Helen Snell
The focus of my work is the relationship between hand making and digital making, craft and fine art, the unique and the mass produced. I am fascinated by the concept of the imperfect edition and in the production of the repeatable physical artefact. My work explores how extensively the digital file can be downloaded to be manufactured through an ever expanding range of outputs and processes. By exploring the concept of the multiple and issues of authorship, I hope to reflect on the intrinsic value of the material and edition size as markers of a political agenda.
I use the form of multiple in my practice as a means to explore relationships between the group and the individual, the public and the private, and to reflect on diverse and sometimes competing narratives.
l joined Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in June 2022 as artist in residence, working on a range of arts activities to explore and critically engage with the wellbeing of staff.
The Channel 4 news feature by Victoria Macdonald about the residency works here. https://www.channel4.com/news/the-covid-canvas-an-artists-view-behind-the-scenes-in-the-nhs
Work in Public Collections
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (Torbay Hospital Historic Boardroom), The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyards, Fleet Air Arm Museum, Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower, The National Centre for Craft and Design, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Hartlepool Museum, The University of Exeter, The Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby.
Qualifications and training
1995 - Illustration, Royal College of Art, London
1995 - MA Fine Art Printmaking, Camberwell College of Arts, London
1986 - BA (Hons) French and Fine Art , Exeter University
1985 - Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, France
Competitions, prizes and awards
2022 - 2024 NHS Charities Together- Arts in recovery Funding for a two year residency with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
2020 Arts Council England: Emergency Response Fund
2019 Normanby Charitable Trust. Grant for the making of a site specific work for The Orientation Room, The Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby
2018 - 2020 Grants for the Arts award, National Lottery through Arts Council England, UK. For research and development of Neogeographies, a collaboration and touring exhibition, working with The Box Plymouth, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen and The Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
2015 Selected for Made@EU international Fablab project launched by Plymouth College of Art
2014 Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Award
2014 Quenington Sculpture Foundation bursary
2012 - 2013 Grants for the Arts award for research and development of new work, National Lottery through Arts Council England, UK
2010 Exeter Arts Council Grant for installation for The Joy Collective tour, Exeter,CCANW.
The Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Award for laser cutting, Plymouth College of Art
2007 Awards for All grant to fund costume and set design for The Winter's Tale, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon.
2007 Prize Winner Cheltenham Illustration Awards, Pittville Studios, University of Gloucester,
2006 Arts Council Grant, Art Farm Project, Devon
2003 FUSE bursary from Compassion in World Farming and Littoral Arts to produce work in response to the ethics of biotechnology
2002 Exeter Arts Council grant to finance residency and installation at the Phoenix Gallery ‘I don’t want to go to school.’
Residencies
2022- 2025 Artist in residence, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, funded by NHS Charities Together, producing both reflexive and collaborative work to support and repond to issues of staff well being and burn out.
2020 - 2022 Artist in residence with the Dept. of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology at University of Exeter, working with a national team on a UKRI Covid-19 rapid response project, funded by the ESRC to explore identity, inequality and the media in Brexit-covid-19-Britain.
2018 Muir is Tir. Land and sea residency with Sail Britain and An Lanntair. Outer Hebrides
2016 - 2018 Art Machina & Museum Machina digital arts residency with Devon Arts in Schools Initiative, RAMM Exeter and The Box, Plymouth
2017 The Observatory Residency, Bucklers Hard, New Forest National Park
2013 - 2017 The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. Inaugural artist in residence
2009 - 2010 AA2A residency in laser cutting, Plymouth College of Art and Design
Public commissions
2020 ‘Everything has changed. Nothing has changed. Change is coming.’ The Arts Institute Plymouth Visual Art Commission – Covid-19, for a collaboration with Monica-Shanta exploring the legacies of historical colonialism.
2016 RED WHITE and BLUE multi site laser cut installations on board HMS Trincomalee, in Hartlepool Art Gallery and Museum, and at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool.
2015 ‘Gather-ing,’ Contemporary craft commission for the Priory, Stoke Sub Hamdon, Somerset. Initiated by Somerset Art Works, and the National Trust. Curated by Craftspace.
2012 NEOREPLICANTS, Exeter Phoenix Digital Art 3D print commission and exhibition working in partnership with the Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing, Department of Engineering. Exeter University.
2012 'The Joy of Making', commission for installation of 50 laser cut paper vessels, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2011 NEW, FOUND TREASURES Commission for a series of laser cut paper vessels for the collection, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyards
2009 LIQUID LANDSCAPES: Collaboration with U.S. choreographer Stephan Koplowitz, Dartington Arts commission for 300 paper vessels, site specific performance at Mayflower Steps, Plymouth
2007 Commissioned to design a series of film trophies for Two Short Nights film festival awards, Exeter Phoenix Projects
2005 FIVE MAGAZINE curated by Gavin Turk, Published by Portfolio Five, Exeter
Solo exhibitions
2024 RED AMBER GREEN BRITAIN Queens Building, Streatham Campus, Exeter University
2021 TRACKED and TRACED, Science Gallery Detroit. Interactive app designed in collaboration with Dr Laszlo Horvath.
2019 - 2020 NEOGEOGRAPHIES a national touring exhibition. The Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby Museum, The Museum of Whitby Jet and The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, funded by National Lottery through Arts Council England , supported by The Box Plymouth
2016- 2017 A LONG SHADOW National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyards
2013 - 2015 BURNT OUT, national touring solo exhibition - Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey, 20- 21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, Chapel Gallery Ormskirk, Shire Hall Gallery Stafford, Hartlepool Art Gallery, funded by National Lottery, through Arts Council England.
2014 A SHORT FUZE Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower, Gosport, a series of site specific sculptural and wall based installations
2012 THE JOY OF MAKING installation of 50 laser cut paper vessels, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2008 A Strange Harvest, Installation and 3D print works, Edinburgh Printmakers (Galleries 2 & 3)
2007 The Winter's Tale Set and costume Design, Dartington Hall, Coleton Fishacre
2007 The Animals Went in Two by Two, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
2006 The Animals went in Two by Two, Fold Gallery, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria
2002 I don't want to go to school. Installation and residency, Exeter Phoenix
1997 The Same but Different. 3D printed constructions, London Print Workshop
Selected group exhibitions
2018
Muir is Tìr – Sailing Residency Exhibition – ‘Land and Sea. ’ An Lanntair Arts Centre, Stornoway, Outer Hebrides
2017
‘Gather-ing' Somerset Rural Life Museum, Abbey Barn, Glastonbury. Initiated by Somerset Art Works, and the National Trust. Curated by Craftspace.
Inside the Sick Bag: Curious Collections, works by Helen Snell, Nick Cave and Lydia Leith. K6 Gallery Southampton
2016
Craft Emergency. Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2015
Ffolio. Llantarnam Grange
Paper. Salisbury Arts Centre
Fresh Air Sculpture 2015. Quenington Old Rectory.
From Cowboys to Astronauts – towards a circular economy, Exeter University
2014
Craft and Conflict, Bilston Craft Gallery, Wolverhampton
The Art of Remembering, Rheged Centre, Penrith.
Oriel Davies Open 2014 Newtown, Powys.
Materials Matter. Devon Guild of Craftsmen
2013
Growing: Celebrating our past, exploring our future, National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford. Leading figures in the sphere of contemporary craft and design, artists, curators, writers and influencers were invited to nominate work by emerging and established artists who will be the innovators of the future.
Hand-made Future, Blank Media Collective, Manchester.
intoLACE. Thelma Hulbert Gallery and Devon Guild of Craftsmen
The Journey: Exploring the Nature of Mending. Wallford Mill Crafts
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
2012
ALLOTMENT curated by TROVE, mac Birmingham
Feeling the Pressure, Rhyl Library, Museum & Arts Centre
National Sculpture Prize Finalist, Broomhill Art and Sculpture Foundation, Barnstaple
Axis Artist of the Month (December)
2011
LOVELACE International Lace Awards, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Finalist.
10 X 10, 20 -21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
EVOLVER Prize 2011, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton
Illustrious, The Point, Eastleigh
New Territories, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey
'Paper', Craft House Concept, Edinburgh
Up Close, Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey
2010
TACO Torre Abbey Contemporary Open, Torquay
2009
CLOSURE, artworks-MK, Milton Keynes
Gallery Artists, EDGAR MODERN, Bath
Multiples Cabinet, MONSTER TRUCK Gallery, Dublin
PLACE IDENTITY MEMORY, Stranraer Museum, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
TACO - Torre Abbey Contemporary Open, Torre Abbey Historic House, Torquay
2008
Blank Canvas, Torre Abbey, Torquay
Cheltenham Illustration Awards, Pittville Studios, University of Gloucester
2007
'As if one wasn't enough', 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
2006
Pinstripes and Pistons, 20 -21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
The Art Farm Project, Rocombe farm, Devon
2005
Boxing Clever. International portfolio of paper engineering, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
IMPACT 4 International Printmaking Conference, Muzeum Narodowe w Pozaniu, Pozan, Poland
Pulp Fantasy. An exhibition of paper art, 20-21 Visual Arts centre, Scunthorpe
snowcase#5 an installation of artists' multiples curated by Steve Messam, Fold Gallery, Cumbria
2002
FUSE. An exhibition of art inspired by biotechnology, ICA, The Mall, London
1999
National Print Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
Site specific
2011 EMBARK: Ferry Art, King Harry Ferry, Truro
2010 Meleager's Garland. Site specific installation curated by Anneka French, Sir Joseph Bank's Conservatory, Lincoln
JOY COLLECTIVE, Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Exeter
2007 Le Jour le Plus Bon, La caserne des 26000 , 17 rue du 26eme Dragons, Dijon
Talks/lectures
2023 Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences , Exeter University seminar. ‘Extraordinary moments of coronavirus crisis and Brexit seen through the lens of new interactive art’
2022 British Science Festival, Exeter Phoenix
2019 The Plymouth Athenaeum New Perspectives on the Voyages of Captain Cook
2018 University of Bristol The Body of the Combatant in the Classical World colloquium supported by The Institute for Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition, University of Bristol.
2017 DAISI/Juneau Projects: ART MACHINA professional development , Exeter
2014 National Museum of Wales, Cardiff : Behind the Scenes of the Museum: Artists in Collections, Axis Symposium supported by Arts Council Wales
2013 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal : Museum, Artists and Collections, hosted by Museum Development North West and Axis Web
Other
2015- 2017 Trustee, Devon Guild of Craftsmen
2013 Elected member , Devon Guild of Craftsmen
2012 Elle Decoration Hot List, Elle Decoration April 2012
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