Shell Artist
Last update 7/3/10
Walking through the magnificent perennial borders at Ballymaloe cookery school garden gives no clue to what you are about to see in the octagonal pavilion at the end of the path…
It all started with four gothic windows and then the foundations were laid.
The building went up with many ideas from the clients, the builder and me.
The shells had been saved from the cookery school and were still being gathered. All my shells were stacked outside… we run quite a few times to protect the lot from the rain.
Like in an andalusian garden, the water spouts out from the centre of the floor and run around the building in a tiled and pebbled rill.
The late Mr Allen visited daily and needed a seat to relax and talk. The window sills were the perfect answer for this, so I made this shelling for him. The design went along with the shelling and also depending on the shells eaten the day before !
I went on the beach to collect the little yellow shells for the initials of the Allen children.. It was fun and a great family atmosphere.
“Soon after [ Blott’s ] arrival the school holidays began, and hordes of children descended on Ballymaloe… Blott’s work never ceased to interest and amuse them.
“I love to work at night and they would sneak out in their pyjamas, […] and cycle to the field where I was working. It was just like E.T. I would see the lights of their bicycles lined up outside the shell house and hear them whispering
“Shh,Shh” very loudly”
“Gardens illustrated” August/September 1997
I love knitting and the geometric patterns of the Arran jumpers. I worked out for the two facing walls this simple yet effective design. The two walls, strictly identical in their lay out, look very different because of the shells used. Colourful shells were used on one side and iridescent on the other.
“Shellwork : …Blott Kerr-Wilson’s exquisite summer house with inventive and finely laid patterns for the Ballymaloe Cookery School garden is an exceptional example.”
“The Oxford companion to the garden” Edited by Patrick Taylor
“Blott first drew her ideas on the wall with chalk then stuck the precious shells on top. The popularity of the seafood platter in the restaurant is very much in evidence in the bands and swirls of scallops, mussels, cockles and oyster shells, while the more humble periwinkle is used as edging. […] there is not a sliver of wall visible.”
“Irish Garden” by Olda Fitzgerald
Clic on the moorish fountain...
