HELEN PHILIPP
Artist in Residence at Shakespeare Grove Artist Studios, St Kilda.
MY WORK
helen philipp
‘Stitch by stitch, circle by circle, weaving is like the creation of life, all things are connected”. Auntie Ellen Trevorrow, 2003
Working with materials including dyed Madagascan raffia, paper twine, wire and found objects Philipp's early works draw inspiration from the vibrant colours and circular forms of sea- creatures, using enlarged photographs of plankton as a reference for creating sculptural forms. Underpinning this is her exploration of the relationship between form, materiality, and colour in the discipline of her weaving.
SOLO EXHIBITION
"14 PIECES"
Carlisle Street Art Space
May 12-June 9 2021
For some years I had been weaving sculptural works based on the circular forms of sea creatures, particularly photographic enlargements of Plankton such as Jellyfish, Squid and Tintinnids. The challenge became, to respond through my work to the disturbing CSIRO findings about the damage waste plastic does to marine life.
I began to collect plastic on the St Kilda foreshore, where I walk my dog: straws, soya sauce containers and bottle tops, which were all in abundance, thrown away by those who visit the beach or washed into our bay through storm water.
The materiality of the plastics began to fascinate me as did the challenge of incorporating them into my woven forms. I tried to use their shapes and colours in ways that enhanced and furthered the aesthetic, whilst employing different ways to incorporate the plastics which would provoke thought about the way they permeate and damage marine
INSITU 'LEFTOVER- LOVE' AUSTRALIAN TAPESTRY WORKSHOP 2022
'Entangled' (Jellyfish) by Helen Philipp, Sculptural steel works by Carolyn Menzies,
PLASTIC FILLED CEPHALOPOD
2020
I find new ways of using the plastic; here the plastic filled squid symbolises the mass ingestion of plastic by marine life.
Cephalopods include squid, octopus, nautilus and cuttlefish. Cephalopods are famous for their eyes, which are large, and in some species, as complex as the human eye. This fact is celebrated visually by the addition of vintage buttons.
If you look closely, you will observe that these creatures have literally become engorged with plastic.
ENGORGED 2
2020
West End Art Space
solo exhibition 2022
ANEMONE BOWL
2021
RAY BOWL
2021
ANEMONE BOWL 3
2021
GREEN AND ORANGE TINTINNIDS
2020
LEFTOVER LOVE:NEW DIRECTION
Pinnacles, Townsville Regional Gallery April- June 2020
"AFTER BURN" & GALLERY 2023
“After Burn” is a series of works about regeneration, which respond to the destruction, loss and chaos that has characterized the past few years; pandemic, war, fire, flood and my own broken bones (the result of a collision with a dog on the beach). Both in the natural world and in our own lived experience, turmoil and loss are devastating. Yet, if endured, they can be the source of remarkable change and regeneration. Just before the onset of Covid, I stumbled upon a forest of Australian native Xanthorrehoea at the Victorian-South Australian border. They were in full flower and stretched as far as the eye could see. The image of these grass trees, which flower in response to extreme stress (often fire) became a metaphor for exploring the possibility of new growth and transformation in the wake of trauma. The act of weaving these forms has been an integral part of creating my own order in times when order was elusive.
AFTERMATH (2023)
UNSCATHED(2023)
REGENERATION 3 (2023)
AFTER BURN 4 (2022)
REGENERATION 5 (2023)
CV
May 13-19 2019
SOLO SHOW - ‘BENEATH THE SURFACE’,
YARRA SCULPTURE GALLERY.
February 2020
GROUP SHOW ‘DOING IT DIFFERENTLY’ GEELONG ART SPACE.
May 12-June 9, 2021
SOLO SHOW “14 PIECES” CARLISLE STREET ART SPACE, PORT PHILLIP COUNCIL, ST KILDA TOWN HALL.
December 17,2021- March 11, 2022
GROUP SHOW – ‘LEFT OVER LOVE’. AUSTRALIAN TAPESTRY WORKSHOP
Feb10- March10 2022
FINALIST YAVA ‘INTERIORS’ SMALL SCULPTURE EXHIBITION
Feb 27-April 2022
FINALIST YERING STATION SCULPTURE EXHIBITION AND AWARDS
August 19-September 18 2022
‘RE/ORDER’ -GROUP SHOW DIVISIONS GALLERY MELBOURNE.
September7-24 2022-
‘SEA THINGS’, SOLO EXHIBITION WEST END ART SPACE.
September 16 -October 21 2022-
FINALIST DEAKIN SMALL SCULPTURE PRIZE- DEAKIN UNIVERSITY GALLERY
March 24-June 18 2023
LEFTOVER LOVE: NEW DIRECTIONS, GROUP SHOW OF 8 ARTISTS TO OPEN TOWNSVILLE REGIONAL, PINNACLES GALLERY
August 2023
FINALIST WYNDHAM SMALL SCULPTURE PRIZE
December 2023
FINALIST YERING STATION SCULPTURE PRIZE
August 2023
AFTER BURN, SOLO EXHIBITION, & GALLERY, SORRENTO, DEC 27 2023- JAN 21 2024.
