Clydebank: Artist thanks locals for help with Roman mural

Kirsty Whiten took eight days to complete her Antonine Wall-inspired artwork on a wall at Melfort Park in the area and admitted intrigued residents passed along some much-needed detail about the history of the area whilst she painted.

And, after completing the piece last week, the Fife artist insisted she was inspired by the local community.

Kirsty told the Post: “At the beginning, I think they (local residents) were a bit wary about what I was doing.

It took the artist, based in Fife, 8 days to complete (Image: Kian Allen https://www.instagram.com/kian_allen39/)

Kirsty was one of six artists commissioned to celebrate the Antonine Wall (Image: Kian Allen https://www.instagram.com/kian_allen39/)

“As time went on and they saw what I had achieved on the wall, they were just so nice to me about it and seemed to be really into it and enjoyed the colour of it.

“A lot of people are very knowledgeable about the history of the area and the Antonine Wall and I often learned from people coming to talk to me.”

Kirsty has been painting for over 20 years and usually confines herself to a blank canvas and her studio.

But when she was approached by street art curator Recoat - who had been commissioned by Historic Scotland to celebrate the ancient Roman structure through six murals from six different artists – she packed her bags and headed to Clydebank.

“The brief was to connect the history of the Antonine Wall in that area with what is there now,” Kirsty added.

“I spent a bit of time in that park and that area and I really loved that there was this community garden at the other end, and all kinds of people are there working on growing food.

“I got Historic Scotland to share with me what the Romans were growing, eating, and foraging and they had a brilliant list of all of the things the Romans had.

“I just tried to draw a comparison.”

Local were 'a bit wary' when Kirsty first starting painting the wall (Image: Kian Allen https://www.instagram.com/kian_allen39/)

Featured on the wall are images of an arm holding vegetables that need to be grown, flowers the Romans used for medicine and a cooking pot – a nod to one that was found nearby during an archaeological dig.

Kirsty added: “It’s actually from North Africa.

“There were people from all over Europe and North Africa, all over the Roman empire, who came up to the Antonine Wall and stayed there.

“And they wanted me to use bits of the historical evidence.

“So there is somebody growing food, and then they are bringing it to the cooking pot and then I’ve painted the Roman goodness Ceres, as she was the goodness of the harvest.

“I quite like the idea of her overlooking the community garden and I am hoping she is going to bring some extra fertility there.”