I am most interested in how still life as a convention in painting has documented the human predisposition toward ‘making meaning’ from the simplest things.  In some of the watercolors I alter the still life convention by shifting the viewers position and view toward the cloth and needlework that usually serves as background and support for the objects that rest upon it.  In doing this I mean to celebrate the under-recognized traditional arts of women found in needlework and cloth works, reversing the hierarchy of the image, making the cloth upon which the objects rest the most important element in the painting.   It becomes a metaphor for practices and knowledge associated with women’s traditional roles.  I also use objects we find in everyday life that might be considered mundane except for the opportunity the painting gives us to notice their beauty and recognize the symbolic power they offer. Some works are a simple celebration of looking, and others are imbued with symbolic or ritual significance.  I also have a fondness for the surreal, which moves me to incorporate the impossible in ways that seems possible into the work.

You can see Helen’s full portfolio, including works that are available for purchase, here.