Helen Schell

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One of the most ambitious ‘Living Artworks’ to date at Taurus Crafts is sited in what was formerly the low walled garden of the original Lydney Park Estate House. This grand house once stood not on the hill overlooking Taurus Crafts, but in the present position of the Model Village. Taurus Crafts now occupies what used to be the coach house, farm buildings and yard attached to the original building. The low walled area, between Nutkin’s Nursery and the Taurus Crafts Coach House, was originally destined to be a traditional garden. A brick-lined concrete path was laid in 1998 as a project involving young adults benefiting from one of the Taurus Crafts’ work experience and training projects. A large millstone was also sited in the garden, which was otherwise all grass.
	Forest of Dean artist, Helen Schell, creates site-specific installations inspired by sacred geometry and the mathematics of Nature. Her work typically involves the manipulation of light, colour and pattern making. As a pre-cursor to the ‘Living Artwork’ at Taurus, Helen had participated in the Year of the Artist celebration in Bristol in 2001 by planting an enormous design in Castle Park, using 15,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs. The Wonder Pod she designed for Taurus takes its name from the enclosed nature of the space and uses culinary herbs (instead of paints, etc) as the medium, and soil as the canvas. The object was to create an artwork that would comprise an interactive and sensual space. The Wonder Pod would be accessible and satisfying to the senses of touch, sight, taste, smell and hearing through the direct use of herbs and indirectly by attracting a wide variety of birds and insects. In accordance with Camphill values, the maintenance of the artwork is carried out without the use of artificial fertilisers or chemical pest controls.
Having only a limited knowledge of herbs, Helen asked horticulturist Cliff Gorman, and Ledbury based herb wholesalers Poppinger Nurseries to help with the selection of plants used. She described the effects she was looking for, and they chose plants to best achieve these results and have a high likelihood of growing (in some pretty unorthodox situations). The Wonder Pod incorporates seven interwoven elements. An ‘escape ramp’, constructed of Forest of Dean Oak - donated by the Dean Oak Project which was offering lengths of oak to artists to explore interesting ways of making use of off-cuts which might not otherwise be used- provides an exit route for the herbs from this enclosed space. Planted with a ground-hugging bed of thyme, the Escape Ramp also carries two circles of sage over the wall, and down four sage steps on the far side. Four other sage circles are carried in the path joining the Escape Ramp to the ‘Volcano’. Standing 1.5m tall, with very steep sides, the Volcano’ provides height and drama to the artwork. Its sides are planted with a backdrop of shocking pink low-growing thymes with four circles of golden thyme. At its base is a ring of chives. From the top explodes a huge silver-leaved cardoon, which every August spouts forth a burst of purple thistle-like flowers. The cardoon is supported by a metal column and cube constructed by Forest of Dean artist David Gooding. In the far corner, the enclosing wall supports a ‘Mint Mountain’. This uses five varieties of mint separated into sections by sunken oak dividers. At the top a silvery cloud of curry plant provides a crowning effect. The original millstone is filled with a mixture of clear and red glass chippings. This ‘Ruby Pool’ holds nine blue circular, squat pots, made in the Taurus pottery and containing golden marjoram. In summer, the Pool is almost entirely hidden within the ‘Fennel Forest’. This is the dominant central feature of the Wonder Pod, and consists of diagonally opposite plantings of green and bronze fennel. Also fully enclosed by the Fennel Forest is a circular raised planting of comfrey, surrounded by a ring of blue flowering borage. This ‘Magic Circle’ provides balance to the composition. In the roadside corner, approached through a tunnel of fennel, is the ‘Secret Birch Tree Seat’, which makes use of the natural form of an existing weeping silver birch.
	Surrounding the stem of this beautiful tree is a triangular pale blue concrete tree seat inlaid with tiles produced in the Taurus Pottery. Each individual tile carries a pattern created by the many people connected with Taurus who attended a workshop run by Helen. Her love of patterns is expressed both in the Secret Seat (which was constructed off-site in five parts by David Gooding, assembled beneath the tree, and completed by cementing the tiles into their respective niches) and in the meandering brick-edged concrete path. After removing a build-up of algae by pressure washing, Helen painted the central area of the path a carefully chosen mix of green, and edged it with red. She then painted eighteen roundels onto the path, each depicting the essential geometrical arrangements of a flower or leaf of an herb used in the Wonder Pod. Helen's interest in the use of light has led her to use glass engraved with similar plant structure patterns in the designs for both the entrance gate and the large oak seat, called ‘The Throne'. Each of these pieces makes reference, through its triangularity, to the architectural roof arrangement in the overlooking coach house. Simon Field constructed The Throne from solid oak, and Dave Gooding made the gate. The startling purple colouring and distressed look of the gate tones in well with the foliage and flower colour of the nearby oregano plants. Almost 1400 plants were used to create the Wonder Pod including, in addition to those already mentioned, eight varieties of thyme, five varieties of rosemary, angelica, hyssop, tarragon and the white flowering variety of garlic. We plan to develop the small piece of land adjoining the Wonder Pod into another ‘Living Artwork’.
Trained at Gloucestershire College of Art & Design. B.A.Hons Fine Art; Post Graduate Diploma in Theatre Design from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School; Dudley International Glass Centre Solo exhibitions at: Winchester Cathedral; Gloucester Cathedral; Newland Church, Forest of Dean; Bristol Cathedral; Ernst & Young, Bristol; St Nicholas Crypt, Bristol; Sofiero Castle, Sweden; Michigan, USA; Banff Arts Centre, Canada Selected Group exhibitions include: UCE, Birmingham; Severn Revels Festival, Blaisdon, Glos; Jamaica Street Studios, Bristol; Art in the Arcade, Bristol; Michigan, USA; Sardinia; Ravenna, Italy; San Francisco & Los Angeles, USA;Assisi,Italy;Hannover, Germany Residencies include: Planted Art, Castle Park,Bristol; Cuba, Vermont Studio Centre, USA; AA2A Glass Residency; Bristol Cathedral Awards: Pollock/Krasner Foundation, New York; SWA How to Get Here - Home - Art - Restaurant - Craft Studios - Deli - Pottery - Events - About Us