Reflecting upon autobiographical themes explored through Helen's sculptural body of work; this piece acts as an overview, a point of quiet reflection. It hints at memories and experience now distanced and subdued. From afar a dual position of therapist and patient is inferred by the reflective clarity that the piece presents. However, come closer and the onlooker is instantly entangled, entrenched amongst the mass of looped fiber, their own reflection meshed in the folds and the meandering veins that trace a path upwards. The piece holds a childlike quality through the obsessively stitched foam sheet glimpsed between and behind the folds. Connotations of patchwork quilts combined with the blanket stitched 'selvedges' offer reminders of the domestic environment. Yet, these assumptions are seemingly incongruent with the use of mirrored steel, obsessive bolts and oversized hinges which resonate with hard industrial machinery. Has a balance been reached? Is this a pause between two opposing, unequal and distinct elements?
Materials and Processes
Bolted, hinged aluminum and mirrored steel sheets with gun tufted and stitched elements
Following on from 'Chink in the Armour exploring european and asian historic armour.' Butterfly Guard' plays with a fragment that protects the neck and shoulder, the shape is flattened creating a pattern cut section. Detailing references men’s suiting. Woollen thread and shape repetition construct a ‘designed’ pattern. The humorous carpet ‘pom-poms’ and butterfly motif negate the armour’s usefulness.
Materials and Processess
Shaped steel, aluminum and copper sheet with woven tapestry, gun tufting and stitched details.
This piece playfully explores European and Asian historic armour, using it as a metaphor for the human psyche. The shape is an abstracted leg fragment. Detailing in the work mimics decoration found on armour fragments, however in a subtle twist, it is used to reference weave designs commonly found in men’s suiting fabrics. The woollen thread and peculiar shape of the piece questions the armour’s usefulness.
Materials and Processes
Manipulated steel sheet with woven tapestry, engraved, stitched and bolted elements.
This piece explores; support, reliance, vulnerability, and playfulness. It is the third piece in a group of works including 'Laced' and 'Cradle' investigating these themes. ‘Stack’ refers to games such as ‘Jenga’ and ‘Cats Cradle’. Made in parts each element relies on the other to secure its balance. The reflective surfaces manipulate the tensile nature of the cord, bending the lines to form a mass of unexpected playful crossings.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet aluminum, perforated steel combined with rolled and etched/distressed brass sections. Foam layers with threaded cotton gimp cord.
‘Cradle’ is the first in of a series of works that explores support, reliance protection, and/or obstruction, intimidation and hostility within the same piece. The childhood game of ‘cat’s cradle’ is the starting point exploring its innocent playful-ness, and manipulating the tensile character of cord to build a physical and emotional tension in small secretive objects.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet copper, brass, aluminium and perforated steel with sharpened aluminum bolts and cotton cord.
‘Laced’ is the second of three pieces that explores support, reliance protection, and/or obstruction, intimidation and hostility within the same piece. The childhood game of ‘cat’s cradle’ is the starting point exploring its innocent playful-ness, and manipulating the tensile character of cord to build a physical and emotional tension in small secretive objects.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet copper, brass, aluminum and perforated steel with brass bolts, foam sheet and cotton cord.
A vessel, a cylindrical chamber, carrying, cradling, protecting one large scroll. Connotations of a hand sliding across the page? A stream of personal stories, fantasies or fears. A hint of diaries written and hidden, details masked from public view. An elaborate tag marks a place, perhaps hinting at a significant part of an unreadable text.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet copper, aluminum with sharpened brass bolts. Cloth woven metalised polyester, cotton thread, enameled wire with transparent thread.
'Revolver' is one of two pieces exploring the connection between 'interior' and 'exterior'. The cylindrical shape as 'vessel' as 'carrier', protector from the outside world or isolator from it. The piece and its title evoke connotations of a gun barrel, however the vessel holds finely woven jewel like scrolls. The woven patterns allude to handwriting, hinting at unreadable/secretive messages.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet copper, aluminum with sharpened brass bolts. Cloth woven metalised polyester, cotton thread, enameled wire with transparent thread.
Yarn is shot through a gun with compressed air and a needle pierces a taught canvas to produce a stitch, the sound of this action is repetitive and loud. Air spurts and splutters, blows and sucks, yarn is severed for each stitch by a rotating blade. Nothing comforting within this process, nothing cosy. This installation troubles the 'cosy' notions of comfortable domesticity, the social facade of a traditional nuclear family whilst presenting a beautiful aesthetic. Shape and placement of the pieces (which can be manipulated with each fresh space the installation inhabits) aims to construct a psychological space between/around the pieces and beckon the onlooker to move in, around and amongst. Investigating degrees of openness and concealment, the pieces purposely confuse exterior with interior. By examining what is being shielded and what is exposed the installation explores family secrets and the push and pull between their potential revelation and continued concealment.
Materials and Processes
Bolted aluminum and copper sheets with enamelled copper wire inserts and gun tufted fibres.
Dimensions
'Holed Up': H 100cm x W 32cm x D 35cm / 'Crawling Through': H 100cm x W 55cm x D 25cm / 'Caught Between': H 100cm x W 35cm x D 40cm
‘The Proctor’ is based on a rhyming story by Edward Gorey an American artist and writer whose books are popular with children. The piece questions the sinister implications conjured up by the text and its suitability for children. 'Proctor' negotiates the impact of ‘secrets’ that isolate the child, and explores the struggle to reveal - to ‘spill the beans’ - and to hide, simultaneously.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet aluminum with black steel metal rod and bolts. Cloth woven metal layers using transparent thread and enameled wires.
‘There was an Old woman who lived in a shoe’ - manipulates adult readings of nursery rhymes familiar in childhood, forcing a review of the nostalgia of childhood. The work explores the notions of comfort, love, protection, nurture and trust associated with the morality and ‘norms’ of family life, and the effects on the participants if/when this social structure implodes.
Materials and Processes
Rolled layers of sheet aluminum, with black steel metal rods and bolts. Cloth woven metal layers using transparent thread and enameled wires.
Three pieces; ‘Green’, ‘Purple’ and ‘Brown’ make up the floor installation ‘Familial Disjuncture’. Exploring the dynamics between objects to investigate family relationships, it seeks to engage the viewer within a particular spatial environment to give rise to emotional responses of comfort/discomfort, vulnerability and secretiveness. The installation touches upon the imbalance of power between parent and child, the potential for its abuse, and explores the emotional consequences of such issues.
Materials and Processes
Rolled and bolted brushed sheet aluminum with steel rods, plaited enameled and plastic coated wire work stitched through gun tufted fibers.