Hip sculpture is made of scrap
MOTORISTS could be forgiven for thinking they had come across an escaped wild animal from a local zoo when they see this hippo in the heart of Glenrothes.
The life-size hippopotamus is the creation of local sculptor Rory Thomas after he was commissioned to provide artwork for the new town by the local council.
Made entirely from scrap metal, creators Mr Thomas, 60, and his son Kyran, 34, assembled the huge statue in just 12 weeks and hope it will turn the heads of people in Glenrothes, where it will take pride of place.
The pair were commissioned to design the 5ft tall hippopotamus, which weighs 700kg, for Fife Council and say that it will feature in the town from next week.
Rory, a blacksmith artist from Glenrothes, said:
“I’m impressed with myself, it looks awesome and pretty realistic.
“It’s a full-size metal hippo designed for Fife Council.
“There are about two kilometres of welding which my son helped on to create the wrinkled effect.”
Father-of-four, Rory, added: “We just finished it and it took us 12 weeks.
“We are now just waiting for the council to put a concrete pad so we can put it outside the town centre.
“We’ve got another four commissions from the council to do after this.”
Rory and Kyran, work for Iron Design by Rory and are previously best known for their creation of an 8ft-tall dragon, which was made for a homeowner in Fife last year.
The metalwork sculpture in Fife is stopping passersby in their tracks whenever they spot it clinging to a choppeddown sycamore tree, which fell victim to the Beast from the East.
Owner Fiona Philp, 58, commissioned the dragon after being told the sycamore tree would have to go as it was interfering with nearby phone lines.
The grandmother-of-two was “heartbroken” to be told it would need to be chopped, but approached the situation with a sense of humour.
The former new town in Fife has a bit of a history with hippos. Glenrothes used to have its town artist, a sculptor called Dave Harding.
He produced a herd of concrete hippos to decorate the town park and they were a big talking point in the 1970s.
Harding, who went on to teach at Glasgow School of Art before retiring, worked with planners to include artworks in new housing and shopping centres in Glenrothes, which was controlled by a development corporation.
Among the most striking is a pair of concrete hands coming out of the pavement in Collydean.