Who is the mysterious maritime artist?
With yet another nautically-inspired sculpture mysteriously appearing on Stonehaven’s beach front, locals are keeping mum about the resident artist’s identity,
What’s a small town without a big secret? While Stonehaven is probably best known for its historic harbour and fishing background, or perhaps for its spectacular annual Fireball Festival, the Aberdeenshire fishing town has new-found fame thanks to a mysterious local artist.
Earning themselves the title of the ‘Stonehaven Banksy’, the sculptor has quietly added to a series of metal artworks along the seafront over the course of the past decade.
With their latest creative masterpiece materialising overnight in December 2018, visitors have tried – and failed – to unveil the identity of the elusive ‘Stoney Sculptor’. What’s more, with the tightly sealed lips of north east residents unwilling to be prised open for information, it seems the help of Sherlock and Dr Watson may be required.
Running from The Backies car park at the harbour down to the aptly named Salmon Lane, the five nautical creations have proved a hit among art lovers. With trawlers, fishing boats, a Viking longship and a lighthouse to admire, the pieces are highly intricate and beautifully crafted. But it is the sculptor’s sense of humour that truly steals the show.
With all fins on deck, feisty fish and comical crustaceans make up the crew of the stainless steel boats. Among the first to appear on the scene was a two-foot long trawler sculpture, featuring a lobster – the captain, of course – who sports a Rastafarian haircut, while a hammerhead shark kicks back reading a book below deck. An unusual sight for the North Sea, one might argue, but its cheeky charm has won the locals over.
Meanwhile, surveying the waters from the lighthouse – complete with foghorn
– a fishy friend catches up on the local paper, while another enjoys a spot of TV.
That said, as visitors to the town have astutely pointed out, these hefty sculptures would have taken some time and man-power – not to mention noise – to drill into place on Stonehaven’s rocky shores. Surely someone would have spotted the local Banksy at work?
But, try as you might to listen in to whispers on street corners, quiet conversations in local pubs, or hushed-up tête-à-têtes in the newsagents, you can be sure that this beautiful mystery will remain. Of the 11,600 residents in this colourful corner of Scotland, not one will break Stonehaven’s circle of trust.
John Briggs, Furniture and Oriental rug salesman
It’s great that the sculptures have just appeared out of nowhere – they’ve created a huge amount of interest.
The sculptures themselves are really well done. They’re also comical – I particularly like the fish in the fishing boat drinking a cup of tea. It has been such a great thing for Stonehaven – we’ve had a lot of people coming over from Inverurie and Kintore to see them. People are curious.
There’s a good tradition in this part of the north east for artists.
Bill Anglsey, Stalwart of Stonehaven
The artist is a local lad – he’s a retired welder. He likes to go fishing as well.
It’s very difficult to work with stainless steel and he’s actually made these sculptures in his own time. About six years ago, he made a big boat and put it in the middle of Stonehaven’s boardwalk. Then he did the Viking longship, then the lighthouse, and more recently a ‘fishing yole’.
It’s very intricate and he’s done a fantastic job. It’s so realistic – the creels are over the side of the boat, and it’s lit up at night. What he’s done is genius. The time that must have taken him is incredible. You’ve got to be a professional to do that.
As long as they’re not damaged, they’ll last forever.
Martin Sim, Local photographer
The artist is known by a lot of the locals, but there’s a desire for anonymity. He likes the creative aspect.
The latest one he did has amazing detail in it. Each time you go back and have a look at it, you see bits you hadn’t noticed before.
There are lots of little quirky bits – some of the crew are smoking cigarettes or reading papers, as you would do in the middle of a fishing trip.
The artist has said that he has located another couple of sites that he could make use of for future sculptures.
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Concealed by the tightly sealed lips of north east residents is the identity of their mysterious local artist, the ‘Stonehaven Banksy’