and this is mackenzie thorpe and he's a famous artist.rew up. so you're all going to make the transporter bridge? his art sell5 all around the world. his inspiration? the town where he was born. i draw a heart under the bridge because i love middlesbrough. that's all it's about. love, the theme that dominates so much of his art. we're at the transporter bridge over the river tees in middlesbrough and it means so much to me because i was born just down the road. and just as the gondola starts to move out, we would run and leap into the cabin here on the side. one of seven children, he left school with no qualifications. "trouble is with you, you'll never get a job because all you do is draw". that's what i was told at school. starting out in the shipyards with his father. i became a man with my dad. when i was 17, i went on a 300 tonner bringing in chemicals from the shallow end of the river, right down to the mouth for the big boats to come in and pick it up. it's quite a leap from that to be exhibited in new york? that made me laugh beca

this is mackenzie thorpe and his famous artist.use i love middlesborough, that's what it's all about. love, the theme that dominates so much of his art. this is the transporter bridge over the river tees in middlesborough and it means so much to me because i was born done the work —— born down the road. we would run and meet them on the cabin on the side. one of seven children, he left school with no qualifications. the trouble is, you'll never get a job because all you'll never get a job because all you do is draw. that's what i was told. starting out in the shipyards with his father... i became a man with his father... i became a man with my dad. 17, i went on a 300 ton bringing chemicals from the shallow end of the river to the mouth for the big boats to come and pick it up. it's quite a leap from that being exhibited in new york. that made me laugh because i never thought of it like that before. i guess, i draw on the boat. jk rowling has some of your work. the queen has a piece? she has two pieces of her own. and it's an honou

people like mackenzie thorpe from here. his new sculpture is outside of the transport bridge.y here. do people stay after college? yeah, definitely. i mean, we are off to university in september. i chose to stay here, going to the northern school of art in hartlepool. i want to stay here, because i love the north—east. we have such great history, industry, coastal scenes, andl history, industry, coastal scenes, and i have used a lot of those as inspiration for my work. we can go out, draw, paint, and it's like a nowhere else, really. i love it. izzy, do you sense that the parts of the country are beginning to realise that middlesbrough is not worthy of the reputation it has in some places, going back to the 705 and 805, of a town suffering because of the decline of major industry? yeah, i think people are starting to realise that we are more than the old industry we had. there is more to us than meets the eye, and that is really exciting. but for young people to be able to see middlesbrough in a new light and a more creative way, i think that surprises people. and it is good.