Ian Hamilton Finlay
public sculpture commission
Look closely at the beautiful grounds of St George’s, and savour glimpses of the very special world of landscape sculptor and poet, Ian Hamilton Finlay.
The commission, installed in 2002, consists of three pairs of benches, an oval medallion, a wall-plaque and teak post. Apart from the post, the material used is Caithness stone, and all works bear poetic inscriptions to do with the transformational power of music and nature.
One pair of benches is sited in the Memorial Garden on the upper terrace to the left of the car park, the other two pairs on each of the two lowest terraces on the north and south sides of the building in front of the retaining walls.
The oval medallion is inserted in the centre of the car park, surrounded by pennant stone setts. This reflects the shape and size of the flowerbed previously surrounding the stone Memorial Cross (now re-sited in the Memorial Garden). The lettering is stainless steel.
The wall-plaque can be seen mounted on the retaining wall on the pathway adjacent to the main side doors into the building.
The teak post may be found sited amongst foliage on the middle terrace on the south side of the building.
The inscriptions are as follows:
Twin bench
Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere lunam
Songs are even able to draw down the moon from heaven
(Virgil, Eclogue VIII)
Twin bench
Carminibus Circe socios mutavit ulixi
Circe with songs transformed Odysseus’ men
(Virgil, Eclogue VIII)
Bench pair (Memorial Garden)
Like a heavy beautiful dream in which I am bewitched
I know that I’d be consumed in that heat which cannot catch fire
(Janacek, letters)
Oval medallion
Girl Into Reed; Reed Into Air; Air To Music
(Ovid, Metamorphoses)
Wall-plaque
On the path I’d plant oaks which would endure for centuries
And into their trunks I’d carve the words I shouted in the air
(Janacek, letters)
Post
Hoc mihi conloquium tecum manebit
Then will you and I speak together in unison