Dartmoor-based artist Helen Melland makes paintings of other worlds – imaginative abstracted landscapes inhabited by birds, animals, plants, trees and assorted symbols. Transformation, archetypes and myth, the chaos and clarity of dreams, interconnections, memories and the collision of unknown realms are recurrent themes.

Helen creates ambiguous scenarios, suggestions or resonances with different psychological states in works brimming with visual energy that invite the viewer to speculate and daydream.

Exploring the coexistence of multiple dimensions, the artist contrasts flat space with intricate layers of paint textures and finely drawn line, using acrylic, watercolour and gouache, mainly on linen.

Helen gained an MA in Fine Art from Brighton University in 2002, following a BA (Hons) in Design and Art History at Manchester Metropolitan University and Buffalo State University, USA (1994), and a Foundation Course at Chelsea College of Art (2000).

Her work is regularly selected for the Royal West of England Academy Open Exhibition and the Dartmoor Open, most recently in 2017, and she participates widely in group and solo shows around the UK, including at The Bowie Gallery in Totnes. Her work is held in public collections such as the Women’s Art Collection at New Hall, Cambridge University, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, as well as in private collections all over the world.

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