© Kirsten Prisk
Garden Stories:
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden For Barbara Hepworth, the discovery of the studio in St Ives where she was to live and work for more than 25 years was “a sort of magic”. “For 10 years I had passed by with my shopping bags, not knowing what lay behind the 20-foot wall,” the celebrated sculptor wrote, years later. “Here was a studio, a yard and garden where I could work in open air and space.” The studio at Trewyn was light, bright and airy; the yard a sunny spot where she could catch a glimpse of the sea while she worked; and the garden a haven from the bustle beyond the high wall. It was to become a great source of inspiration for Hepworth, and a showcase for her work. In her marble workshop at the edge of the garden, she would carve stone, and in the neighbouring room, she created plasters destined to be cast in bronze. A work in progress was often placed in one area of the garden and then moved around, so that she could contemplate it from a variety of angles and decide if more needed to be done. Hepworth had come to live in Cornwall with her husband, artist Ben Nicholson, and their
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© Kirsten Prisk
young family, following the outbreak of the Second World War. It was in 1949 that she discovered Trewyn. Mature trees and magnolias were already in residence there, and within this framework, Hepworth, a keen gardener, created a space where exotic plants like fan palms and bamboos could live
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