Talented schoolchildren gathered at a bridge in Glasgow to unveil their contribution to Scotland’s largest community mosaic art project.
Twenty youngsters from St Mary’s Primary School in Maryhill walked to the Stockingfield Bridge shortly on Monday afternoon to reveal their mosaic which features a pod of fish.
The artwork was put together by each of the school’s 282 pupils who were supported by Ruth Impey, a ceramic artist from Make It Glasgow.
It features as part of the body decoration of Bella the Beithir, a large snake statue covered in thousands of mosaic pieces, located at the centre of the bridge in North Glasgow.
Grace Shields, a primary six pupil at St Mary’s, told our reporter she felt “so proud” to be a part of the first mosaic on Bella that was made by schoolchildren.
The 10-year-old said: “It was really fun and I love doing art. It just felt amazing to see it in person after all the hard work.
“I just feel so proud.”
Suzanna Cicowicz, who is also a primary six pupil at the school, added: “It was a really good experience and I loved it so much.
“I was really surprised when I saw it (the mosaic) on Bella because I never knew we could do something like that.”
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![[Left to right] Suzanna Cicowicz, 10, and Grace Shields, 10](https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/resources/images/18622057/?type=mds-article-620)
St Mary’s is the first of Glasgow’s 132 schools to contribute to the huge serpent sculpture which spans 121 metres.
The process of creating the pod – which was made possible by sponsors Mackenzie Construction - took more than two months to complete and during this time each child at the school drew a scale, each class created a fish, and the fish created a pod.
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The designs were taken back to Make It Glasgow’s studio where they were transferred onto clay, fired, and installed on Bella.
It is hoped that every school child in the city will have the opportunity to add to Bella’s decoration as part of an ambitious five-year scheme led by Make It Glasgow.
Ruth Impey added: “The children were amazing, St Mary’s is a wonderful school. What was really fantastic was they were all so keen to get involved and they all made a massive effort in doing their drawings and making their tiles.
“We are hoping that this is going to be the start of many pods created by primary schools. The idea is that we would love local schools in the north-west of Glasgow to be involved and then we will roll it out across the city.”
Before the mosaic was revealed the youngsters were piped over the bridge to the sculpture where they were joined by Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren and Madeline McGeachie, headteacher at St Mary’s.
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Jacqueline McLaren, an SNP councillor for the Canal Ward in Milton, pulled the cloth off of the impressive design and praised pupils for their efforts.
She said: “It’s an exciting day for St Mary’s to be forever documented on this wonderful creature. Big thank you to Mackenzies for sponsoring St Mary’s pod, the first of many I hope.
“I’m hoping that other businesses in the city will get onboard with schools in their own areas to try and help to promote creative education in Glasgow.
“So we are hoping that the Beithir will be covered in hundreds of pods from all the 132 schools in Glasgow.”
Madeline McGeachie added: “We celebrated our 50th anniversary last year so there is no better time to be involved in the community in this art project.
“To be a pilot school for this is great for the children and to have this legacy is exciting. The pupils are always delighted to be involved with any of the expressive arts and so many of our children are really skilled and able to showcase their creativity.
“I am exceptionally proud of them.”
Anyone interested in sponsoring a pod is asked to contact Make It Glasgow via email at hello@makeitglasgow.com.
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