Angel of the North at 20: Sir Antony Gormley on how the iconic sculpture was nearly never built
Sir Antony Gormley has told ITV Tyne Tees how he nearly never made his iconic Angel of the North - when he told council bosses he doesn't 'make sculptures for motorways.'
Gateshead Council had already invited submissions for a new public art piece but were unhappy with the ideas received.
Gormley was among a number of artists contacted by council officers, but told Tyne Tees he initially turned them down.
He said: "I wrote back and said I'm terribly sorry, I don't make sculptures for motorways. I said you've got the wrong guy, the wrong scale. This isn't for me. They said you should really come and have a look and they sent some photographs. They sent the photographs of the pitbath mound. The minute I saw the mound, I was really interested."
Sir Antony had been experimenting with sculptures of angels and agreed to make one, if it was on a large scale.
It was made at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications and, Gormley says, very much inspired by the region where it so proudly stands at 20 metres tall.
It has a wingspan of 54 metres, with a slight tilt in each wing to make it appear as though it is protecting the region below.
He said: "It was made by the combined skills and character of the North East. It is about celebrating that extraordinary and old history of the relationship between coal, steel and engineering. I wanted to celebrate all of that. Use the language of shipbuilding and heavy engineering to do something completely the opposite, which is actually to do with imagination, hope, the idea we are based on the ground but our minds can embrace the whole of space."
The Angel started to be put into place on February 15 1998. Despite being told to stay away, hundreds of people turned up to see the historic moment.
Sir Antony revealed to ITV Tyne Tees he has been approached by Newcastle University to create a piece of art for the forthcoming Great Exhibition of the North, although would not reveal any more details.
He did say it would not, however, be another angel.
He said: "There's only ever going to be one angel and that's it. I'm continuing to be interested in making landmarks but you only need one. The Angel of the North doesn't belong to me, it belongs to where it is and I'm very humbled and amazed.
"It means a lot to me, but I think it means a lot to lots of people."
Angel of the North: Factfile
The Angel of the North was built on the site of the Lower Tyne Colliery pithead baths. The area was mined from some time in the 1720s to the late 1960s and was set aside for a public art project in 1990.
Sir Antony Gormley's design was chosen from a shortlist of internationalartists in 1994. The project was granted planning permission a year later.
The statue is 65ft (20m) tall with a wingspan of 177ft (54m) - wider thanthat of a Boeing 767.
With its exposed hillside position, the Angel's wings and foundations had tobe built to withstand strong south-easterly winds of up to 100 miles an hour.
The 500-tonne concrete foundations were drilled into solid rock.
The figure was made from 200 tonnes of steel - the body weighs 100 tonnes and each wing weighs 50 tonnes.
Designed to last for at least 100 years, this weather-resistant Cor-ten steelcontains a small amount of copper, which gives the artwork its burnished glow and will mellow in colour over time.
Send us your pics of the Angel to pamandian@itv.com