Education
1985 BTEC Cleveland College of Art
1988 BA (Hons) Fine Art Canterbury College of Art
1993 MA Fine Art University of Northumbria
Work
1988-1990 teaching Art Foundation course at Frederick University Cyprus
1990-1999 teaching Art Foundation and undergraduate courses at Cleveland College of Art
1999-2023 Interior Designer for residential properties
Exhibitions and Prizes
2024 Longlisted Jacksons Art Prize
2024 Society of Women Artists
Biography
Helen is an artist who originally hails from the North East of England. She currently resides in the Cotswolds, where she pursues her passion for painting the figure and the natural world. Helen holds a Masters in Fine Art and has worked as an Art College lecturer. Later, she worked as an Interior Designer, which helped her develop a keen eye for colour and pattern. Helen is fascinated by portraiture and relishes opportunities to reveal insights into the history and personality of her subjects. She prefers to work in mixed media when the combination of subject, material and surface intensify the narrative.
Artists Statement
I fall a little in love with every figure I paint and every artwork I admire. From Vermeer's "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" to Andrew Cranston's "Why Can't I Be You?" I'm sharing their air and living their poignant story.
In today's polarized world, creating portraits provides an opportunity to unveil a multi-layered account. It's an honor to listen to someone's thoughts and experiences, and then capture their "themness" in an image that reveals their unique perspective. When we have deep insight into someone's world, it becomes hard to perceive them as "other" or different from us.
When I'm not painting portraits, I create artwork based on the themes of hope and transformation, using the figure and the natural world as my inspiration. I work from various references, including drawings, found images, and old family photos. I re-imagine these references using Photoshop and AI.
I like to create interesting surfaces that make handling materials less predictable. Typically, I begin by creating a loose, abstract background using broad areas of color. It's crucial to me that traces of earlier iterations and scrubbed back surfaces remain visible, as it helps to create more history. I view destruction as a positive and visible process that invariably improves the image. Hence, I push myself not to be precious. My approach is a reactive progression, not overly planned.
I aim to challenge the traditional notions of colour and pattern-making in art. Despite being prejorativelly labelled as "decorative," both elements hold immense symbolic value and can add play and humour. As an art form historically dominated by women, we should embrace and celebrate it instead of dismissing it as inferior. So when it comes to colour and pattern-making, I say bring it on!
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