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The iconic angel has a new home, looking out to sea.
A change of scenery for Kitty Harri

A change of scenery for Kitty Harri

The artist’s scaled-down sculpture garden, now in La Herradura, is again open to visitors who will be treated to wonderful views over Marina del Este while enjoying the art

JENNIE RHODES

Friday, 13 August 2021, 10:44

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Artist Kitty Harri's sculpture garden has relocated and downsized to La Herradura. Casa ArteMus still houses some of the much-loved work on display in the original garden in Jete, Granada province, and is open to visitors.

Kitty and her partner Nick have already started to run mosaic workshops and are hoping to get some small-scale music sessions going too.

The couple sold the house and garden in Jete last year after deciding to downsize, through a combination of the pandemic leading to no visitors or volunteers to help maintain the place and their "advancing years" - although nobody would ever guess that Kitty is making plans for her 70th birthday in September.

Casa ArteMus is perched high up on the Punta de la Mona, overlooking Marina del Este and Almuñécar and while much smaller than the property and grounds in Jete, there is still plenty of space for a collection of Kitty's sculptures and many that were on display in Jete by international artists they hosted over the years.

While they no longer have the space to offer artists' residencies, they are still keen to be able to display other people's work.

"It was so difficult to choose what to bring," they both lament. Some pieces were simply too big, or were anchored into the ground in Jete. They also had to downsize on household goods and machinery they had used for their art, like Kitty's stone carving tools.

Some of the well-loved pieces that did make it into the final choice are Kitty's seven-metre high wooden totem pole that welcomes visitors as they arrive, the angel that swings round in the wind, a bronze figure of a man who looks like he's looking out to sea ready to warn the couple of pirates or invasion and a diver who's using the swimming pool perhaps to practice for the next Olympics. The next Tom Daley, perhaps?

There's also a stunning wood carving of a native American, which was done by a Canadian artist using a piece of wood found by Nick.

There's stone, marble and bronze carvings of all shapes and sizes, in every nook and cranny of the stunning garden and the views are unbeatable.

Along with the Canadian artist, Nick and Kitty have reflected their own very international backgrounds in their choice of artists, from Hungarian, to Dutch, Swiss, Danish, British... the list goes on!

Kitty has a studio for her art and the kiln came with them too. The artist, who is originally from Sweden, but has spent much of her life in Spain, admits she is mainly painting now and is hoping to start some ceramic work soon.

Nick has plenty of room for his musical instruments, including the iconic harpsichord which he made and had shipped over from Canada when he came over to start a life with Kitty in 2014.

Kitty says she's also still writing and has recently published The Fault: a psychological thriller set in Gibraltar, to add to her collection of other books, many of which have been translated into 14 different languages.

They both say they are "very happy" in the new house and that they have "traded mountains for sea views".

As in Jete, they are keen to continue with the guided visits of the garden and offer mosaic workshops too. Both are by appointment only, with minimum groups for the guided visits of four people.

Nick is also keen to meet local musicians interested in joining him and his wide range of instruments - from the harpsichord to Scottish bagpipes and a lot in between - for informal music sessions.

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