Helen’s Story
Hi, my name is Helen Farrell and I am a Contemporary Irish artist working with nature, and I feel so lucky to be able to bring the joy of nature to you through my art.
My love of nature stems from my childhood which I was fortunate to spend among the rolling hills, river and woodlands in the beautiful village of Moynalty in Co Meath.
From childhood, my passion has been drawing and painting and even though I spent most of my adult life working as a nurse in Dublin, a full-time career in art was never far from my thoughts.
In my late twenties, an opportunity came up for me to study Fine Art as a mature student in IADT Dun Laoghaire and for 5 years I combined both my full-time career as a nurse with my part-time studies in art college.
For many years, I juggled being a mother, a nurse and an artist until three years ago, when I made the decision to follow my heart and focus fulltime on my life’s passion, art and creativity.
In addition to making my own artwork, a lot of my work over the years has been focused on expanding the arts out of traditional galleries and making it more accessible to everyone. Alternative spaces, such as libraries, derelict houses, disused community gardens, hospital courtyards, third level colleges, hospitals, streets, and community centres have all proved to be engaging and fresh spaces in which to showcase solo/group shows.
Art is for everyone, and all these alternative spaces can be explored as ways in which to complement the work of traditional galleries. Everyone benefits.
My dream is to continue to make original drawings and paintings while exploring our natural world and responding to it in an intuitive and semi-abstract way with a myriad of media and art materials. Bringing the joy of nature indoors
Nature is so full of beauty and vibrancy and this is where my inspiration comes from.
I find my work process brings me on a journey as I respond to my environment in an intuitive and semi-abstract way.
I like to work in mixed media as I find several materials offer a freedom to express the layers of time and landscape so easily sensed in this ancient land of Ireland.
Her natural landscape provides a rich source of inspiration and elements of it’s mystical mists, rolling hills, soft mountain ranges, native wildflowers, flora and fauna, woodlands, rivers and indeed the gentle turning of the seasons regularly appear in my paintings.
We exist as part of nature and I like to go into a still space while working to connect with my art materials and elements of our natural world.
Skies often appear to merge into the land as horizons disappear giving a sense of our ephemeral movement through time and space.
The human figure occasionally makes an appearance, but only to describe our place within the natural world or our connection to each other.
There is a fusion of elements in nature which I attempt to connect with as I make art.
My work brings joy and meaning to my life if I can pass some of this to you through my art, it will indeed be a privilege.
HELEN FARRELL
