3 Virtues Inspiration & Design

About Matt Baker

Matt Baker was appointed as Lead Artist for the Inverness City Centre Streetscape programme in 2006. He is best known for his work in the landscape of South West Scotland and as lead artist in the regeneration of the Gorbals (Glasgow) from 2000 - 2006. In the Gorbals, Baker made Gatekeeper, the largest public sculpture commissioned in Scotland in the last 100 years. He has exhibited across Britain and Europe and his work is held in Scottish public collections. Baker works from his studio in South-West Scotland. www.mattbaker.org.uk

The Inspiration

One of the first stories Matt heard in Inverness was about the way that the statues depicting the three virtues ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ had been lost when the building on which they sat was demolished in the 1950’s. Faith Hope and Charity had been chosen for the town in the Victorian age and it made him wonder what people would chose to ‘look over’ the city today’.

From November 2006 to March 2007 locals were invited to take part in a unique project to help choose 3 modern virtues that they felt best summed up the character and/or the aspirations of Inverness. This ‘Search for Virtue’ began with discussion within Church groups, the debate then widened out to include other community groups before spreading around the whole city in the form of text and website nominations. The process concluded with ‘The Philosopher’s Salon’ held in Leakey’s Bookshop, when 25 people debated the merits of their virtuous opinions. Matt had the dubious privilege of selecting 3 virtues from more than 80 suggestions put forward.

The underpinning theme of the Inverness Old Town Art Programme is inspired by the city branding “Inverness – the city in the Highlands”. Matt’s research and dialogue with the local community revealed the special relationship Inverness has with the wild and rugged landscape around the city. Local people appreciate their natural environment and it’s a major attraction drawing people to the area.

An additional inspiration for the programme is the historical use of text inscriptions on some of the city’s traditional buildings – opposite Town House for example and above the former Dunbar Hospital at the north end of Church Street.

The Concept

The ‘3 Virtues’ grew from the idea of transporting a small piece of the landscape around Inverness into the city centre. The use of natural local materials and the beauty of the indigenous trees as they grow and change through the seasons suggest a glimpse of the countryside.

The Artwork is made up of three sloping platforms, each topped with a layer of Caithness stone naturally split from the quarry, like three outcrops of rock pushing their way into the cityscape. The dramatic paving pattern surrounding the installation was re-designed by Streetscape landscape designers, Land Use Consultants, to symbolise the Caledonian Fault Line with the Three Virtues erupting through the surface.

The stones rest on three steel bases into the walls of which are inscribed the new virtues in English, Gaelic and Old Norse, reflecting the foundations of the region’s language from the south, west and north.

Out of each platform grows a single birch tree: one native Scottish variety, one North American and one Asian. These reflect the idea that Inverness is now home to many diverse communities.

It is hoped that the 3 Virtues will work as an entrance feature for the Old Town; a symbol of the rebirth of the area as a cultural district of Inverness, and that the space will be useful to the public in many ways - as a calming place to sit or meet friends, as a traffic free space for performance or music.

The Chosen 3 Virtues:

Perseverance: an early favourite that never faltered throughout the decision process. Matt likes the way that this is a very traditional Scottish virtue reflecting the deep rooted Calvinism in our society, popular mythology eg Robert the Bruce and the spider and respect which we hold for sportspeople etc ‘who never say die’.

Open-heartedness: One of the strong themes to emerge from the ‘search for virtue’ was the idea of ‘highland hospitality’ and ‘tolerance’ to those who come to into the Highlands. It was felt however that hospitality is now the name of an industry and that tolerance carries with it slightly negative undertones ie that we tolerate under sufferance.

Insight: The future is very present in Invernesian thinking just now. There were many suggestions for words such as Vision, Creativity, Enterprise. In the end Matt’s decision went in favour of Insight as having a sense of looking to the future whilst also retaining a sense of the wisdom and sensitivity in the Highland character.

Matt is struck by how the original Faith, Hope and Charity still echo in the new Virtues – with Open- Heartedness close to Charity (‘selfless love’ from the Greek), there can be no Perseverance without Hope and there is a sense of belief in both Faith and Insight.’

Matt hopes Invernessians can relate to the chosen 3 Virtues, but true to the process through which they were selected he also hopes that they continue to stimulate debate about just what it is that is unique about this area.