Black Bull Scarf Inverurie

Many years ago I exhibited some work at an event in Ayrshire's Culzean Castle.
The place is beside the sea and is in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland who promote it as a piece of Robert Adam architecture and an ideal place to see bats.

As I recall, it had one of the first private gasworks in Scotland and also a flat which a US General by the name of Eisenhower occasionally stayed in. It seems that it was a Kennedy family home before the trust took it over.

The Kennedy's, being of course an ancient Scottish family descended from Robert the Bruce, commissioned Robert Adam in about 1770 to enhance what had previously been a tower house and create a grand castle that reflected the family's status and wealth. The current castle is the result although neither Adam nor David Kennedy, 10th Earl of Cassillis, live to see its completion.

The exhibition was over a weekend and exhibitors included quite a few of Scotland's best artists, artisan potters and of course some budding hopefuls who liked to mingle with the good and the great.

On the Saturday trading had been unusually good and the Trust had laid on a cheap bar for Glasgow Art School who were coincidentally running a seminar on the estate. After a suitable intake of alcohol and other substances a plot was hatched.

The Sunday trading was certainly less brisk than that of the previous day. However the piece of seaweed on a well known artist potter's display attracted considerable attention and comment from the public.
Priced at over £100 and with a short description comparing the object to the finest works of "the artist Leonardo da Vinci" it inspired many to enquire about its meaning and comment on the nature of true art.
I don't think it sold which was probably just as well.

Someone in Inverurie has created just such an object outside my local pub.
"Black Bull Scarf" it's called. Inspired by the harsh Scottish winter and symbolic of the true heart of our nation it reflects in a metaphorical sense the passing of time.

If you happen to be in North Street, Inverurie feel free to take a look and wonder at it. There's no price label but I suspect any reasonable offer may suffice.