
DRAWN THREADS
HELEN FRENCH
16 Aug to 7 Sep 2019

Textiles generally commence as a thread: raw or subtly refined. From minimal to intricate, this ancestral material relies on texture, sheen and colour to invite exploration into an aesthetic that is contemporary yet anchored in historically evolving traditions.
Helen French uses thread as a drawing tool, rather than traditional pen or pencil She captures the physicality of thread to draw her abstract compositions by using a simple reel of silk, cotton or polyester thread. Her design experience of expanding the original use of one material to create another, led her to invent a process for producing these contemporary works.
She claims the objective in all her work is to ‘create not to copy’ and finds inspiration from objects in her daily life. These works vary in colour and generate images from delicate lines that could suggest pubic hair to multiple layers painstakingly worked by the artist to suggest tapestry.