Helen has many works for sale arranged in sections throughout the site. Please click on the portfolio link to view more works.
My work is an attempt to create visual equivalents to the sensations evoked by music and poetry - in particular the almost magical power of particular words or phrases - and a reflection of my interest in historical objects and ancient places. The precise nature of each work only becomes apparent during the physical process of making and the materials themselves often dictate the direction of each piece. My aim is always to provoke and stimulate the imagination by suggestion, enabling narratives and associations to arise intuitively rather than consciously.
I work mainly with found materials - wood, stone, string, paper and metal - built up in layers over a painted surface and then reworked with combinations of paint, pencil, pen and ink. The materials are collected from around my house and garden, from the street or beach and recycled from discarded work, old books and scraps of card and paper. Over the past few years I have also used a formal grid structure which has endless permutations in terms of composition, colour and texture, particularly in its potential for variations in scale. More recently my work has become more three-dimensional, breaking out of the grid into larger, more self-contained mixed media assemblages.
The gouache and collage works on paper are perhaps more illustrative. The picture plane is divided into multiple sections using flatter, bolder colours with a cast of characters and the occasional hint of narrative.
'It is signs which have no exact meaning that provoke a magic sense.' Miro
I am a self-taught artist with a background in editorial and book illustration. Books are my great love aIthough I spent several years working on paintings which explored the abstract qualities of colour. I now work mainly with found objects, paint and collage, still fascinated by the relationship between words and images but with the talismanic power of historical places, objects and relics - real or imaginary - my main area of interest.
I live and work in rural north-east Suffolk in a studio just up the road from my home. Over the last couple of years I have spent more and more time working with learning-disabled adults and teenagers, providing art workshops on a regular basis, a job I find hugely rewarding. I am particularly interested in encouraging people to use their imagination through art, an approach which helps overcome the 'fear factor' and enables them to experiment and enjoy the freedom to play and make discoveries through their own work.
At present I am working with my landlord on creating a gallery behind my studio which we hope, over the next few years, will provide a unique resource for this part of Suffolk.