Nora Golden was an early arrival in the Ballydehob Artists community, partnering ceramicist Christa Reichel, who is usually acknowledged as ‘first on the scene’ in Ballydehob, although there had been an artists’ community in Baltimore, started in 1955. Reichel and Golden established the Gurteenakilla Pottery, not far from the village, where they designed and made a range of domestic ware, raw glazed with tin and decorated using cobalt, copper and iron oxides.
Nora was also a painter and skilled in making batik wall hangings: the Museum is fortunate to have some good examples of her work in the permanent collection.
In 1968 Reichel and Golden formed Ballydehob Artists Ltd and opened The Flower House, comprising a shop, gallery and studios. The distinctive painted facade of this building on Ballydehob’s main street became a focus for artists and craftspeople drawn from across Europe, and became central to the creative community that is now celebrated by BAM.
Nora Golden left West Cork for England in the 1980s.
Above: batiks by Nora Golden from the permanent collection of the Ballydehob Arts Museum. Left – inspired by Irish Prehistoric Rock Art: Rock of the Rings, Ballybane West. Right – inspired by Irish Passage Grave Art: Motifs from Loughcrew
Ballydehob Arts Museum 