Helen Rich – featured artist
I first became aware of Helen’s work a few years ago when I began dabbling with papier mache and was just beginning to see the possibilities it offered beyond what we traditionally think of when we hear about this much under-rated material. I had tried my hand at making a mask with mache and Helen (a mask maker) happened to comment, something that led me to view her DeviantArt gallery.
Helen seems to have become a mask maker of some repute, something that is certainly confirmed from what she has featured online, these masks are created most usually from papier mache or leather. In honesty it’s the papier mache work that interests me most given my own experiments with that particular medium, and her talent here can be seen in these two designs:
Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh.
Gilded Pleasure
On the latter mask, above, Helen says this:
I’m not sure what it says about my maskwork, but whenever I try to create something pretty, it usually ends up looking sinister.
Something which I admit made me laugh! Indeed not all of Helen’s masks are sinister, or even black for that matter. From what I’ve seen though it’s when Helen is working with leather that a form of organic beauty comes to the fore and it’s in working with leather where her skill for mask making is most apparent.
Social Butterfly
If this, and it’s counterparts, don’t fall into the ‘pretty’ camp then I don’t know what does. Helen herself sees much more of the gothic in these than I believe there is, yet as she created them I guess we should cow down to her opinion on the matter, either way these are fab … to see more like these follow the links at the end of the article.
Steampunk inspired mask
Steampunk is something of an artistic movement that has gathered pace in recent years and has now pervaded almost every genre you might think of from it’s early literary origins and it’s something I’m a bit of a fan of myself, perhaps that’s why I’m a fan of this piece. Yet it’s the little details that really set this mask apart with the attention to detail around the edges and the textured finish given to the mask. Subtle, but it works so well.
I’m not quite sure if this counts as a royal endorsement but Prince Charles, below, certainly seemed to take a shine to her popular ‘welsh dragon’ mask!
Come on Charlie, put it on ... you know you want to!
Not content with mixing with the royals Helen has also been commissioned to do make masks for the theatre and this music video for Ebony Tower and their White Rabbit track:
Something a bit different, but check out that mask!
Whether you’re a fan of masks or just seeing great pieces of work created by a true artisan then I strongly suggest you visit either Helen’s deviantart account, or better yet, check out her website (where you can also make purchases if you’r eso inclined).
Tags: art, craft, featured artist, handmade, Helen Rich, mache, mash, mask, paper, papier
art, featured artist, head, papier mache | Alasdair | 
4 December, 2009 6:36 pm
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By Helen Rich, 6 December, 2009 @ 1:34 pm
Wow! you’ve made me sound like some kind of mask-making goddess! Thank you so very much for the lovely feature. Very best wishes, Helen.xx
By Alasdair, 7 December, 2009 @ 9:42 am
You’re welcome :)