Drawing Threads Research Cluster x St Michael’s Parish Church
The St Michael’s church spire, known as the ‘Crown of Thorns’, was designed by Geoffrey Clarke RA and installed in 1964. The distinctive structure has a wooden subframe, clad initially in gold-coloured anodized aluminum, that had worn back gradually to its original silver-grey finish. The structure, visible from the M9 motorway and Edinburgh-Glasgow train line, initially dividing local opinion- became a familiar and arguably iconic structure for Linlithgow. After sixty years of exposure to the Scottish weather and elements, the original wooden substructure needed to be replaced where rot had set in, and the deteriorating metal cladding renewed. Scaffolding was erected, and the original cladding was replaced with new bronze alloy metal cladding in a project that cost around £400K. £220,000 was raised by the church and the local community, and other sponsors contributed, including Historic Environment Scotland £90.4k, The Church of Scotland General Trustees £40k, The Scottish Landfill Trust £30k and the Pilgrim Trust £10k, in a project led on behalf of the church by retired architect Brian Lightbody. The project was managed by local architects Pollock Hammond and constructed by Matheson Ltd who had been the original cladding contractors in 1964.
Pieces of the original sheet metal cladding, a gold-coloured anodized aluminum, were offered to the Silversmithing and Jewellery department, the Glasgow School of Art in early 2024 by Kirsten Davies and Brian Lightbody for potential project use.
This exhibition presents contemporary metalwork and designs made from the recycled sheets of the 1960s Aluminum metal cladding from the spire of St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow, Scotland, known as the ‘Crown of Thorns’ (1964, Clarke).
These original gold-coloured anodized aluminum panels were replaced in 2024 with a new bronze metal alloy after restoring the Crown’s timber frame.
Glasgow School of Art’s Design School staff, all established makers and researchers, are members of a research group called ‘Drawing Threads’ established in 2022. Re-inSpired is the group’s first joint exhibition, which has allowed working with the original metal that spent sixty years above the church and interrogates their practice-based and led approaches to making and material innovation through personal and collaborative work.