Artist Antony Gormley originally turned down the chance to design a unique piece of work alongside the A1, as he put it “I do not make motorway art”. However a persistent Gateshead metropolitan borough council followed up by sending him a picture of the newly made mount, built over the Ann Pit colliery, a mine that operated from the 1720s to 1960s and claimed at least 80 lives during its operational years. He saw huge potential in the space located just south of Newcastle upon Tyne, inspired by the beautiful open space and the legacy of the mount he agreed to the commission and then started sketching.

Gormley was known for his bold sculptures and public artworks that focused on the relationship of the body and space, however he had never worked at this scale or ambition. He used a huge collective endeavor that drew the skills and capability from the entire region. The work could not have been made without the engineers from Newcastle University and all the ship builders who knew how to make a compound curve out of metal plate. Manufactured out of British steel in Hartlepool, the Angel was transported to the site in three sections on low loaders in a journey that took five hours. The work was brought on huge industrial lorries, carried through the coal mining towns of county Durham and across the region. The statue was cheered as it passed various pubs and travelled to its historic home. A community that had been told previously by Thatcher that it had no future was showcasing it's incredible talent and how using generational skills and hard work could not only compete but also make unique and wonderful things.  

From the day it was announced the artwork was criticised. Some thought the strong northern winds would blow it down, locals feared the television signal would be blocked in the area, others even argued it would cause crashes on the road with drivers getting distracted by the object. The local papers even compared the work to a Luftwaffe Angel from 1930s Germany, The Gateshead Post ran the headline "Nazi…But Nice?". A massive campaign gathered against the work and 1000s of signatures were collected in a petition. The central frame for the artwork was made with a cast of the artist's own body, even then he was accused of narcissism with too much focus on the individual and not the community, Gormley had work to do to prove this was not a marketing decoration and something that would stand the test of time.  

Once assembled, the Angel was unveiled on February 16, 1998. Ultimate praise came from Newcastle United fans who draped a 30 foot Alan Shearer shirt on the back of the statue. The work was loved by the Geordies and was without a doubt a huge success, it has since become a national symbol and part of the fabric of the nation. The sheer scale of the work is so impressive you cannot help but be taken in by the unique design. The 65 feet high, ribbed human figure of the sculpture weighs 100 tonnes.  The two outreaching wings resemble those of an aeroplane and weigh 50 tonnes each with a span of 175ft, almost the same as a jumbo jet. They tilt inwards by 3.5 degrees offering a welcoming embrace not just for those visiting the region but the whole nation itself.