The pupils from Saracen Primary, St Teresa’s Primary, and Broomlea Primary schools have been participating in special lessons that link creative arts with the ceramic-making heritage of Possilpark.
They have expressed their artistic talents by creating tiles and scales to form decorative ‘pods’.
These pods will be joined together to create colourful mosaic scales that will adorn a new 120m mythological creature known as Bella the Beithir, located at Stockingfield Bridge.
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Scales making session (Image: Supplied) The project is supported by ng homes, a trading name for North Glasgow Housing Association, as well as Make it Glasgow and artist Nichol Wheatley.
Each primary school created a ‘pod’, with every student contributing to the design of their class fish.
Each student also decorated a ceramic tile, which they then kept as their own special momento for participating in the project.
An after-hours family scales-making session, hosted at Keppoch Campus in March, offered further opportunity to build relationships within the schools.
Primary School Pods (Image: Supplied) Ruth Impey, co-founder of Make it Glasgow, said: “The pods are so beautiful and different, reflecting and representing the individuality of every school pupil involved.
“A particular highlight for Make it Glasgow was bringing the schools together to take part in a shared assembly for the very first time.”
Alison McGill, head teacher at Saracen Primary, said: “It is fantastic to see the pods being included as part of our learning beyond the classroom.
“The opportunity for families to get involved in the scale-making as well is furthering our efforts to build relationships across the campus, linking the past with our future, strengthening our sense of place within this rich community.
“The personal responses from the children were incredible and we are excited to see their work displayed in this landmark.”
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The pods are expected to be installed on the Beithir once the upcoming installation season starts from mid-May 2025.
Catherine Rossine, chair of ng homes, added: “It’s been a delight to watch this project come to life and it’s fantastic to see the schools and community come together to create a lasting contribution to Bella the Beithir, which they will be able to visit for years to come.”
Nichol Wheatley, artist and curator for the Stockingfield Bridge project, said: “I am delighted that ng homes has supported the participation of all of the primary schools at the Keppoch campus in creating artworks for Bella the Beithir.
“My original intention in creating the Beithir project was that it would be a massive artwork that communities across all of Glasgow can contribute to.”
