London show for Chichester sculptress and former international fashion model

The collaborative exhibition, entitled Art Angles, will feature around eight of Helen’s steel pieces alongside Deirdre’s award-winning Angles collection of luxury, bespoke hand-knotted rugs. Reflecting this year’s Autumn Design Trail theme of Art, Artists and Artisans, Deirdre’s collaboration with Helen, a fine art graduate and sculptress, will celebrate their mutual love of modern art. With her high fashion background, Helen shares a unique and contemporary design aesthetic with carpet designer and artist Deirdre, and the juxtaposition of soft wool and sheet metal is sure to create a dramatic display, Helen says.

As Deirdre exudes her artistic flair through her colourful designs for the most stylish of interiors, Helen – as she says – transforms sheet metal into flowing curves and angular forms to achieve visually impressive effects outdoors and in large-scale spaces. Often using a burnishing technique to give her metal surfaces water-like reflective qualities, she aims to create a “real sense of movement with her materials, cutting, welding and folding to make beautiful and lasting shapes.” Her design process begins with a paper maquette which she then scales up to create her impressive three-dimensional sculptures.

Helen said: “Stainless steel is not the easiest material; it can sometimes take sheer blood, sweat and tears to manipulate it into the angles and shapes of my pieces! While it may look light, it’s a very heavy metal - it creates a real illusion of movement.”

Deirdre added: “I am delighted to host and showcase Helen’s striking hand-made sculptures for our unique pop-up exhibition. The curated display of angular steel artwork alongside my linear Angles carpet designs will delight interior and exterior design enthusiasts alike, a must-see destination of this year’s Autumn Design Trail.

Helen (www.helensolly.com) gained a first-class fine art with sculpture degree from Chichester University and takes her inspiration from nature in West Sussex. Her hand-made sculptures have been shown at numerous UK exhibitions, including Fresh Air Sculpture, a biennial exhibition of traditional, modern and cutting-edge sculpture, Art for Cure, Suffolk and Henley Festival, Oxfordshire. Helen was shortlisted for the Lady Petchey Sculpture Prize 2021, the sculpture element of the Holly Bush painting prize. Helen currently has a large-scale exhibit on display at The Minerva Theatre, Chichester called Murmuration which was inspired by a beautiful starling murmuration that she saw from Brighton Pier and is created from sheet aluminium.

Prior to becoming a sculptor, Helen was an international fashion model, working for top design houses such as Christian Dior, John Galliano and Nicole Farhi and many British designers including Jenny Packham, Betty Jackson and Paul Costelloe.