Click here to view the embedded video.

Ronald Rae’s fifteen tonne granite sculpture Tyger Tyger moved from The Falkirk Wheel to its new home in Somerset on May 15th. The site for the sculpture required 400 metres of tracking across a field to reach the site. This short video shows the expertise of many people to make this happen. Please excuse the sound production at the beginning of this video – the wind was howling with intermittent sleet showers!

Paint on cardboard melon boxes. 16″ x 24″ x 6″
These artworks are currently part of a mixed exhibition at The Kilmorack Gallery in Beauly, Inverness-shire. The exhibition is titled The Art of Humour.and runs till 1st June.

Granite: 8x17x7ft. 20.00 tonnes. For Sale. Location: St Andrew Square Garden, Edinburgh.

The Lion is the traditional symbol both of power and of Scottish identity. From 2006 – 2010 the sculpture was sited in Holyrood Park between the Royal Palace of Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament, and beneath that other lion couchant, Arthur’s Seat.

In April 2010 the Lion of Scotland was transported one mile from Holyrood to St Andrew Square in the city centre where it is currently on exhibition under a yearly contract with Essential Edinburgh.

The Lion has been voted the best-loved sculpture in Edinburgh. One rarely passes it without seeing the public engage with it – either taking photos or climbing on it as children do. There is no doubt it is greatly loved. In 2008 a formal petition was drawn up by the Scottish Blue Badge Guides to keep the Lion at Holyrood, plus thousands of signatures from local people and visitors to the city who wanted the Lion to stay there, which resulted in a further two years stay for the sculpture on loan to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. However the contract ended in April 2010 and could not be extended.

Ronald Rae thanks all those who have supported the Lion of Scotland sculpture. He has been overwhelmed by the number of letters and emails he has received over the past five years.

Ronald Rae and Pauline wish to thank all followers of the website, also for the wonderful feedback received throughout the year and look forward to keeping you updated with further events in 2013.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ronald Rae’s Return of the Prodigal sculpture was commissioned by General Accident in 1982 to interpret the company’s motto “I warn and I protect”. The composition of the father and son was inspired by Rembrandt’s painting of The Prodigal Son in The Hermitage, St.Petersburg.

After 30 years of standing on the hill above Perth, Nature has covered the sculpture with lichens adding colour and texture to the stone which greatly excites the sculptor.

Granite: 8x17x7 ft 20.00 tonnes. For Sale. Location: St Andrew Square Garden, Edinburgh.

The Lion is the traditional symbol both of power and of Scottish identity. From 2006 – 2010 the sculpture was sited in Holyrood Park between the Royal Palace of Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament, and beneath that other lion couchant, Arthur’s Seat.

On 25th April 2010 the Lion of Scotland was transported one mile from Holyrood to St Andrew Square in the city centre where it is currently on exhibition under a yearly contract with Essential Edinburgh.

The Lion has been voted the best-loved sculpture in Edinburgh. One rarely passes it without seeing the public engage with it – either taking photos or climbing on it as children do. There is no doubt it is greatly loved. In 2008 a formal petition was drawn up by the Scottish Blue Badge Guides to keep the Lion at Holyrood, plus thousands of signatures from local people and visitors to the city who wanted the Lion to stay there, which resulted in a further two years stay for the sculpture on loan to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. However the contract ended in April 2010 and could not be extended.

Ronald Rae thanks all those who have supported the Lion of Scotland sculpture. He has been overwhelmed by the number of letters and emails he has received over the past five years.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Thursday 23rd August 2012 Ronald Rae’s Heavy Horse and Foal moved to the Crinan Canal in Argyll where it will be on loan to Scottish Canals till Spring 2013. It is such a perfect setting for the sculpture – the Heavy Horse and Foal at Lock 14 – there to welcome all the boats that pass through the Canal. The sculptor hopes that funding will be made available to keep it permanently at Crinan. When the sculpture was sited a rainbow appeared in the sky…

The Heavy Horse and Foal took the sculptor over a year to be carve using hand tools only. The granite comes from Aberdeeenshire and has been dated over 460 million years old. There is no doubt the sculpture will add a new dimension to Crinan.

Granite: 7x10x5ft 10.00 tons. Location: Lock 14, Crinan Canal, Argyll. For Sale.

Heavy Horse and Foal at Crinan

In August 2012 the Heavy Horse and Foal was moved to Lock 14 beside the Crinan Canal. The sculpture is on loan to Scottish Canals till Spring 2013.

To see a short video of the sculpture being installed go to the right margin, under Latest news on Video click on Ronald Rae’s Heavy Horse and Foal at Crinan.

The Heavy Horse and Foal took the sculptor over a year to carve using hand tools only. The granite comes from Aberdeenshire and has been dated at 460 million years old.

The sculpture celebrates horses being part of the heritage of canals remembered for pulling the barges before the Industrial Revolution. The Heavy Horse and Foal also expresses the love of animals for their young.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Wednesday 15th August 2012 Ronald Rae visited fellow sculptor Alan Thornhill’s exhibition at the Museum in the Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire. Alan is known for his portrait heads of public figures some in the National Galleries of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, also a series of expressive bronze sculptures permanently sited beside the River Thames at Putney. Alan who started his artistic life as a potter devised a unique technique of making sculpture which he passed on to his pupils at the Frink School of Sculpture. His retrospective at Stroud features a wonderful collection of bronzes large and small, drawings, paintings and pottery. The exhibition ends on 27th August. For more information on Alan Thornhill and his work, many of which are for sale, visit his web site www.alanthornhill.co.uk

I can’t get it out of my head the foot that crushed the snail
In the way that life goes on I want that foot to feel shame
Closed perfection and closed resurrection this is no gain
Dispersed for the sake of being dispersed
For the sake of nothing at all reduced to a messy little corpse
What is all this to do with moving on to an afterlife
God knows we have other things to think about
Getting our families out of this war to safety
Taking to the border who we are and what we stand for
Who cares about snails and their afterlife
What a wish getting our families to safety
Like sitting on eggs you just hope they will hatch
If ever again we arrive that we shoot at windows just for the faces behind them
Of course we should die of course we should be dead
Never again in eternity should we be allowed to open our eyes
What we did and are still doing to one another
There’s more to it than having a few scratches on our faces
Passports and bread these are not to be bruised or burned
These are not to be seen as belonging to the walking dead
Look for yourself at the queues waiting to be fed
None are talking none are shouting
Step at a time they are moving slower than the snail killed this morning

Ronald Rae