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February 3, 2014: The Kelpies
IotD previously featured the Falkirk Wheel, and now standing adjacent to the Forth and Clyde, one of the connected canals, is... The Kelpies.
These massive horse sculptures are 30 metres high and weigh over 300 tonnes. They represent Scotland's horse heritage, especially as the beasts were used to tow canal boats back in the day.
It will be open to the public in April.
Below, artist Andy Scott with two Clydesdales, which I guess The Kelpies are:
I like this shot of the M9 motorway coming across the artwork. It would be awesome to drive down the road and suddenly see this:
Aerial view video:
Kelpies website
BBC gallery
glatt Tuesday Feb 4 12:29 PM
Very cool!
I like it when art and engineering coincide like this.
Attachment 46763
Clearly, some serious engineering and mathematics had to be done to make this thing a reality, but at the same time, math alone would never come up with the vision of having freaking giant horse heads popping up out of the ground near a canal.
Humans can be pretty cool when we work together.
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Feb 4 03:39 PM
From the Kelpies site;
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This is the case with The Kelpies. The mythological associations behind the original brief have been absorbed by other sources of inspiration in the creative processes, and the ancient ethereal water spirits have been forged into engineered monuments. The Kelpies are modelled on heavy horses and it is this theme of working horses which captured my imagination and drove the project. Clydesdales, Shires and Percherons, the equus magnus of the north. They are the embodiment of the industrial history of Scotland and the Falkirk / Grangemouth area. ~clip~ As with all of my works, they will doubtless create many narratives and the original Kelpie myth will inevitably resurface. The title will spark a mystical interpretation in many viewers. |
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The fable of the kelpie varies by region. The Kelpie's mane is said to be a sky blue colour. The water horse is a common form of the kelpie, said to lure humans into the water to drown them. The water horse would encourage people to ride on its back, and once its victims fell into its trap, the water horse's skin would become adhesive and the horse would bear the victim into the river, dragging them to the bottom of the water and devouring them—except the heart or liver. A common Scottish tale is the story of nine children lured onto a kelpie's back, while a tenth kept his distance. The kelpie chased the tenth child, but he escaped. Another more gruesome variation on this tale is that the tenth child simply stroked the kelpie's nose but, when his hand stuck to it, he took a knife from his pocket and cut his own hand off, cauterizing it with wood from a nearby fire. |
Rhianne Tuesday Feb 4 05:20 PM
The sculptures are only a few miles from me, perhaps I could post some pictures at a later date?
In the meantime...
Undertoad Tuesday Feb 4 05:35 PM
| perhaps I could post some pictures at a later date? |
Griff Wednesday Feb 5 10:36 AM
These are fantastic!
bbuilder Thursday Feb 27 10:54 AM
These are beautiful! I love horses - nagged my folks for one from the ages of 5-10 until they caved and I ended up with a broken arm shortly thereafter. If they hadn't gotten me a horse, I am sure I would have ended up riding the cows around the field.
These are tremendous. As the inputter of structural stuffs into a fancy-schmancy structural program, I have to say that this required a LOT of coffee. I DO love it when we humans work together on such beautiful things.
Griff Saturday Mar 1 09:34 AM
Well said.
Rhianne Wednesday Mar 26 03:59 PM
Mini Kelpies pull up in New York for Scotland Week
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/he...week-1-3349322
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Mar 26 06:43 PM
Those are cool, but a Scotland week? Haven't the poor New Yorkers suffered enough?
monster Thursday Mar 27 12:40 PM
I would love to see them. I wonder if they are intended to rust like the Angel Of the North?
limey Thursday Mar 27 12:57 PM
I don't think my upcoming travels are going to take me over that way ... but if I find myself in the area, I'll see what I can do for photos/video 
Rhianne Thursday Mar 27 05:33 PM
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Originally Posted by limey
I don't think my upcoming travels are going to take me over that way ... but if I find myself in the area, I'll see what I can do for photos/video
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I have quite a few photos on my computer here but we didn't really have the sky for it the day I was there:
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5a93f01d.jpg
Carruthers Wednesday Apr 22 10:10 AM
Pipers, schoolchildren and two Clydesdale horses celebrated the Kelpies sculpture's first anniversary in Falkirk.
limey Tuesday May 12 04:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Undertoad
... It would be awesome to drive down the road and suddenly see this ...
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xoxoxoBruce Tuesday May 12 10:00 AM
Shame about the power lines. 
limey Tuesday May 12 05:16 PM
The view from the nearer carriageway was worse. There's sound baffles all along the roadside which obscure much more of the horses.
Sent by thought transference
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday May 12 06:03 PM
I'll bet neither the power lines nor the sound baffles were in the proposal sketches.
limey Tuesday May 12 06:27 PM
No. But it's still an impressive sight!
Sent by thought transference
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday May 12 06:35 PM
Of course, they're spectacular, but when we see shit in person our brains have a way of discarding all the superfluous crap... like our own nose.
It's only when we pick up a camera and try to compose a shot that we take this stuff into account.
I'm amazed how many slides I have of beautiful scenery my ex took, with trash in the immediate foreground she never noticed when taking the picture.
limey Tuesday May 12 06:49 PM
You're right, there, Bruce. My dad taught me to look carefully all around the picture in my viewfinder before clicking the shutter. I still do, sometimes ...
Sent by thought transference
Gravdigr Friday May 15 02:38 PM
It's called composition.
And sometimes it's impossible.
Rhianne Tuesday May 30 03:06 PM
Clean up time.
Full article and more pictures: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...ntral-40082370
Gravdigr Tuesday May 30 03:28 PM
A rub down of that magnitude would be a chore, I reckon.
A former tree-trimmer w/a bridge inspection truck (vvv) could probably make a living doing that once a year.
Attachment 60718
glatt Tuesday May 30 03:49 PM
Awesome find Rhianne! Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Carruthers Monday Jan 21 03:09 PM
I thought that this would fit in well here...
Attachment 66172
| Catherine Stops and Kev Paxton, a blacksmith, created Rabbie, a horse with a haggis heart and a cart full of neeps and tatties, to mark Burns Night |
Gravdigr Monday Jan 21 03:20 PM
Cool.
Someone has built one of those horse-made-outta-horseshoes things and placed it on our courthouse square. You've seen 'em before, but, I'll try to get a pic sometime before it goes away.
monster Monday Jan 21 10:15 PM
and back to the tuna fish made from tuna fish cans??
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Jan 22 12:18 AM
The neeps and tatties seller made that poor horse stand there so long vines grew on it? 
Gravdigr Tuesday Jan 22 02:07 PM
Vines = horse chow.
Mr. Ed's gonna be there a minute, gonna get hungry.
Glinda Tuesday Jan 22 05:13 PM
OK. Yeah, very cool and all, but . . .
Kelpies are dogs.
Carruthers Tuesday Jan 22 05:21 PM
This from Wikipedia...
| Kelpie, or water kelpie, is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. It has usually been described as appearing as a horse, but is able to adopt human form. |
Apologies for that.
Glinda Tuesday Jan 22 05:44 PM
Stupid Scots. Giving their own loopy definitions to real things.
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Jan 22 11:19 PM
Hold on there Lady.
The Scottish Kelpies were around 1000 years before we westerners found Australia, and about 1275 years before the first Aussie Kelpie dog.
Glinda Wednesday Jan 23 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
Hold on there Lady.
The Scottish Kelpies were around 1000 years before we westerners found Australia, and about 1275 years before the first Aussie Kelpie dog. |
monster Wednesday Jan 23 08:09 PM
When I was in the Brownies, I kind of wanted to be a Kelpie -they seemed the "fun" six. But I was a Ghillie Dhu.
fargon Wednesday Jan 23 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by monster
But I was a Ghillie Dhu.
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ghillie-dhu.co.uk
fargon Wednesday Jan 23 09:03 PM
ghillie-dhu.co.uk
fargon Wednesday Jan 23 09:04 PM
The link don't work. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Jan 23 11:52 PM
It's a Bar & Restaurant in Edinburgh.
http://ghillie-dhu.co.uk/
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Jan 23 11:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Glinda
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Carruthers Monday Apr 8 10:28 AM
Metallic horses seem to be the 'in thing' these days...
Attachment 67185
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High horse Nic Fiddian-Green, the equestrian sculptor, puts the finishing touches to Serenity, an 18ft copper head, at his studio in Surrey. It is one of pair of his horses’ heads to be displayed at the Venice Biennale art fair next month. They will be transported by barge along the city’s Grand Canal on April 27. |
limey Monday Apr 8 01:44 PM
I drove past these the other day.
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