THE landscape artist and founder of the Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, Charles Jencks, has spoken of his dismay that plans for a major new public artwork have been snubbed by Scotland's arts funding body.
THE landscape artist and founder of the Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, Charles Jencks, has spoken of his dismay that plans for a major new public artwork have been snubbed by Scotland's arts funding body.
The Star of Caledonia, which its planners hope to build beside the motorway at Gretna, is designed by Cecil Balmond and Jencks, who is known for his large 'landform' designs and his work setting up the cancer charity.
The £5 million Star project, which was estimated to bring £300,000 to the border region if built, has been denied a crucial £1m funding package from Creative Scotland.
The project was given £49,000 at a "stage one" level in September of 2012, but its "stage two" application for further money has been unsuccessful.
Jencks said he did not know why the body had rejected the funds, but said he still believes Scotland needs a major public work at Gretna.
He said: "I don't know the inside politics of the decision, however I still think Scotland needs a marker on that road, at the moment it is an embarrassment - a dip in the road and nothing really except from some naff signs.
"Really there should be a double flow, something marking the entrance to Scotland and also one marking the entrance to England.
"The Star of Caledonia is a wonderful design by Cecil, it is a star, it is cosmic, and I really think it could be a great landmark.
"Who knows what will happen now? An individual probably needs to come forward [to support the plan]."
Last week, Alasdair Houston, chair of the Gretna Landmark Trust, which is behind the scheme, said the sculpture would be a "the single biggest thing that our region has seen for decades, signifying energy, innovation, confidence and ambition."
The Gretna Landmark Trust have said that of the 60 per cent of visitors to Scotland who enter the country by road, 84 per cent pass by Gretna.
If it is built, more than five million vehicles will pass the site from the motorway annually and Star of Caledonia will be seen by over 10 million people each year, the trust claim.
Last week Mr Houston, said he remained determined to try to deliver "this remarkable thing for Scotland and our region" despite the lack of support from Creative Scotland.
"Our region and Scotland now needs the public sector to demonstrate similar ambition to help turn it into reality.
"The hard work has been done...we just need the relatively small amount of money for a project of such international significance and then the benefits will flow."
Studies of the project have also said it could generate as much media interest as the Angel of the North in England and The Kelpies in Falkirk in its first six months.
UK Tourism Minister, Helen Grant, backed the plans for the 120ft sculpture earlier this year.
Mr Houston has said that the Star "is a timeless work, which for 365 days a year will be a bold and confident statement of Scotland's innovation and energy".
It was given planning approval last year by Dumfries and Galloway but now it is unclear what the future of the project holds.
Jencks, who has created artistic landforms, such as those at the Jupiter Artland site outside Edinburgh and at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said that the work will "pull together the adjacent site, the distant hills and the Solway".
His other works include the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, at Portrack House near Dumfries.
The first Maggie's Centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996.
It was founded by and named after the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, who died of cancer in 1995.
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