Collaborations and Projects
A passion for collaborative and arts-based community work has led Helen to become involved in many different creative projects. This has included performing with St. Etienne at the Royal Festival Hall, being part of an installation at Chelsea College of Art and composing and recording the music for the short film series, Whispers In The Dark. UK projects conceived and run by Helen as both producer and violinist included the music/dance collaboration In The Loop and arts event REACT.
Helen's current work, The Looping Glass explores the use of live electronic looping in contemporary classical music. The first show 'Through the Looping Glass" commissioned composers from Australia and the UK to write new works for violin and loop station and premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival followed by a successful tour to Perth and Adelaide. The next installment, "Lost in the Looping Glass" also premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival just one year later and was followed by performances in Perth, Wellington (NZ) and the UK.
You can read more about The Looping Glass project here.
Helen's current work, The Looping Glass explores the use of live electronic looping in contemporary classical music. The first show 'Through the Looping Glass" commissioned composers from Australia and the UK to write new works for violin and loop station and premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival followed by a successful tour to Perth and Adelaide. The next installment, "Lost in the Looping Glass" also premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival just one year later and was followed by performances in Perth, Wellington (NZ) and the UK.
You can read more about The Looping Glass project here.
In The Loop
In her final year at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, Helen created and ran a music/dance collaboration entitled In the Loop. Working together with dancer Ellen Steinmuller and creative movement practitioner Alexandra Baybutt, the collaboration used Ysaye's Solo Violin Sonata No. 2 to create a performance which saw both Helen and Ellen using movement to express their interpretation of the music, at the same time as Helen performed the piece. In The Loop explored the music from both a musician's and a dancer's point of view and worked to combine them in one cohesive performance. With the help of Alexandra as an impartial observer and critic, In The Loop overcame many challenges, including how the two performers could move together to express the music, without disturbing the violin playing itself.
From the beginning, the project was as much about the process of creation and what the participants could learn from working together, as the performance itself. To better understand this process, In The Loop was filmed and made into a documentary. As well as capturing the artistic creation of the piece, the film also followed the intellectual and emotional side of the journey, through interviews with Helen, Ellen and Alexandra throughout the duration of the project.
Many thanks go to Ellen and Alexandra for making the project possible and to Adam McNicol for the making of the documentary. In The Loop subsequently won the Vivian Prindl Outreach Prize at Trinity Laban.
From the beginning, the project was as much about the process of creation and what the participants could learn from working together, as the performance itself. To better understand this process, In The Loop was filmed and made into a documentary. As well as capturing the artistic creation of the piece, the film also followed the intellectual and emotional side of the journey, through interviews with Helen, Ellen and Alexandra throughout the duration of the project.
Many thanks go to Ellen and Alexandra for making the project possible and to Adam McNicol for the making of the documentary. In The Loop subsequently won the Vivian Prindl Outreach Prize at Trinity Laban.
REACT
In 2009, Helen asked composer Marc Findon and producer Simon Baines to co-write a piece of music for her final recital exam at Trinity Laban. The outcome was Refraction, a piece of music for solo violin, pre-recorded violin and electronics. Looking for other ways to give Refraction a performance platform, she decided to run an arts event using the music as part of the event. Helen worked together with friend and colleague Sarah Telman to create REACT, a two day arts event at South East London's Tank Gallery in Ladywell. The ethos behind REACT was to inspire impulsive, artistic responses through collaboration, whilst bringing an innovative arts event to the local community.
REACT went on to bring together 9 artists (music, dance, poetry, audio-visual production, live mural art, textiles, acting, sculpture and film) and commissioned them each to create a piece of work inspired by their reaction to Refraction. Some artists were also asked to collaborate with each other to produce their piece of work. After months of preparation all the created works were exhibited and performed together at the gallery, which included a guest speaker, children's workshop and Q+A sessions. Refraction was performed by Helen amongst the art it had inspired and on the outside wall of the gallery, the live mural artist created a piece of work in reaction not only to the music but to the whole event.
REACT also inspired some impromptu storytelling on the street outside, long after the doors to the gallery were finally closed. Many thanks to all the artists involved as well as to Jason Brooks who created a short film of the event and Daisy Martin for all the photos (see below).
For an independent evaluation of the event, please contact Helen.
REACT went on to bring together 9 artists (music, dance, poetry, audio-visual production, live mural art, textiles, acting, sculpture and film) and commissioned them each to create a piece of work inspired by their reaction to Refraction. Some artists were also asked to collaborate with each other to produce their piece of work. After months of preparation all the created works were exhibited and performed together at the gallery, which included a guest speaker, children's workshop and Q+A sessions. Refraction was performed by Helen amongst the art it had inspired and on the outside wall of the gallery, the live mural artist created a piece of work in reaction not only to the music but to the whole event.
REACT also inspired some impromptu storytelling on the street outside, long after the doors to the gallery were finally closed. Many thanks to all the artists involved as well as to Jason Brooks who created a short film of the event and Daisy Martin for all the photos (see below).
For an independent evaluation of the event, please contact Helen.
REACT - Debut Event from Jason Brooks on Vimeo.
