor by Keith McCarter.

On grassy paved area outside Xansa Building, No.7 Lochside Avenue, is the sculpture Questor: a ribbon of stainless steel, ends held vertically at different heights, forms itself into an open circle, angled at 45 degrees to its grey granite block base. The base sits in a shallow rectangular pool.

The form reflects that of the Xansa building behind, with its office space 'designed with a 'U'-shaped form around a central atrium', where 'flexibility is a key feature.'

Installed: 1999

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Works Ref: EDIN1551)

Epitaph for the Elm by Tim Stead.

Eleven slices of elm, taken vertically from a 200 year-old dead tree, are held vertically in a row by steel plates and two lines of tensioned steel wire. These wires travel horizontally between the third and ninth slices, and angle down to the ground in front of the first slice and behind the last one. The slices vary in shape since they follow the tree's form with forked branches, and vary in height from c.9ft H to c.15ft H. The slices are spaced c.2.5m apart.

The title stone, carved by Ian Hamilton Finlay, is positioned to the front left at the lochan end of the sculpture.

Inscriptions: On separate title stone (incised letters):

EPITAPH / FOR THE ELM / TIM STEAD / 1952-2000

The sculpture was commissioned by the former Edinburgh District Council and funded from the budget for the Gyle Shopping Centre project. The original agreement required the head tenant, Marks & Spencer, to take responsibility for the erection of the sculpture. Instead Marks & Spencer chose to pay the sum of £20,000 into a suspense account for the sculpture to be erected by the Council as part of some other project. The sculpture was then stored at the Inch Nursery. In November 2001, Economic Development Investment (EDI) approached the Council asking permission to erect the sculpture at Edinburgh Park, at their expense, in memory of Tim Stead who had died. The sculpture was donated on the basis that it would be a fitting memorial to Tim Stead.

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0854)

Herm of Hugh MacDiarmid by Anthony Morrow.

The craggy-faced MacDiarmid, with his moustache, and his mop of hair swept back with wings at the sides, wears a jacket, collar and tie and has a small thistle badge on the lapel to his right. His pupils are drilled in concave irises, his face surface is textured, his eyes are pouched, and his expression is sad verging on grim.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): HUGH MacDIARMID

Glass plaques each side of pedestal contain biography (left) and two poems, 'The Bonnie Broukit Bairn' and 'The Little White Rose' (right)

Signatures: Stamped (?) in centre back of base:

1E

Design period: 2001 - 2002

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0862)

Herm of Liz Lochhead by Vincent Butler.

Lochhead's head is tilted up slightly and her short hair is parted on her left. Her face is broad with a slight smile, her pupils are incised. She wears a simple round-necked top.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): LIZ / LOCHHEAD

Two glass plaques on sides of pedestal contain her biography (left) and a poem, 'Sorting Through' (right).

Signatures: Pressed into back edge above base:

BUTLER

Design period: 2001-2002

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0861)

Herm of Edwin Morgan by David Annand.

Morgan's head and neck rise from a square bronze block, attached only at the front. His thick hair is parted on his left, his mouth dimpling into the ghost of a smile. The eyes are deep drilled with a 'gunsight' rod at the top of each hole. The neck cords form a double vertical down the front.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): EDWIN / MORGAN

[Two glass plaques bolted onto the sides of the pedestal contain the poet's biography and a poem written specially to accompany the herm.]

Design period: 2001-2002

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0860)

Herm of Iain Crichton Smith by Michael Snowden.

A simple head and neck of the poet, showing him bald apart from hair at the sides, his eyes somewhat droopy, his ear higher on his left than on his right, and his mouth creasing in a slight smile. Gunsight eyes with irises faintly incised. The whole head has a green patina.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): IAIN / CRICHTON / SMITH

[Two glass plaques bolted onto the sides of the pedestal contain the poet's biography and a poem, 'The Exiles', written in both Gaelic and English.]

Signatures: Bottom right of back (incised letters): Snowden

Design period: 2001-2002

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0859)

Poetry bus shelters.

The original bus shelter, erected in December 2000, has poems displayed on the inside of an outsize steel and glass structure. Neil Gillespie was playing with scale in a Duchampian take on the familiar found object.

The second shelter, erected in March 2002, is very similar and across the road from the first.

The third shelter, by Linda Tolmie, erected in February 2003, keeps the large scale of the others but has freestanding glass blades coming out of the ground behind the shelter to contain the poems.

Inscriptions: Poems which vary.

The first two bus shelters were designed by Neil Gillespie, the architects were Reiach & Hall. The architect of the third bus shelter was Linda Tolmie.

The first poem to be displayed in the original bus shelter was by Robert Crawford, professor at St Andrews University.

The original bus shelter won the Royal Fine Art Commission's 'Jeu d'Esprit' prize in 2001.

Design period: 2000-2003

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0858)

Rounding to the Edge by Eilis O'Connell.

Five abstract forms are mounted in various positions around the reception area of Scottish Equitable House: a long vertical blue club-shaped work and a boat-like horizontal green work are on the wall facing the entrance; smaller gold and blue works are on separate square pillars, and a vertical green tube-bent-double work is on the inner wall.

Commissioned by Scottish Equitable for this building.

Design period: 1996

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0857)

Fugues (David and Margaret Berridge Memorial) by Doug Cocker.

Above a stepped circular integral base, a tapered vertical form supports cascading layers of curved comma-like shapes. The sculpture could suggest plant forms or a structured composition of musical notes.

The sculpture was commissioned in memory of David Berridge, former Chief Executive of Scottish Equitable plc, and his wife, who died within a short time of each other.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters):

A TRIBUTE TO / DAVID & MARGARET / BERRIDGE

Design period: 1997

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0856)

Eight Horizons by Doug Cocker.

On the left wall in the foyer of Aegon House (Scottish Equitable) is a suite of eight pieces of open linear and planar elements, evoking the curves of the landscape around the artist's studio in Angus. The constructions are arranged left to right vertically in three, three, two formation, but the impression is of a strong horizontal flow across the wall.

Inscriptions: None on the sculpture, but there are wall plaques beside it with the title and explanation. Doug Cocker writes: "The interwoven curved horizontals of fields, hedges and hills present patterns of line, shape and shadow which alter constantly with the changing light, weather and seasonal conditions.

I see them as responses to, rather than depictions of, landscape."

Design period: 2000

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0855)

Herm of Tom Leonard by Alex Main.

Head of poet, Tom Leonard, bearded with shirt collar and the suggestion of a textured cardigan or waistcoat, on tall square stone pedestal with a glass plaque either side of it. From the side the head is almost egg-shaped with a very prominent nose and long ears, from the front the face is long and narrow beneath the domed forehead. The cheeks sink into vertical folds, especially on his left. The eyes are virtually all drill-hole, the gaze concentrated, eyebrows a strong horizontal line. The mouth is quite full with the lower lip shifted slightly to his right. The portrait has a quizzical air.

Inscriptions: On front of plinth (incised letters): TOM / LEONARD

Glass plaques at sides contain poet's biography on the left and two of his poems, 'Proem' and 'The Voyeur', on the right.

Signatures: In centre of back edge, within a square (stamped?): BLACK / ISLE / BRONZE

On same edge at either end (incised letters): ALEX MAIN

Design period: 2003

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0863)

Herm of Sorley MacLean by Bill Scott.

Sorley MacLean's head shows him in early middle age, with his hair parted on his left, a short moustache, and wearing a collar and tie. The fall of the hair on the right of his head beyond the widow's peak, creates a slight asymmetry. The right eye is blank, the left one has a slight punchmark for the pupil and an incised line to indicate the iris. The planes of the face are quite clean, especially those of the cheeks. The overall treatment is smooth giving a somewhat 1920s feel. A few incised vertical lines indicate the moustache.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): SORLEY / MacLEAN

Glass plaques either side of pedestal have poet's biography (right) and poem 'Creagan Beaga' (left), written in Gaelic with English translation below.

Signatures: Indistinct signature (?) on left side beneath collar.

Along bottom: Scott

Design period: 2003

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0864)

Herm of Douglas Dunn by Michael Snowden.

Dunn is bearded with his gaze distant or internal. His neck rises out of a deep well created by his collar and tie. His beard rises up either side of his mouth to join his moustache, and a narrow central strip runs down from the lower lip. His eyes are punched (?) / drilled with the pupil attached to the upper lids in front.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): DOUGLAS / DUNN

Glass plaques either side of pedestal contain poet's biography (left) and poem 'Empty Wardrobes' (right)

Signatures: Bottom of right side of bust: Snowden

Design period: January - April 2003

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0865)

Herm of Hamish Henderson by Anthony Morrow.

An animated head of the poet Hamish Henderson (1919-2002), smiling slightly. The deep-drilled eyes create a penetrating gaze. The hair is parted low on his left side and sweeps over the dome of the high forehead. The wide open shirt collar emphasizes the informality of the portrait. The mouth is almost a straight line beneath the moustache.

The Scottish landscape is represented by the green/brown patination, so that Henderson's love of Scotland becomes part of the head.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): HAMISH / HENDERSON

[Two glass plaques bolted onto the sides of the pedestal contain the poet's biography, and the poem 'The Freedom Come-All-Ye', written in Perthshire Scots.]

Signatures: Bottom left corner at back of bust: E

Design period: January - April 2003

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0866)

Herm of W. S. Graham by Anthony Morrow.

Herm of William Sydney Graham showing the poet as remote and thoughtful; his deeply hollowed eyes downcast, brow furrowed, eyebrows craggy and hair swept back at the sides covering the tops of his ears. His lean face contrasts with the extravagant upward-curling cow's lick of hair which overhangs the forehead. His neck is encircled by a portion of a rough-textured funnel-necked fisherman's sweater. The green and brown mottled patina creates a weathered look.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): W.S. / GRAHAM

[Engraved glass plates bolted to the sides of the pedestal give a short biography and an extract from 'The Dark Dialogues'.]

Signatures: On rear edge of sweater, below left ear, foundry stamp (incised letters):

BLACK ISLE / BRONZE LIMITED

Design period: 2004

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref:EDIN1503)

Herm of Jackie Kay by Michael Snowden.

Herm of Jackie Kay showing her with a short cap of densely curling hair which sets off the smoothness of the broad young face. A slight smile plays on the full mouth and around the widely-spaced eyes. The hollowed eyes have gunshots to the right edges of the pupils. The delicate eyebrows are formed of short incised lines. The nose is wide but neat, the ears fit close to the sides of the head. The base of the neck widens slightly to terminate. The bright copper green patina makes this herm stand out from a distance.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): JACKIE KAY

[Engraved glass plates bolted to the sides of the pedestal give a short biography of the poet, and a poem specially written to accompany the herm, entitled 'Life Mask (for Julia Darling)'.]

Signatures: At back of neck base (incised letters): Snowden

Design period: 2004

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Works Ref: EDIN1504)

Herm of Norman MacCaig by David Annand.

Herm of Norman MacCaig, with pin-centred eyes looking straight ahead beneath arching eyebrows in his lean face. The lips of the small mouth part very slightly, and the hair sweeps back from the receding hairline to form a roughly textured mass at the back. The herm terminates simply at the base of the neck.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): NORMAN MacCAIG

[Engraved glass plates bolted to the sides of the pedestal give a short biography of the poet, and the poem 'Notations of Ten Summer Minutes'.]

Signatures: None

Design period: 2004

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Works Ref: EDIN1505)

Herm of Naomi Mitchison by Archie Forrest.

Herm of Naomi Mitchison whose deeply lined face is dominated by a strong large nose, and deep-set target eyes which look ahead. A helmet of short hair is combed forward into a short fringe. The squarish neckline of her top is indicated by a few incised lines.

Inscriptions: On front of pedestal (incised letters): NAOMI MITCHISON

[Engraved glass plates bolted to the sides of the pedestal give a short biography of the poet, and the poem 'Kintyre'.]

Signatures: Stamped on lower right side of herm: Forrest

Design period: 2004

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref: EDIN1506)