Being an @ForTheBurds Chum is Fun

I was at Summerhall in Edinburgh today with some of my fellow George Wyllie Foundation trustees to see work of George's that has been stored in this capacious, hugely successful and quirkily bonkers arts venue.

Owner Robert McDowell (who used to work with German artist Joseph Beuys, so-called father of conceptual art), is a big fan of George's work.

He graciously offered to store the work which is now in the ownership of the Foundation, thanks to a very big gesture by an anonymous benefactor.

We are aiming for it to end up in a Wyllieum... hopefully in Inverclyde, where George lived and worked for over 50 years. It will be a place where people of all ages and all backgrounds can come to see George's work and engage in art in a way which echoes his own inclusive and playfully serious approach.

Until we can get the nuts and bolts in place, the work is being stored in Summerhall.

The term Wyllieum was coined by filmmaker Murray Grigor, GW Foundation trustee and long term friend of George's and he was there today, alongside fellow trustee, artist David Harding, the former head of environmental art at Glasgow School of Art, who nurtured the generation of artists now described as being part of a Glasgow Miracle..

My friend, Lynne Mackenzie, curator of the Wyllie archive and the quiet Highland lass behind much of the activity which took place as part of last year's Whysman Festival, showed us the rooms in which George's work is being stored.

Believe it or not, this room where George's Five Aside sculpture - made for Euro '96 - is being stored used to be a secure and sterile place where rats were kept. Summerhall was once a veterinary school and is a real rabbit warren of corridors and rooms. It's said that there are still rooms yet to be discovered by staff.

This sterile and dust free former lab is perfect for storing art work so we owe Robert and the Summerhall staff a huge debt of thanks. Storage of large sculptural work such as George's can be an expensive business and we are a new charity with a very windy bank account run by volunteers at the moment...

There is Wyllie work on display from this Saturday at Summerhall if you want to take a look. The Demarco European Art Foundation - which is housed at Summerhall - has an exhibition of archive material and artwork relating to George, which includes photographs of Joseph Beuys and George, as well as events organised on Rannoch Moor in memory of Beuys.

Last, but not least, standing like a sentinel at Summerhall's front door is George's large stainless steel eagle, the one which used to guard his own front door in Gourock. If you are For The Burds, it will make your heart sing...