Slate | Sheltered Existence
Sheltered Existence was commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland for the walled garden at Inverewe Gardens, a remarkable landscape situated at 58 degrees north on the north west coast of Scotland. Despite its latitude, Inverewe supports an unusually fragile and diverse ecosystem, protected by the warming influence of the Gulf Stream and by a shelter belt of coniferous trees planted by Osgood Mackenzie following the founding of the gardens in 1861. That delicate balance between exposure and protection became the conceptual foundation for this monumental work.
At an early stage, I visited the gardens to meet with Head Gardener Kevin Ball to discuss the commission and to understand the site in depth. Several months before construction began, I was invited to propose a small number of conceptual responses to the landscape. Of those initial ideas, Sheltered Existence was the concept that most clearly captured the imagination of everyone involved, offering a sculptural response that spoke directly to place, ecology and long-term stewardship rather than to a single narrative or moment.
Constructed entirely by hand from Ballachulish slate, the sculpture rises to over three metres (around ten feet) in height. The conical outer form represents the shelter belt of coniferous woodland, built through the careful shaping and stacking of thousands of individual pieces of stone. At its heart sits a smooth slate sphere, precariously held within the structure, symbolising the fragile ecosystem that survives only because of the protection surrounding it. The contrast between the rugged, labour-intensive exterior and the refined inner form reflects the tension between endurance and vulnerability that defines Inverewe itself.
Sheltered Existence was built on site over four weeks during February and March 2014. Although the weather was unseasonably mild, rain fell almost daily throughout construction, a reminder of the environmental forces the sculpture seeks to express. As a large-scale public artwork and institutional commission, the piece sits within the realm of monumental landscape sculpture, conceived for nationally significant sites, public gardens and non-private settings where art plays a commemorative and interpretive role.
Works of this nature are developed in close dialogue with place and purpose, marking locations, events and long-term values through form rather than inscription, and are intended to endure as part of the landscape they inhabit.
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