H E L E N - I R E L A N D

1961
born UK
1977-79
Scarborough College of Art - Foundation
1982-85
Central School of Art - BA Fine Art Painting
1986
Chelsea School of Art - MA Fine Art Painting

Collections

British Airways; British Land; Forte; Arthur Andersen; The University of Cambridge; The Warwick Arts Trust; UNESCO

"...Helen Ireland has visited the V&A for many years, especially when she was a student. In the past she has made drawing from the wrought iron and filigree collection and Indian miniatures. She has also had an abiding fascination with the organic designs of William Morris, who claimed that Nature is an obvious source of inspiration, not to be copied literally, but to be imitated and has become particularly interested in the underlying geometric grid that appears to underpin his work.

In recent years she has concentrated on a series of drawings, which explore the repetition, structure and division of images. Her work is not representational but inspired by real things, from the organic structure of plants, landscapes and seascapes, through to what is man-made. A series of bird tracks become a form of subtle calligraphy, while seed heads of Honesty, drawn in pencil and gouache, expose the natural engineering of the plant. By using Japanese paper, which she cuts and then overlaps, different focal points and depths are created. These modest quiet works echo something of the stillness of Agnes Martin's poetic grids.

In her later work she has introduced sandblasted glass and used images of oak leaves from a number of diverse sources such as Kew Gardens and William Morris designs as well as leaves affected by the Chernobyl nuclear explosion..."

Extract from a text by Sue Hubbard written for
Spin exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2001

Morvah Grass 1999 (detail) mixed media