Throughout these issues we have explored a plethora of landscapes and places via the lens of photography, painting, textiles, etc. Yet Helen Duffee here does something rather unique. By collaging a variety of images, maps and other pieces depicting numerous places, she is able to create a surreal landscape full of mythical creatures and habitats. Indeed, it is as if the viewer is looking at a place within a place.
Of course, to create her scenes, Helen will utilise more than just portrayals of certain locations. As we will discover, her collages are infused with a host of styles, artistic influences, quirky materials, paints and abstract stories. Helen’s artistic journey is one that is imbued with intriguing studies and exciting adventures, that have allowed her to gain a variety of perspectives as to how colour and materials can be used to present certain places. So, it may come as little surprise, therefore, that Helen’s fascination with geography and art began thousands of miles up in the air.‘
As the daughter of an airline pilot, I frequently found myself gazing from a window seat, from some considerable height, down upon the earth. I was fascinated by the way that scale allowed rivers and their tributaries to appear like veins in a leaf, or how agricultural land looked like a patchwork quilt. This aerial view became my idea of a true landscape and was where my love of maps began. I sought them out in second hand shops, finding the old Bartholomew linen maps very beautiful’ Helen says. ‘Like many girls, I adored horses, and not having one to call my own for some years to come, brought them to life by drawing them, over and over and over again. Sometimes in wet sand on the beach, sometimes with a stick on a patch of mud, often with pencil or multi- coloured biro on paper. Though unfortunately, as a bright pupil at Grammar School, I was encouraged to concentrate on academic subjects instead of art’ she adds. ‘I later corrected this by dropping out, leaving home, and studying art as far away as possible in Scotland, where my love of the land became even stronger. HereI received a good foundation in drawing and painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and explored voraciously the art galleries of Edinburgh and Glasgow’. Helen tells me.
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