Helen Farrell was born in Luton, England in 1961 and now lives in Cork, Ireland. Her work explores figuration and abstraction, both human and animal, using a multi-media process that encompasses drawing, painting and print.
She is a graduate of MTU Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD) where she studied painting and film in 1987, and she completed an MA in Comparative Aesthetics in University College Cork (UCC) in 2010. She was awarded an Irish Research Council Scholarship in 2012 for her PhD research which was completed in 2016. Her work has been exhibited widely and is held in private and public collections nationally and internationally including The Arts Council of Ireland, The OPW, University College Cork, University College Dublin and the Crawford Art Gallery Cork. She is a founding director of Cork Film Centre, a former member of Cork Artists Collective, a current member of Backwater Artists Network, and a part-time lecturer in Fine Art at MTU CCAD where she co-founded Drawbridge the drawing research hub.
Solo Exhibitions:
2021 Fetter - Studio 12 Project Space, Backwater Artist’s Studios, Cork
2017 Foil - GOMA, Waterford, Ireland.
The Paul Kane Gallery, Dublin:
2008 – Drawings,
2006 – New Work,
2000 – Flench
1999 - New Work
1999 - Grounded, The Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
1997 - Boxers, The Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2023 - A line Around an Idea: ways of knowing through contemporary drawing practices. Glucksman Gallery, UCC Cork.
Curated by Fiona Kearney and Chris Clarke.
2022 – Menagerie Crawford Art Gallery Cork, curated by Michael Waldron.
2018 – IMPACT 10 International Printmaking Exhibition and Conference in Santander, Spain
2017 – Assemblage Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork.
2009 – Then and Now: Evolving Art Practice. The Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork.
– From Ballinglen to Cork, The Lavitt Gallery, Cork
2007 – Summer Show. The Paul Kane Gallery. Dublin.
2005 – Éigse Open Submission Exhibition, selected by Tim Goulding, Carlow.
2003 – Cork Printmakers Touring Exhibition, selected by John Shinnors.
– Images from North Mayo, The Ballinglen Art’s Foundations’ Courthouse Gallery, Ballycastle.
2002 – Men Kaleidoscope Gallery, London.
2000 – Black and White The Paul Kane Gallery. Dublin.
1999 – The Stations site specific work for St. Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork.
Awards:
2012-2014 Irish Research Council Scholarship
2013 CACSSS UCC Research Postgraduate Travel Grant, Paris.
2002 The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Fellowship, Ballycastle, Co Mayo.
1999 , 1998 1996 1991 - Irish Arts Council Awards
Public Collections:
Office of Public Works.
Arts Council of Ireland.
The Crawford Art Gallery. Cork,
Aarhus Local Authority, Denmark.
The Ballinglen Archive, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, County Mayo.
University College Cork.
University College Dublin.
Residencies:
2002, 2006 The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo,
2002 Cill Rialaig Project, Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry,
1996 Aarhus Kunstbygning. Denmark.