Guest blog post by Ann Symes
Helen Terry is an artist whose work revolves around mark-making on cloth, using dye and stitch. Her latest body of work, A Marginal Space, is concerned with themes of ambiguity and 'in between’ spaces. Helen is inspired by the ever-changing landscape of marshes, estuaries and shorelines where land and water are constantly engaged in an on-going, interactive process of movement and change. In these zones nothing is fixed, and it’s precisely this fluidity that she aims to capture in her new body of mixed-media artworks.
This natural process depicted in Helen’s practice is itself reflected in her silkscreen techniques, allowing each of the dyes used to flow freely along its surface and to dissolve into its newfound terrain. Glancing from one print to the next, the details in a previous piece might be lost in the subsequent one, but inevitably new and tactile elements emerge with each consecutive work. While, as a viewer, you can trace similarities between each of her pieces, each print holds its own ground as an individual, expansive work of art.
As a maker, Helen values her process greatly. Each work takes a great amount of time to emerge and evolve. She takes her time getting to know her subject; going through a process of researching, photographing, drawing, mark-making and sketching before finally translating her findings into her recognisably polished textile pieces. Her latest collection of works will form a part of the exhibition Gaze, Glimpse – A Look At Landscape at Gallery 57 in West Sussex, and cements her position as one of England’s most promising mixed-media artists.
Gaze, Glimpse – A Look At Landscape, 24 June – 6 August 2017
Gallery 57, 57 Tarrant Street, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 9DJ