Garden snails are usually fairly inconspicuous creatures - but not Brian.

The giant creature, made by sculptor Hamish Mckenzie, gently sways in the breeze and proudly towers above onlookers as the latest addition to the garden at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery.

He is named after Brian the snail, a character in the Seventies television favourite The Magic Roundabout.

But Dougal, Florence, Ermintrude the cow, Dylan, Mr McHenry and Zebedee are nowhere to be seen - for it is Brian's curves which Mr Mckenzie most admires.

The snail sculpture, made from mild steel coated with tar, was inspired by the sculptor's passion for curves and spirals.

Such is his love of winding forms, he has even sculpted his own beard into a spiral.

Mr Mckenzie said: "I have a very deep connection with spirals which comes from within. They are one of the most beautiful forms occurring in nature.

"They are also very closely connected with our bodies. Your ears are spirals and so are other parts of you.

"With Brian, I just started making a spiral and then it seemed to look right as a snail. I didn't set out to make a character from The Magic Roundabout."

The beauty of winding forms first struck Mr Mckenzie while he was walking along a beach.

He said: "I kept seeing all these broken shells which the sea had washed on to the sand. I loved the way the insides of the shells had the most wonderful spirals."

The former carpenter went on to write a dissertation on spirals while studying three-dimensional design at Northbrook College in Worthing. He has sported various hairstyles on the same theme.

Living on a houseboat in Shoreham for 15 years has had a big impact on his work.

Mr Mckenzie, who is currently making a houseboat from a salvaged 1902 Solent passenger ferry, said: "One of the things I love most about boat life is the lack of straight lines around me."

Yet his work does not always revolve around spirals. He is showing a tail plane of a Harrier jump jet alongside Brian in the exhibition.

Wiltshire-based sculptor Eric Stanford is also showing work in the gallery garden.

His stone artwork includes a piece called Narcissus which was inspired by the tale of a man who fell in love with his own reflection in a woodland pool.

The exhibition at the gallery in Chapel Road runs until May 11.