Interview-by Ismael Ramírez and Daniela Elizalde
1. Describe why you are drawn the format of jewelry for personal expression. What inspires your work?
Ever since Helen was little she had always had this feel of curiosity to make things. Her parents lived in a farmland society and they had always worked with all sorts of tools. The surroundings were full of forests and raw nature. She was surrounded by all these factors that just made her gather stuff and made her create objects with anything that she found. Helen describes that her inspiration is based on nature. She is also inclined to mass production work, instead of “one offs.”
2. Can you talk about the work in the museum exhibit?
This exhibition had been offered to Helen a year in advance before it. Helen states that the person who wanted her work didn’t re contact her until the exhibit was almost in her doorstep. She even thought that they had forgotten about the offer and never really worked on anything to show there. The pieces shown in El Paso Museum of Art are all new made pieces that were crafted specifically for that occasion. It was somewhat challenging to come up with this set of pieces because of the fact that she didn’t have much time left and that it was during the month of December when she started working on them. She confesses that pressure will always be on everyone’s lives since we, as artists, are always working on due dates.
3. Have you shown your work in this museum before or any other museums/galleries? Describe the experience.
Helen tells us that she has been to a few museums but that, mostly, she has showed her work in galleries. She describes how she doesn’t think exhibitions are her thing because her artwork is mostly for mass production. However, when she does put her work in exhibitions, she crafts pieces that are unique.
4. How does living in El Paso influence your work? What are the benefits or challenges?
Since her artwork is based on nature its not that she changed her way of thinking but she only adapted to the environment here. She considers herself a gatherer and explorer and here in the deserts she finds things to be more “easy” to spot. She states that since, for example, plants are less abundant it is easier to look at them in a more focused way. This is a complete contrast from the vast green lands of England.
5. Explain how it was like to be a student. How did your time at UTEP shape your professional life after school?
Helen gave us a brief explanation on how school was over at England. She explained that over there students are able to focus on their discipline/field of teaching during high school and that when they went into college that they only had to keep becoming better on what they had chosen. She called it a freer way of learning, as compared to here that we have to go to a “basics” program in order to be able to focus on our studies. However, she feels that this program is somewhat good since you are getting a more general knowledge of everything out there.
6. What was your most valuable experience/critique/project you had?
Helen said that unique experience was during professor Kim Bauer’s class. They were learning engraving and well they had to follow many steps during this processes in order to be successful. She confesses that she does not like process but that she is a freer crafter. She likes to create art from objects she finds or with less strict processes. Helen said that she did enjoy lithography better than engraving since she was able to experiment with more materials.
7. What was the first tool you bought after graduation? What advice do you have for students who want to continue a future in metals or the arts in general?
Helen told us that she had many tools since she had bought them during her career at UTEP but one that she remembers would be an acetylene tank. The most important advice she gave us was to keep our artwork creations active, to never stop creating stuff. That would give us more experience with all the techniques and we would master each skill better that way. If you are going for a teaching job, she said that students are very good to give us ideas as well. We teach them and they teach us kind of a thing.
8. How do you supplement funds in order to keep your studio running?
She confessed that her husband was the biggest funder in her artwork but that she also sells it in order to continue her business. After all she did say that mass production is best for profit.
9. How was your transition from England to El Paso
Helen talked to us about her life I a sense, she describes how she lived in a farmland society with green areas overflowing her surroundings. She lived in northern England. She says that she had always been a gatherer and an explorer and that with the help of her parents’ tools she liked to create all sorts of things. Helen tells us that she was offered a job over at England but that she rejected it in order to come to El Paso to further pursue her career. After a few years she met her husband, here in El Paso. Ironically, Helen’s husband was from England as well, from the south, however. They both found El Paso to be their thing; they had their first child and decided to settle here permanently. She also loves the desert’s weather as well. I could not believe my ears by the way, who likes this intense heat? *laughs*
10. Where you always an artist?
Helen confessed that she was a sports girl. She says that she always played with her father and that she was always the tough girl of the family. She did mostly Track. However, when she got to a point in school where she had to decide what she wanted to pursue, she chose art!
11. What do you enjoy crafting the most? (Jewlery)
Helen told us that her favorite piece of jewelry was the earrings. She says that she likes to show off all kinds of earrings unlike other accessories such as necklaces or bracelets.
“The inspiration for my work comes from the natural world. Observing the small details as much as the larger, more obvious structures, it is these small, intimate and delicate elements that I then translate into my jewelry pieces. As in nature, the smaller details make up the larger forms, something that I bring across in my work. Along with natural influences, my textile background is also quite evident, showing itself with the use of colours, shapes, patterns, textures and the repetitive nature of my work.”