The Arch, positioned at a new entrance to the park on Blair Street, Coatbridge is composed of a linear steel drawing made of thousands of pieces of shaped steel bar welded together. The artwork took 6 months to complete in our studio in Glasgow, and the archway is 7.3 metres across and 6 metres high.

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We worked with pupils at the high school and they developed themes and artworks in parallel to the archway artwork.  The drawing style and fabrication technique is deliberately reminscent of comic book art to continue the theme.

The imagery represents aspects of the area: The industrial history of Coatbridge and the Monklands Canal on one side, with foundrymen, iron & steel, cranes, smoke and chains. On the other the enhanced environment and natural assetts of the Canal area present & future, where a mother nature figure is surrounded by birds, animals and insects which now inhabit the once industrial landscape.

In the middle of the arch are three superheroes, who are welcoming visitors into the Blairbridge area of the canal.  The superheroes are a tribute to Mark Millar who is one of the world’s leading comic book writers and is achieving great success in Hollywood and beyond. Mark comes from Coatbridge, and attended the local St. Ambrose School, so we thought it would be good to acknowledge his success in the artwork.  The superheroes hold emblems of the sun and the moon, symbolising the passage of time, and the changes of the canal and the area. (It’s like night and day!)