Artwork at the start of the John Muir Way

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 21 Apr 2016

The round artwork in the foreground is called "Overhead / Underfoot", and marks the start (or end) of the John Muir Way, here beside the Promenade at Helensburgh (the obelisk that can be seen further ahead is a monument to Henry Bell). As shown in Image, this round sculpture is beside a small building, which is an old pumping station. An older picture, Image, shows what that building looked like before the John Muir Way was created, and before the sculpture was installed. The building has since been redecorated, and the side facing the main street now has a mural on it, captioned "John Muir's cabin home on the edge of Muir Glacier"; on the same side is some information about the John Muir Way, and about this artwork: see Image See also my article on the Helensburgh-to-Balloch leg of the John Muir Way: http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-John-Muir-Way-Helensburgh-to-Balloch The round sculpture itself had been installed in September 2014. The Glasgow-based art organisation WAVEparticle were given a commission by Creative Scotland and by Scottish National Heritage to create a suitable artwork for this site. At its centre are the words "Overhead" and "Underfoot". Among the sculpted footprints are dots, representing stars (their symbolism is explained elsewhere). On the outside are the words: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." This is probably the best-known quotation from John Muir; unsurprisingly, given his importance in the National Parks movement, it can also be encountered in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park; for example, it used to appear on the east side of Image at Balloch. The words are taken from chapter 6 of John Muir's book "My First Summer in the Sierra"; they appear in his entry for the 27th of July (1869). In context: "No Sierra landscape that I have seen holds anything truly dead or dull ...; everything is perfectly clean and pure and full of divine lessons. This quick, inevitable interest attaching to everything seems marvellous until the hand of God becomes visible; then it seems reasonable that what interests Him may well interest us. When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. One fancies a heart like our own must be beating in every crystal and cell ..."

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