Helen Armstrong CV
Helen Armstrong trained at Chelsea and Brighton art schools as a painter and printmaker. Has taught art and crafts, worked as an illustrator and graphic designer, brought up a family, and then trained as a counsellor and combined art work with a private counselling practice, including running groups using art for self knowledge. Now retired from counselling. Member of Christian Arts UK. Former Vice President of SIAC – Societe Internationale des Artistes Chretiens – from 2000 – 2008, former President of Society of Sussex Artists 2009-2012.
Qualifications
1958 National Diploma in Design (painting and printmaking)
1959 Art Teacher’s Certificate
1997 Advanced Diploma in Counselling and Therapy
2001 Accredited MBACP as Registered Independent Counsellor
2007 Senior Accredited.
Exhibitions
1988 Brighthelm Centre, Brighton, and at Goldsmiths College London, “Images of Women” exhibition organised by Threshold Initiative for Women to accompany the annual conference of the British Psychological Society.
1996 “Journeys, Memories” Brighton Open exhibition, Brighton Museum Gallery.
1997 “Identity” open exhibition at Towner Gallery, Eastbourne,Sussex.
1999Galerie la Papessa, Vienna, Austria.
1985-1997Chapel Royal, Brighton participated in annual group shows by Society of Catholic Artists as part of each Brighton International Festival.
Participated in exhibitions of SIAC (Societe Internationale des Artistes Chretians) in
1985 Rome
1992 Barcelona
1995 Krakov
1998 Schlierbach
2001 Luxembourg
2005 Reichenau
2006 “Christ Among Us” exhibition at Westminster Cathedral.
2007 “Christ Among Us” exhibition, Grant Bradley Gallery, Bristol.
Exhibits annually at the Grange Gallery Rottingdean Brighton, and elsewhere in Sussex, in group exhibitions by the Society of Sussex Painters, and in Brighton Festival Open Studios.
Brighton and Hove Arts Council exhibitions annually at Friends Meeting House, Ship Street Brighton;
Christian Arts exhibitions at Southwell Minster 2009, St Mary’s Church, Bury St Edmunds 2010, Wells Cathedral 2012, St James Church Piccadilly London July 2014.
Most recent group exhibitions were at the Studio Gallery, Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, with the Society Of Sussex Painters, from 12 – 26 July 2014; with SSP at the Laughing Dog Gallery at Brighton Marina in October 2014; The Hawth Crawley, December 2015-January 2016; Worthing Museum and Art gallery, April 2016; and with the Brighton and Hove Arts Council at the Friends Meeting House Brighton, also in April 2016.
Publications
1995 “Practical Drawing with Pastels” by Gerald Woods, Quadrillion Publishing,
1996 “Drawing with Pastels” by Gerald Woods, Readers’ Digest.
1997 “The Artist’s Studio” by Gerald Woods, Readers’ Digest .
1987-1992 Illustrated and edited Brighton Anti Nuclear Group newsletter “BANG”
Designed posters for Sussex Counselling events presenting Dorothy Rowe ( 2003 ) and Susie Orbach (2004).
2001-2006 Edited and designed SIAC Colour and black and white Bulletins. Recently launched a new publishing house, Ivory Publications, to edit and publish “Paintings and Sculptures at St George’s Church Hangleton”, a survey of the artworks by John Armstrong, painter, and Balavendra Elias, woodcarver.
Statement
What pleases me in my art work is the way the other can be found in everyday life. A road sign, jet vapour trails, sunlight falling on net curtains, a reflection in a train window, all can evoke an awareness of what lies beneath the surface. Artists deal with surface, we work with materials and how they look. As a counsellor I looked beneath the surface to see what was happening in the unconscious. In my art work I like to combine these different approaches, enjoying the pleasure of the surface effects while reflecting on the deeper meanings that are also visible.
Helen Armstrong NDD, ATC, Ad Dip Couns,
23 St Leonard’s Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 4QP
Tel 01273 881304, Mob 07881568374, e-mail hh.armstrong@ntlworld.com © Armstrong 2014