Happy 25th Birthday to The Angel of The North
On the 15 February 1998, Gateshead residents noticed the arrival of a new neighbour who changed the landscape forever. 208 tonnes of steel, 20 metres high and seen by an estimated 30 million people each year, Anthony Gormley’s angel is now recognised around the world as one of the most important pieces of public art. This year marks The Angel’s 25th birthday and we’ve been delighted to be part of the celebrations.
Two of our regular artists, illustrator Laura Crow and writer Susan Mulholland worked with members of the Gateshead Art Diamonds (a brilliant programme of creative courses and events for retired people) on a digital animation dedicated to the Angel.
Susan describes how they started to generate ideas with the group:
‘The Angel evokes lots of feelings and memories, particularly when you live in the North East and we were keen to capture that, first asking ‘What does it mean to you?’. Then we compiled facts, my favourite was that the wings are on a slight angle so as to give the impression of an embrace - just lovely!’
These ideas were then turned into a short script which described how the Angel might feel about its 25th birthday. The next stage was to create a storyboard of image ideas that Laura could then use to animate their narration as well as everyone trying their hand at digital drawing which everyone loved, you could have heard a pin drop!
“A great opportunity to contribute to such an important birthday, I loved working on it. Lovely confidence boost too.
“Being part of a creative team to help produce an end result. Having the chance to be involved in such a worthwhile and special project. It’s been amazing.”
Participants’ feedback
The resulting film is a love-letter to the Angel, a recognition of its significance in the North East and beyond and a fitting birthday tribute.
Happy birthday Angel!
To find out how you can get involved in more Angel celebrations, visit