Artist talk draws visitors into ALC Library

Each August, people around SA celebrate visual art in South Australia’s Living Artists Festival (SALA). This year ALC Library is a venue hosting artwork by Helen Sherriff. In conjunction with her exhibition, Helen gave a talk to a group of avid art enthusiasts in the Library on 7 August, during which she shared her creative inspiration behind each of her pieces.

Featuring works spanning her career of over 50 years, the exhibition highlights the reflection on Helen’s faith that is evident in all her work. The main body of the works is divided into two sections: the first is predominantly portraiture, referring to biblical texts; the second section is all about a relationship to nature.

During her talk, Helen shared the story behind each of her works, as well as her art practice. Her career began in commercial art, followed by art teaching, community artwork, murals, solos and group exhibitions. Already well established in her practice, Helen graduated with Honours in Visual Art from the University of South Australia in 2013. She has continued to learn and grow her practice, taking courses at Adelaide Central School of Art as well.

The exhibition at ALC Library showcases Helen’s fondness for repurposing old, often discarded, objects and giving them new meaning. Among the various objects on display can be found a serving dish, a floorboard, an old hymn board, and a dolls head.  Helen painted the serving dish, now titled Here Below, with a person holding up their arms to the night sky and says of this work: “As this dish was held up so many times to present food, the arms holding it up can also be seen as arms held up in praise to God, the Creator of all.”

In her talk Helen spent some time explaining how to read the work My Landscape, a patchwork map of the landscape of her childhood home made from fabric pieces, each with their own significance. Family members feature in several works also, and it was wonderful to have three generations of Helen’s family join the audience.

Helen’s work will be on display at ALC Library throughout August. For details on opening hours and how to find the Library visit - Library | Australian Lutheran College.