We’re delighted to be showcasing your artwork on The Wall; please can you tell us more about you and your artistic practice?
I’m fascinated with uncultivated plants and organisms that grow in our day-to-day surroundings. I make paintings and drawings that focus on these unplanned, often overlooked, microhabitats.
Tell us more about your inspiration for 'George Street to Mulberry Way’?
On my daily walks from home to my studio at The Art House, I often stop to photograph, sketch, or make notes of wild plants that I see growing on path edges, in corners of car parks, and development sites. These ‘noticings’, as I describe them, are the starting points for the paintings that I make in the studio.
I often use street names in the titles of my paintings, and I wanted to do something similar with the exhibition title. Most of the prints in the exhibition are compositions from paintings of plants that I have observed growing in or near Wakefield city centre. 'George Street to Mulberry Way’ gives a suggestion of this area; the title might also act as an invitation to take a short walk ‘noticing’ walk in that quarter of town. There’s also one image in the exhibition from a bit further afield; an amazing bright lichen that I saw growing on the heathland at Walton Colliery Nature Park.
What was your artistic process for creating 'George Street to Mulberry Way’?
It wasn’t practical to show my original paintings at WX; however, this suggested an exciting opportunity to produce a series of giclée prints.
I chose to select compositions from my paintings for these prints. As I paint on a range of sizes and formats, some of the original paintings are much bigger than the prints in the exhibition, whilst other paintings are smaller than the prints. The exhibition allows the visitor to view a number of images to be viewed at the same size.
What other projects have you got coming up that audiences should look out for?
I’m busy in the studio making new paintings based on Wakefield’s urban wild plants, including one of a straggly Ragwort growing in the service yard behind WX. I’m having a lot of fun painting the interlacing, raggedy leaves and stems against the concrete.
I’m taking part in Open Studios at The Art House on Saturday 7 November. I’m looking forward to welcoming visitors to my studio. It’s a great event, a chance to peek behind the scenes in creative workspaces and to chat about what creatives do, how they do it, and why!
Looking ahead, I’m taking part in a group show at Dean Clough, in early 2027.
I’ll be at WX for a 'meet the artist’ event to coincide with Artwalk from 5-8pm on Wednesday 30 September. Come say hello! (Please check date, time, details!)
What do you love about Wakefield?
There are so many green spaces close to the city and across the Wakefield district. I had a brilliant day out adventuring on my bike yesterday along miles of cycle paths on old railway lines and alongside canals.
We’re very lucky to have wonderful cultural venues and spaces including The Hepworth and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with a special mention to The Art House. In addition to being my creative workspace, The Art House is also a place to connect, to see great exhibitions, to learn, or to take time out and relax in the coffee shop. Overlapping networks of creatives, organisations, and individuals work hard, often behind the scenes, to support the arts, culture, communities, and green spaces.
Where can people find out more about your work?
Website: https://www.helenthomasartist.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenthomasartist/