NELL POLLEN: ARTIST NELL Pollen has died at age 84 in her native Wexford, a county which she loved so dearly.
Remembered as “a true lady”, Nell was a quiet person, a gentle spirit who produced numerous works of religious art marked by her simple, strong composition.
Her career as a ceramicist, woodcarver and sculptor spanned four decades and took her from Ireland to Italy, Germany, Finland, and in 1981 to the United States. She will be remembered as one of several outstanding artists who worked during a remarkably creative period in Irish art.
Among her peers were her late husband, stained glass artist Patrick Pollen, and Patrick Pye, Michael and Frances Biggs, Ruth Brandt, Imogen Stuart, Helen Moloney and Veronica Rowe.
Many churches throughout Ireland, including several designed by architect Liam McCormick, contain a variety of works by this talented group. More than just colleagues, they remained good friends for many years.
Born on September 1st, 1927, in the corner house on Bridge Street, New Ross, Ellen Teresa Murphy was the seventh child of salmon exporter John Murphy and Annie Hoynes.
Nell fell in love with art while at school in St Mary’s FCJ Convent in Bunclody, Co Wexford. From 1947 until 1950 she studied at the Crawford Municipal School of Art in Cork. In October 1950 she studied sculpture and learned stone carving and casting with Prof Donal Ó Murchú at the National College of Art in Dublin.
She was awarded her diploma in sculpture in July 1953.
In 1954 she was awarded a scholarship by the Arts Council, which took her to Rome and from there to the Accademia dei Belli Arti in Florence. Here she met her friend Veronica Rowe. Later she and Veronica set up a successful studio called Eala in Galway, where they made ceramic jewellery and pottery.
In 1960 she went to Germany with Imogen Stuart, who said of her: “She had a wonderful sense of composition and a great feeling for the material she worked with.”
Nell and Patrick married in 1963 and settled in Dundrum, Dublin, where they both worked while raising their five children.
In the 1970s Nell, who often used her maiden name, Murphy, in relation to her work, produced many commissioned works from her home studio, including dozens of sets of Stations of the Cross and a series of small mass-produced works of sacred art for the home which are still produced today.
At a time when many women did not work outside the home, a 1974 Irish Timesarticle about working artist mothers featured Nell, who remarked: "Children just arrive and make themselves welcome, don't they?"
She was a practical, easygoing person. Her father-in-law, English sculptor Arthur Pollen, was impressed with Nell’s ability to produce such a large body of quality work while raising a family.
Nell worked mostly in terracotta and plaster. Her many sets of Stations of the Cross can be seen around Ireland, including in St Laurence O’Toole Church, Kilmacud, Dublin (1963); the Sacred Heart Church, Laytown, Co Meath (1979), and the Prince of Peace Church, Fossa, Killarney (1980).
Other works can be seen at St Colman’s Church, Ballintotis, Co Cork (1975), and Clogher Church in Co Tyrone (1979).
One of her most striking works is a concrete Pietà and set of stations (1961) for the Franciscan Cemetery in Gormanston, Co Meath.
She produced work for two Liam McCormick-designed churches in Co Donegal and set of stations and three statues for St Conal’s Church, Glenties (1974).
She also carved a set of wooden stations for the Church of St Bernadette in Belfast. She and Patrick collaborated on the Stations of the Cross for the Basilica at Knock in 1978.
In 1981 Nell and Patrick moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US, with their children. For 16 years they lived and worked on a small number of commissions.
In that time Nell produced the model for a bronze Pietà for St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan. In Winston-Salem she designed a commemorative plaque portraying William Jones, who was instrumental in getting the Bill of Rights into the US constitution, and did a set of stations for a nearby church.
In 1997 Nell and Patrick returned to Wexford, where they became reacquainted with old friends. In 2002, she made a statue of Edel Quinn in Kanturk, Co Cork and a statue of St Francis in Carrick-on-Suir. She repaired the crib for her local church and sang in the choir.
In the summer of 2010, months before Patrick’s death, they travelled all over Ireland and revisited their work together, including a memorable stormy journey to Tory Island to see one of Patrick’s windows.
Nell is survived by her daughter Brigid and four sons, Peter, Ciarán, Laurence and Christopher; her four grandchildren, her sister Brid, brothers Larry (OFM) and Tom, and her many friends.
Nell Pollen: born September 1st, 1927; died November 7th, 2011.