He was the self-taught Scottish artist who made a name for himself after leaving behind his working life as a customs and excise officer.

George Wyllie, who was nearly 60 when he started working as a full-time artist, would draw much of his inspiration from the River Clyde and its industrial past.

Now the artist best known for his straw locomotive and paper boat creations is being celebrated in a dedicated waterfront gallery in Greenock that has been supported by his family and is now home to the biggest collection of Wyllie’s work anywhere in the world.

The Wyllieum, a new art gallery dedicated to the life and work of the Scottish artist George Wyllie, has been created on Greenock's waterfront. Picture: John Devlin

It has been created close to the Inverclyde town’s Custom House – where Wyllie worked for 30 years – as part of a £20 million cruise liner terminal building designed by the award-winning Scottish architect Richard Murphy, whose other projects include the Dundee Contemporary Arts complex, the Tolbooth Arts Centre in Stirling and an expansion of Perth Theatre.

Work by Wyllie, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 90, can be found across Scotland. They include the People’s Palace and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, outside the city’s main bus station, and in Edinburgh, Motherwell, Lanark, Campbeltown, Perth, Oban, Caithness and the Outer Hebrides.

One of the few galleries in the UK inspired by the work of a single artist, The Wyllieum is the first new purpose-built art attraction to be created in Scotland since 2018, when V&A Dundee opened on the city’s waterfront.

It will chart the life story of Wyllie, who was born in Glasgow in 1921, trained as a Post Office engineer and served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, before starting work as a customs and excise officer in Greenock.

It is hoped The Wyllieum, which has been created in one of the two “wings” of the new Greenock Ocean Terminal complex, will attract many of the 150,000 passengers who are expected to pass through it each year.

Visitors who venture into the gallery will be able to discover how Wyllie, whose solo exhibitions spanned more than 30 years, created work with salvaged materials like stainless steel, string, wire, stone and wood at his home overlooking the Clyde in nearby Gourock.

The Wyllieum, which opens to the public on Friday and is free to visit, will offer insights into the creation of his most celebrated works. These include a straw locomotive that was suspended from the Finnieston Crane in Glasgow, a paper boat that went on display on water around the world, including in New York, and his distinctive bird and “spire” sculptures.

The gallery also recalls Wyllie’s work on his acclaimed play, A Day Down a Goldmine, which was staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is hoped to be revived at The Wyllieum, and his musical interests, which included playing double bass in local jazz bands.

The Wyllieum’s director, Will Cooper, said: “George had a decent pension when he left his job as a customs and excise officer. That gave him the freedom to make whatever he wanted each day. I’m sure there was some structure to it, but he was a bit like a shotgun in the way he spread his ideas around and made what came to mind.

"There was an unguarded and unchecked creativity about him. Some of his ideas worked better than others, but he produced such a big, broad brushstroke of stuff.

"One of the things about The Wyllieum opening around 40 years after he made a lot of his work is seeing the almost prophetic ideas he was having around colonialism, capitalism or the environment."

The Wyllieum was given the green light in 2019 when planning permission and funding was secured for the Greenock Ocean Terminal development, including £1.5m for the art gallery pledged to the George Wyllie Foundation by the Dunard Trust arts charity.

Mr Cooper said: “It’s only cruise liners that come into the terminal, between April and October. Most of the people coming off those boats will not have heard of George and will not be expecting to find an art gallery here. It's odd, it’s an eccentricity and it’s unlike anywhere else.

"But obviously we want to remind everyone that The Wyllieum is not just for people coming in to Greenock on cruise liners. Part of the reason it has been created here is that George worked 100 yards away and lived half a mile away. Inverclyde was in his blood and was a place he cared deeply about."

The Wyllieum, which features a host of the artist’s previously-unseen photographs and drawings, has been pursued by a foundation created by his family following the success of a year-long festival launched to coincide with his 90th birthday.

Mr Cooper said up to 80 per cent of the collection held at The Wyllieum, much of which has been donated by his family, will be on public display at any one time.

He said: “We want to be able to rotate stuff and change things. We don’t want it to be the same every time people come in. George never said the same thing over and over again in his work.”

Louise Wyllie, the artist’s daughter, said: “It has been a joy to witness fresh, energetic people such as Will Cooper lead on the future of bringing my father’s work to audiences old and new. In his job as a customs and excise officer, my father spent a lot of time at the docks in Greenock where The Wyllieum now sits. His family is invested in seeing this cultural space thrive.”

Greenock-born film and TV star Martin Compston said: “I’m so delighted to lend my support to The Wyllieum. I grew up in Greenock and it will always be a very special place to me. George Wyllie inspired so many people through his art and built an international reputation. It’s an incredibly powerful story of what can be achieved by anyone.”

The Wyllieum: Waterfront gallery in Greenock dedicated to work of self-taught artist George Wyllie is unveiled

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