Montrose Burns enthusiasts have made a successful last-minute bid to preserve a unique collection of sculptures by Angus ‘outsider artist’ Adam Christie.
They snapped up a collection of stone heads which unexpectedly appeared for auction in the town.
It’s part of a move to strengthen awareness of the area’s links to the Bard which includes £18,000 plans for a new cairn marking his Angus stop on a Highland tour in 1787.
The World Burns Federation has hailed the Montrose club for its work to memorialise the poet.
Asylum patient
Shetlander Christie spent nearly 50 years as a patient at Sunnyside Hospital near Montrose.
The troubled soul found solace in art and culture.
In his time at the former asylum he carved hundreds of stone heads with only simple tools like a nail and file.
Christie also wrote poetry and painted using discarded tins of paint on canvasses made from old flour bags.
The crofter’s son sculpted the plaque dedicated to Burns at the halt near Hillside where he rested after passing through his father’s native Mearns.
Christie’s story has garnered international interest.
A Historic Scotland plaque marks his grave at Sleepyhillock cemetery in Montrose and Christie is also commemorated on south Shetland in his native Cunningsburgh.
He is also immortalised in the Gentle Shetlander, a book written in 1985 by former Sunnyside consultant Ken Keddie.
The former hospital and grounds is now being developed in a £100 million housing project.
Montrose Burns Club has led the effort to raise awareness of the artist and the link to the Bard.
Local auction
So they were quick to grab the chance to bid for Christie sculptures which unexpectedly appeared for auction at Taylor’s in Montrose this month.
They secured 11 of the 20 or so sculptures which went under the hammer, for prices ranging from £100 to more than £500.
Montrose Burns Club secretary Peter Stuart said “We didn’t have much notice to react to the opportunity.
“But thanks to investigative work by Dave Ramsay, we were able to do some diligence on likely values and come up with a plan to try and bid for some of the lots.
“I am absolutely delighted we have managed to secure these items and be able to have them remain local to where Adam spent the bulk of his life.
“We also recognise the responsibility we now have as custodians of these artefacts.
“As a Club that has been in existence for over a hundred years, we feel we are well placed to take on that responsibility.”
New memorial cairn
It is a timely acquisition since fundraising is underway to safeguard the original Hillside plaque in a new Montrose Burns Memorial.
MBC past president David Clark is co-ordinating the project, adjacent to the present site.
“Not only did Adam Christie carve the inscription on the Burns memorial plaque at Rosemount, but he was a poet, artist, fiddle maker and prodigious sculptor using only rudimentary tools.
“Our club has long supported the annual memorial meetings held at the Burns plaque.
The memorial was created in 1930 when Sunnyside orderlies Joseph Harris and Willie Herd, and hospital superintendent C J Shaw – all Burns aficionados – got Christie to carve the stone.
A single stone taken from the Adam Christie croft in Aith in Shetland, donated by his family, is being incorporated in the new cairn.
It will have the face of Christie crafted in the artist’s own style by a local sculptor.
World Federation endorsement
World Burns Federation president Alan Beck said: “I believe that this innovative project draws together many important Burns cultural and heritage strands at local, national and international level.
“Given the important history of Burns in Angus and the Mearns, this project is a new and powerful contribution to the legacy of our national Bard.”
In 2020, Glasgow University research found Burns is worth over £200 million annually to the Scottish economy.
