Hi. I’m Barbara Hellowell and I am a Resident Artist at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.
I entered the competition for the Scott Creative Arts Foundation (SCAF) Emerging Artist Award 2022 and have been chosen as one of the four finalists. The winner will be announced and the award presented on the 7th August at the SCAF Summer Arts Day which will be open to the public, local businesses, Arts organisations and past winners of the award. SCAF have recently relocated to a gallery in Thirsk, where you can see the finalist’s exhibition from 7 August. The award is open to all Artists living and working in Yorkshire. I was also a finalist in 2021.
The theme for this year’s award is Synergy and my entry focuses on the synergistic relationship between probiotics and prebiotics in the human microbiome and their reliance on each other to promote a healthy gut by removing ‘bad’ bacteria. The work is created with sections of different coloured wires formed into a tube almost 6 metres long, twisting and looping and creating the intertwining intestines.
Art comes naturally to me. I have always lived in the Huddersfield area with its traditional engineering and textile industries as part of my family background. Those skills and my creativity and love of sculpture are present in my genes.
I’ve had a lifelong interest in Art and while bringing up three children attended various Art classes. I finally realised after taking an access course at Huddersfield Art and Design College in 2003 that now with family grown up, I had the opportunity to be known as an Artist.
The access course which included Art History, Painting, Drawing, Printing, Sculpture and Ceramics gave me a rounded knowledge of the different Art mediums and grew my knowledge enough to take a foundation course the following year. Much to my surprise and delight, a year later I found myself enjoying a Contemporary Art Practice degree at Leeds University. I qualified in July 2007 with a BA(Hons) 1st class degree.
While at University I had my first exhibition. In the Mine Bar at the University. It was an unofficial collaboration with the other students. This led to a further exhibition of 3D sculptures at the Mansion House, Bretton Hall. Working towards the exhibition called ‘Individualism’ and discussing with the other Artists the best placing for our work made me realise I had the ability to show pieces of work in a way that takes the eye and shows the piece to its best advantage.
By now Sculpture had become the Art medium for me. My final exhibition at the University was all sculpture based on the presence left behind when people are no longer there. Obtaining a first gave me the confidence to move on with my chosen medium.
After leaving University my focus was on continuing and developing my Art. I exhibited at Mount Pleasant Gardens in Cheshire then worked for the local authority running Art workshops in schools to infant and junior children. I also attended ‘Cast Iron Sculpture Workshops’ a week long course using traditional casting techniques at the Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculptures.
I worked during this period mainly from home and sometimes on site. I ran an ‘Art in the Woods’ project for the local junior school but then got the chance of studio space at the Lawrence Batley Theatre as ‘Artist in Residence’. Initially for 6 months, I am still here 14 years later. The Lawrence Batley Theatre has provided an outlet for my work and an opportunity to develop as a person and as an Artist.
The 6 wire faces above the main entrance to the foyer, denoting the different emotions present in theatre are examples of my work. My latest work, permanently sited in the theatre foyer, is a wire sculpture of a tree with the branches having leaves on which are engraved the names of recent donors to the theatre.
Visit the Scott Creative Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award 2022 Exhibition from 7 August in Thirsk.