Canary with its foot stuck in a girder

"Burds claim their freedom and I'm for the burds," said George Wyllie.

Still researching and writing today. Wyllie was a great supporter of the Forth Railway Bridge, admiring its engineering and seeing it as a Scottish Eiffel Tower. When it wasn't being maintained sufficiently, he campaigned for its repair. The website sometimes reminds me of that bridge.

So, still researching and writing today, this time on the theme of birds, a recurring theme in Wyllie's work. (Witness the Rothesay robins on Monday.)

But for all his many powerful and impressive eagles, and even with a great admiration for his Berlin Burd, and notwithstanding the real appeal of his 500 wee robins in Assembly of Robins, there is something about his Canary with its foot stuck in a girder which seems to be very Wyllie, very Glasgow, very Scottish, and it's one I come back to.

Maybe it's the humour. Maybe it's the idea, or even the sound of the word 'girder'. Maybe it's the wiry wee character. Maybe it's all of that.

Like all of his work, there is a more serious statement to be found, and that's what's working so well with the pupils, whatever stage and age. They're all approaching Wyllie's work from their own point of view, and that is very interesting to witness.

I like this wee scul?ture. It makes me smile.

In a more serious moment - or was it? - Wyllie described it as "Canary with its foot stuck in a girder, Gourock, 1976, a Caro-esque update of Ram caught in a Thicket, Mesopotamia, 3500BC".

And I've checked. And it is.

I can see the similarity with Ram in a Thicket, a sculpture, now in the British Museum, discovered in 1928 and certainly dating back to 2500BC.

Caro-esque? Anthony Caro, a contemporary of Wyllie, often works in steel and his large sculptures are often brightly painted and standing directly on the ground, making you view them on a one-to-one basis.

So, if a senior pupil is looking at this wee yellow bird, there are things for him or her to think about, to ask, whether it's about art or the concept of freedom, or being 'caught in a girder'...

And, if it's a younger pupil, or maybe me, then maybe it's the humour. Maybe it's the idea, or even the sound of the word 'girder'. Maybe it's the wiry wee character. Maybe it's all of that.

But the wee burd, definitely has something... I still stop when I pass it.