PERCHED in the garden, he’ll be the first to know when a hard rain’s gonna fall or if it’s a good day to have washing blowing in the wind. For this is rock legend Bob Dylan as he has never been seen before, cast in bronze and
appearing all year round on British turf – whatever his touring commitments elsewhere.
The life-size statue of the seated singer playing his guitar is among the more unusual recent projects completed by Black Isle Bronze, a Highland foundry which has built its business on immortalising heroes.
The statue was produced at a cost of many thousands of pounds for clients Yve and Steve Freer who are huge fans of the star.

Other private clients of foundry owner Farquhar Laing have included the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who ordered a bust of himself, and Scottish comedian Rory Bremner, who wanted a statue of Merlin.
Meanwhile, multimillionaire client Felix Dennis has a ‘garden of heroes’ populated with more than 30 statues cast in Mr Laing’s foundry in Nairn. These include Shakespeare, Van Gogh and the poet William Blake – while the latest bronze on order is engineering icon Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

At a time when businesses all over Britain are tightening their belts, Black Isle Bronze is expanding, thanks to a stream of orders from wealthy clients which will keep staff busy for at least a year. Mr Laing, 38, whose father Gerald is a highly-respected Scottish artist, said: ‘Basically, our work is about heroes. Whether that’s in sport, music, the battlefield or whatever, the fact that they’re heroes is what unites them all.’ Among the other casts completed in the last few years are statues of champion jockey Frankie Dettori and the first four-minute mile runner Roger Bannister.
But private commissions such as the Bob Dylan statue, which has taken pride of place in a Warwickshire back garden, illustrates the extent to which the demand for bronze icons has spread well beyond town squares, civic buildings and museums.
‘We have a long list of private clients who want to make some sort of statement,’ said Mr Laing. ‘We are working for a very wealthy American client in New York to make a large World War One monument.’ The statue of Dylan was sculpted in clay by James Butler, one of Britain’s most renowned sculptors. A plaster cast of it was then transported to Nairn for the figure to be cast in bronze, a complex process which can take up to three months to complete.
Moulds of the sculpture are taken using liquid rubber which solidifies around the figure. Those are eventually turned into boxes into which molten bronze from the foundry is poured. When it cools it should produce an exact replica of the original
sculpture.
Mr Butler, one of the country’s most sought-after sculptors, charges £30,000 to £40,000 for most life-size figures. Casting them in bronze adds £11,000 to the bill.

New investment puts firm on pedestal - from The Scotsman, Nov 26 2008

By John Ross

THE company responsible for creating Edinburgh's newest landmark has announced major expansion plans.
Black Isle Bronze, based in Nairn, produced the huge bronze figure of 19th century mathematician and physicist James Maxwell, which was unveiled in George Street, yesterday.
The firm which casts figures up to twice life-size, ranging from historical characters to modern-day sports personalities plans to install a bigger furnace, making it the largest foundry of its type north of Birmingham.
Farquhar Laing, 38, the son of artist Gerald Laing, set up the company in 1994.
He began the business as a one-man band, with just £200 for materials, but now employs a staff of eight, and has orders booked for the next year and an expansion plan costing £43,000.
Mr Laing said: "We already have the largest melting capacity of its type in Scotland, but this expansion will double our melting, putting us on a par with the largest English foundries.
"This will enable us to be more competitive with our larger counterparts south of the Border, and complement the skills that we have here which are in huge demand. Once this expansion is complete,it's safe to say we will be the largest foundry of this type north of Birmingham.
Our goal is to maintain and enhance what we do already."

The company cast The Falconer statue, by sculptress Leonie Gibbs, for the Eastgate Centre in Inverness.
Other commissions to date include castings of sporting figures for Royal Ascot racecourse, Haydock Park, Twickenham rugby stadium, the new Wembley stadium, Lords cricket ground and four English Premiership football stadia.

from The Press & Journal, Nov 26 2008

Nairn foundry is thinking even bigger
BLACK ISLE BRONZE UNVEILS £43,000 EXPANSION PLANS

THE Nairn foundry that cast two iconic Highland statues yesterday unveiled £43,000 expansion plans.
Since it was established in 1994, Black Isle Bronze has also been commissioned to cast bronze statues of sporting heroes at Ascot, Haydock Park, Twickenham and Wembley.

With business booming and demand for double life-size castings growing, the company, which employs eight staff at its base in Balmakeith Business Park, is to install a larger furnace.
The firm's £A3,000 expansion plans are being backed with a grant of more than £10,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Black Isle Bronze founder Farquhar Laing said: "This expansion will not only enable us to be more competitive with our larger counterparts south of the border, it will also complement the skills that we have here at Black Isle Bronze, which are now in huge demand.
"Once this expansion is complete, it's safe to say we will be the largest foundry of this type north of Birmingham. Our goal is to maintain and enhance what we do already."

Two of the company's bronze castings in the Highlands include The Falconer, by Leonie Gibbs, at the Eastgate Centre in Inverness, and The Emigrants, at the Clearances Centre, Helmsdale.
Future commissions include two double-life size statues for Newcastle United Football Club and monuments to engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and athlete Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the four minute mile.

New Plaque to honour war heroes - Minister's delight at memorial - from The Highland News Group, Aug 30 2008

By Stuart Taylor
HOW quiet the former Macintosh Memorial Church of Scotland, perched high above Fort William town centre, seems.
A year ago it was so different.
The congregation was in the throes of flitting to its new home in the Duncansburgh Church on The Parade.
This entailed disposing of many items of furniture including the Communion Table which went to its new home in
the Free Church of Scotland in the town's West End.
However, there was a plaque on the table to the memory of members of the MacIntosh congregation who had been killed in the 1939-45 war.
This "loss" has been rectified as a new plaque has been made. "Actually it will not be totally new, rather a mix of the new and old," said Rev Donald MacQuarrie, minister at the Duncansburgh MacIntosh Church of Scotland.
"The style of the 1914-18 plaque has been used to create an extension incorporating the
1939-45 names and also including details of the two Lochaber young men who were lost in the more recent conflicts in the Gulf and in Iraq.
"The resulting plaque is most impressive, the work of Black Isle Bronze Ltd."
On Sunday, August 31, this new war memorial plaque will be dedicated in the Duncansburgh MacIntosh Church.
Family and friends of those commemorated in the memorial are welcome to attend the service or to visit the church at another time.

Star cast for Nairn Book and Arts Festival - Black Isle Bronze is centre of attention amid busy programme - from The Press & Journal, June 12 2008

THIS year's Nairn Book and Arts Festival is in full swing with a busy programme of exhibitions and visits by a star-studded cast of writers, artists and musicians.
But casts of another sort were the centre of attention as Black Isle Bronze, the UK's leading fine art, architectural and memorial foundry, opened its doors to festival goers. About 35 visitors were shown round by proprietor Farquhar Ogilvie Laing.
He told them about the history of the foundry and its work in using wax and sandcasting techniques to translate forms from clay to bronze.
The guests were able to see the entire process from mould to finish and patination. Bronze chaser - or metal finisher - Ian Forbes demonstrated his work on a set of giant chain links, which will be part of a forthcoming sculpture of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Artist Jim Butler is creating a bronze of the famous engineer from a photograph of him standing against a background of chain links.
So far, only the links have been cast, five rows of five and-a-half links. The foundry expects to receive the form of Brunel later this year.
Among Black Isle Bronze's recent commissions is the Nairn fisherwoman sculpture, which was unveiled during Highland 2007 and now stands on the town's harbour wall.

Olympics supremo applauds Highlanders - Lord Coe astonished by wealth of sporting talent in area - from The Press & Journal, October 17 2007

ONE of Britain's greatest athletes unveiled a tribute to Highland Olympians yesterday while their supporters rallied to ensure other local talent would have the same chance to flourish.
Gold medallist runner Sebastian Coe, now Baron Coe, took centre stage in Aviemore's Main Street, where hundreds of villagers gathered to honour 14 of the area's finest sports achievers - most present for the occasion.
Their names now adorn a bronze sculpture standing proudly on the village green.
The £36,000 creation, resplendent with Olympic flame and mounted on Cairngorm granite, represents the Olympic ideals of "faster, higher, stronger".
For some, the artwork of Inverness-born Dudley Evans is symbolic of an era when climate change poses a challenge to future winter-sport greatness.
Watersports entrepreneur Clive Freshwater, whose Olympian skier son, Andrew, is honoured, said: "It's a proud day because I wouldn't think there's a city or town in the country with as many Olympians as the Spey Valley.
"Sadly, with the poorer skiing, it's going to be a bit harder to produce Olympians."
Skier Ingrid Grant said: "The winters are milder than when we were younger and it means that our youngsters are going to have to find extra funding to travel abroad and make use of the better snow conditions abroad."
Nordic skier Louise MacKenzie, 43, another of the elite, shared this concern. "When we were younger, we had snow from October through till May," she said.
Staggered by the valley's sporting prowess, Lord Coe. who is chairman of the London 2012 Games organising committee, said: 'This is an extraordinary story: a population of barely 10,000 peoplt producing per head of the population so many talented people. I don't know what you're doing but, for God's sake, don't stop doing it because it's clearly working."
Community leaders, keen to maintain the area's success rate, have organised a public meeting for Monday to draft proposals to re-establish facilities that the resort lost with the demise of the original 1960s-built Aviemore Centre.
Badenoch and Strathspey Sports Council is hold a meeting at the Cairngorm Hotel, Aviemore, at 7.30pm.

Moment for local pride as Fisher tradition is celebrated with statue - from The Nairnshire, August 7 2007

Highland 2007 has been made manifest in Nairn with the unveiling last weekend of a statue of a traditional fishwife.
The statue is based on an actual person, Annie Ralph, one of the last of the Nairn fishwives who carried fish in a creel on their backs " to sell in Nairn, Nairnshire and beyond.

Upwards of 300 people gathered at the Harbour to watch Annie Ralph's great niece, Janet Urquhart, perform the unveiling.
Ms Urquhart was introduced by Provost Liz MacDonald who initiated the statue project when she realised that money allocated to Nairn for the Highland Year of Culture 2007 was unlikely to be spent. The statue has cost £37,500 with HIE (£8000) and The Nairn Fund (£1000) also contributing. The Lottery put up £10,000.

The provost was already familiar with the life-size photo cut-out of Annie Ralph which is on display at Nairn Museum. Museum volunteers collaborated on the project, ensuring that the statue was historically accurate and even providing some of the textiles used in the creation of the figure.
The sculptors were Ginny Hutchison and Charles Engebretson from Aberdeenshire and the statue came home to Nairn to be finally cast at Black Isle Bronze's Balmakeith works.
"I was delighted that we kept some of this money in Nairn", Provost MacDonald told the Nairnshire. " I love the statue," she added, noting that community involvement had been "fantastic".

By chance Janet Urquhart - from Wellington, New Zealand - had visited Nairn Museum where she heard about the project. "I was researching, going back looking for more Ralphs. The people at Nairn Museum were just wonderful, providing me with information. It was mentioned that there was going to be a statue based on Annie Ralph."

Nairn Museum director Alan Barron then mentioned to the Provost that a relative of Annie Ralph might be available to perform the unveiling.
Janet Urquhart continued: "Annie was my great, aunt, my grandfather's sister. My grandfather was George Ralph and their parents were George Ralph and Margaret Wilson. We were all born out in New Zealand but we have had lots of people from the Fishertown out to visit us so I have grown up with Nairn all my life.
"I don't quite believe that this is happening and that I was asked to unveil the statue. My Mum and all of them would be just so proud!"

Nairn statue of local fisherwoman unveiled
GREAT-NIECE AT CEREMONY AFTER SEARCH FOR FAMILY -
BY SUSY MACAULAY of The Press & Journal - 6 August 2007

A BRONZE statue inspired by a local fisherwoman was unveiled in Nairn on Saturday. Around 800 people gathered to see the new addition to the harbour. The statue stands over 6ft tall and carries a basket bearing butter, eggs, gutted fish and scales.

It is the brainchild of Nairn provost Liz MacDonald, who was determined
to use a local under-spend for the benefit of the town.
She took as her inspiration for the statue a lifesize photograph in the local museum of young fisherwoman Annie Ralph.
Local company Black Isle Bronze was commissioned to create the statue, designed by artists Ginny Hutchison and Charles Engebretson.
By coincidence, a great-niece of Annie Ralph was visiting the area trying to track down her ancestors.

New Zealander Janet Urquhart had approached Highland Council for help
in tracing her grandfather, George Ralph, and was astonished to find herself invited to unveil the statue of her great-aunt.
Mrs MacDonald, who voluntarily managed the project, said: 'It was an emotional occasion. A lady approached me in tears because seeing the statue reminded her of the past.
"I am so pleased that the statue was made locally.
"Black Isle Bronze make many works which are shipped all over the place. It's good to have one of their pieces in Nairn itself."

Memorial statue marks clearances
As shown on BBC News 24 website - 23 July 23 2007

The statue commemorates people who were cleared from the area
A memorial statue to those affected by the Highland clearances has been officially unveiled.
First Minister Alex Salmond attended a ceremony to remember the clearances in Helmsdale, on the Sutherland coast.

The 10ft-high bronze "Exiles" statue commemorates the people who were cleared from the area by landowners and left to begin new lives overseas.

Canadian mining millionaire Dennis Macleod, who was behind the scheme, also attended the ceremony.

The statue, which depicts a family leaving their home, stands at the mouth of the Strath of Kildonan and was created by Black Isle sculptor Gerald Laing.

Mr Salmond said: "This statue is not only a reminder of the Highland clearances, but a great example of the skill and vision of those who remain.

"This statue is a reminder of the men, women and children who left Scotland and took their skills, their strength and their stories across the seas and shared them around the world.

"While we deplore the clearances we can be proud of the contributions that those cleared have made to humanity."

The original plan for a commemoration by a group of campaigners was to obtain permission to knock down a controversial statue of the laird involved in the clearances, the Duke of Sutherland, which towers over the town of Golspie.

Modern city

Although this never happened, they got together with Mr Macleod, who was born in the much-cleared Strath of Kildonan.

He set up a Clearances Centre which commissioned the statue now in place.

An identical one has also been set up on the banks of the Red River near Winnipeg - the modern city founded by those who left Scotland for Canada.

Mr Macleod told BBC Scotland: "It's my personal ambition to have the same statue erected in all of the areas where the Highlanders settled.

"We now have two and I can see five or six eventually, in places like Canada, the States and Australia."

Statue of Clearance family off to Canada - by Sue Restan
The Press & Journal March 13 2007

A HUGE bronze statue of a Highland Clearances family is to be cast in Nairn and shipped out to Canada.
The 10ft figures of a man, a boy and a woman carrying a baby will be a replica of a 30ft statue designed as part of a 120ft monument commemorating the heritage of the Highlands that was to have been erected on a hill near Helmsdale, in Sutherland.
The project, initially expected to cost around £5million, was dramatically scaled down after it was discovered that original cost and time estimates would be significantly exceeded.
Instead, Clearances Centre limited (CCL) offered Helmsdale and District Community Council a 10ft version of the statue, known as
The Emigrants, which stands in the village's Couper Park.
And Black Isle Bronze, which cast the Helmsdale monument in 2003, has now been asked to create an identical statue for the St Andrew's Society in Winnipeg.
Farquhar Laing, 37, established the foundry in 1994 on the Black Isle before moving into purpose built premises on the outskirts of Nairn in 2002 with the help of a development grant from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
The company now employs eight full-time members of staff, including two metal workers, a mould maker, a welder and sand moulder, with the most recent recruit joining the foundry from Poland.
"We're delighted with the commission. It's a big piece involving four tonnes of bronze. We're especially pleased to be picking up work from across the Atlantic.
"There's also a possibility of another replica memorial being commissioned by an organisation in Nova Scotia," said Mr Laing.
He added that it was one of their largest commissions to date and would take about four months to complete.
The replica of The Emigrants, to be called the Scottish Highland Settlers Monument, will be unveiled in Winnipeg this summer.
The foundry is also working on two statues for Newcastle Football Club of Alan Shearer and Jackie Milburn, and a statue of Bob Dylan for a private client.
A recently-completed commission saw the Highland company collaborate with sculptor Sandy Stoddart and British builder Sir Robert McAlpine on a Robert Adam designed building in Piccadilly, London.
Black Isle Bronze supplied all 66 cast bronze elements of the eight-storey structure.

Nairn firm helps decorate London landmark -
by Eilidh Davies, The Press & Journal September 5 2006

A HIGHLAND foundry has been signed up to contribute to a landmark London development.
Black Isle Bronze, who are based at Nairn, have won a contract worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to supply 66 bronze sculptures which weigh up to a third of a tonne. They will be used as decorative details on various parts of a new office and retail space being built in Piccadilly by Sir Robert McAlpine.
The building, which has been designed by internationally renowned Robert Adam Architects, will provide 70,000 sq ft of office space and nearly 30,000 sq ft of retail space for the developers, Standard Life Investments.
Farqhuar Laing, founder of Black Isle Bronze, said: "It is a major coup for our company to be contracted for what is one of the most important building works in London at present.
"Our quality of work and the fact that our facility is the only one of its kind in the UK were major factors in securing such a notable contract. The pieces themselves have been designed by Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddart.
"We already have bronzes all over the world in countries such as Ireland, South Africa, Japan and the US. Now our work will feature on one of London's key landmarks. The contract has enabled us to employ two new people and we are in line to produce bronzes for other important projects in England and elsewhere."
Robert Adam, of Robert Adam Architects, said: "The bronze sculptures on our building in Piccadilly combine fine art and building craft.
"The quality of the bronze work is vital to their success. We are delighted to be working with Black Isle Bronze to ensure the highest standards of craftsmanship.
The combination of a Paisley sculptor and a Nairn foundry brings the art and craft of Scotland to the most important thoroughfare of London."
Black Isle Bronze have produced other notable key bronze pieces including a bust of John Paul Getty II for the National Gallery, a statue of Jack Walker, the late owner of premiership football club Blackburn Rovers which stands outside their home ground, and a statue of Frankie Dettori which can be found at Ascot racecourse.

Plaques will enhance Fishertown -
The Nairnshire Telegraph April 18 2006

Four new interpretive plaques have been commissioned for Fishertown as part of a project designed to enhance the area's Conservation Area status.
The plaques have been commissioned with the assistance from the Little Theatre, and the Yacht Club who provided the text for their plaques.
A further two plaques will shortly be put up outside the Laing Hall and at the Harbour.
The plaques were manufactured by local firm Black Isle Bronze at the Balmakeith Industrial Estate.
In addition a further three plaques which have lain in storage for 30 years will be installed at the former Links school, Seaman's Hall and west end of Society Street. Eight high quality benches have also been provided around the Fishertown to enable people of all abilities to walk around and spend time discovering the area.
Part of the project included the installation of the first phase of "heritage" lighting in the area. The last part of this project will involve working with the Nairn Museum to research the historic Nairn and it is hoped to work in association with local schools to produce Fishertown leaflets and education packs.
Funding and assistance has been provided by Cllr Liz MacDonald, PRIN, Leader +, Aggregates Levy Fund, Highland Council and Nairn Museum. The project has been co­ordinated by The Nairn Fund.
Cllr MacDonald said "This project is a clear example of how local people can work together to make a significant impact on their environment with the Council assisting where possible.
"I would particularly like to thank Bruce Barren of the Nairn Fund and Bill Forrest from PRIN for enabling this project to go ahead. It is great that a project started 31 years ago under the District Council is finally coming to conclusion, but we must always be looking for ways to improve and enhance our environment and involve the local community wherever possible"
Bruce Barren said "The Nairn Fund was delighted to act as the co­ordinators of the project and we look forward to supporting similar projects in the future."