Blattel-Britton Studio's Ó

On September 11, 1979, Carolyn had a son, John Michael Blattel-Britton. John and Carolyn are both achondroplastic dwarfs or as they prefer, "Little People." Carolyn and Ben met in May of 1986 and were married May 7, 1988. Ben adopted John in November 1988. On February 21, 1989, another son, Carl Benjamin Blattel-Britton was born. Ben and Carl are not "Little People." John graduated from Colo-NESCO High School in 1998 and was Salutatorian in his class and then graduated May 10, 2003 from Iowa State University in Ames, receiving a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Engineering.  He is employed at Emerson Process Management Fisher Controls in Marshalltown as a Supply Chain Analyst.  He has lived in Marshalltown since April 2005 and became a homeowner on October 27, 2006.  John likes to work on computers, play golf and is a dedicated follower of the Iowa Hawkeye's and the Chicago Cubs.  Carl will be a senior at Colo-NESCO High School in Colo the fall of 2007.  Carl is mechanical and likes driving and working on vehicles and rebuilding bicycles and riding lawnmowers.  Ben taught Carl how to weld when he was in the First Grade and since then he has even made and sold a few sculptures. 

We have a rottweiler named Maze and a cat named Myrtle.

We live at 508 W North Street in Zearing, a house we purchased in October 1992. It is right beside the house where Carolyn grew up.  It was built for Carolyn's Great Uncle Russell and his wife, Fern in the early 1900's. 

We work out of our home and initiated Blattel-Britton Studio’s in 1987. Besides doing his metal sculptures, Ben does all the matting & framing of Carolyn’s art.  Being self employed Ben keeps busy doing a mixture of things from sign painting, commissioned artwork, machinery repair and welding, remodeling and repairing or whatever else anyone might come up with, which has proved to be most interesting over the years... 'a jack of all trades-master of several, one of which is cheap tricks and magic.'

Different views of our Rock Garden taken in the summer of 2006 

In 1994 we started building a rock garden on a 145’ x 180’ vacant lot we purchased in 1991 across from our home.  We have hauled in several hundred tons of rocks of various sizes and planted a variety of bushes, trees and perennials.  In September 1996 we dug three ponds.  We wanted them to be natural, so we hoped we would accomplish that by using Bentonite which is formed by the weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence of water.  It was a continuous battle for a few years because there was once a house on the lot that had been burned and buried so the ground had too many voids and the bentonite wasn’t able to work.  We installed a liner in our front pond the fall of 2001.  That pond holds 2,200 gallons.  We installed a liner in our biggest pond which is 7,000 gallons in November of 2004.  The first and second ponds have a waterway between them with an arched steel bridge over it.  The second & third ponds will be connected by a waterfall of about 3 feet.  This is partly done.  What with both of us being artists, our garden has a lot of rock and pebble art and it provides a natural display for Ben’s numerous metal sculptures, some of which are for sale.  We currently have 3 areas that are under construction and we are in the process of installing more lighting and still have some plumbing to do.  As with most gardens, it is a work in progress.     

In 1994  we started having an art show in our rock garden, ‘Art in our Yard’ which has attracted hundreds of people.  Art in the Yard was held from 1994-1998 and again in 2001.  We will be making plans for hosting it again sometime and when we do, we will post all pertinent information here on our website.  Bus tours and garden clubs have visited the rock garden. In a series of articles on gardens by the Des Moines Register in 1996, Eliot Nusbaum featured our rock garden as a ‘year round garden’. It has been featured with numerous television and newspaper articles and was one of 10 gardens on the 12th Annual Central Iowa Tour of Water Gardens on Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Since the Rock Garden is our private property, it is closed to the General Public, entrance by request only by asking Ben, Carolyn, John or Carl.  When a request is granted by one of us, we ask that viewers please respect it as our private property, stay on the walkways which is the lawn or flat areas of river rock (where it is easy to walk), that nothing is disturbed or bothered and that suggested donations of $5.00 per person, $10.00 for groups up to 10 and $20.00 for groups over 20 can be left in the donation box at the entrance. 

Different aerial views of our Rock Garden taken June 29, 2007

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