Helen Feiler British, b. 1952

Works
Overview

Born in 1952, Helen went to school in Bristol where her father was Head of Painting at Bristol Art School, and spent her early childhood holidays at the family home in Kerris, near Newlyn. Helen immersed in art from birth, shared her family and home with some of the UK’s best-known artists, including William Scott and Delia Heron, who were her Godparents.

 

“I am making this jewellery for people who come along and collect it like talismans,” says Helen.

Biography

In 1969 Helen went to Falmouth School of art where she completed a foundation course, before taking a degree course at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design in Cheltenham. She also studied at Goldsmiths College, London, where she received an art-teaching certificate and did a lot of printmaking. During this period, Helen had a studio above Penwith Galleries, St. Ives, using her skills as a printmaker to create unique wallpapers and limited edition silkscreen prints. She regularly exhibited paintings at the Newlyn Gallery and Penwith Gallery, as well as galleries in London, Germany and Bristol.

She opened her own gallery – the Helen Feiler Gallery - in the heart of the fishing port of Newlyn, in 1998, which is where she also lives. During three busy decades, she somehow found the time and energy to exhibit extensively, enjoying solo and mixed shows of her paintings and jewellery in Britain, Germany and the U.S.A.

In the past few years, Helen has been spending time on the island of Lamu off the cost of Kenya where she has a studio in the Diamond Beach Village that her daughter Rachael runs.

Helen has presented as part of the spring 2007 season at the Tate St Ives a show of jewellery that made history, as this is the first time the Tate, whether in London, Liverpool or St. Ives has mounted an exhibition of jewellery. She has also produced a series of six different designs that have been on sale in the gallery’s shop. 

Exhibitions