George Wyllie

A former customs officer who took up sculpture in middle age, Wyllie used Glasgow itself as his stage. In 1987 his Straw Locomotive hung from the Finnieston Crane, the giant that once loaded Clyde-built engines for export, and was then ceremonially burned; in 1989 his huge Paper Boat sailed down the Clyde and later to New York. Both were mournful, funny events about the end of heavy industry that drew crowds to the river. He worked with shipyard workers, engineers and volunteers, and his spires and question marks still dot the city.