Wicklow based sculptor Helen O'Connell divides her practice between her studio at home by the sea in Bray, Ireland and Tre Luci Studios in Pietrasanta, Italy. The natural world is usually the inspirational point of departure in her work. Her sculpture is inspired by organic biomorphic forms found in nature, sequences and patterning found in the natural world, Irelands ancient relationship with stone as a medium and the recurring symbolic motif of the circle. Increasingly her sculpture seeks to draw attention to the epic scale of geological time contained in these stones and their fossils.

 

After graduating in English Literature and Art History from Trinity College Dublin O'Connell studied stone sculpture in Leitrim Sculpture Centre, at the Nicoli Studios in Cararra, Italy and in the marble quarries of Alentejo, Portugal.

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She has had several solo exhibitions such as ‘the stone the circle the rhythm’ in Dublin’s Talbot Gallery, ‘Carriage na Farraige’ at the Signal Arts Centre and ‘circular breathing’ at the Mermaid Arts Centre. Her work has been shown in London, Paris, New York, Torino, Belgrade, Wales and throughout Ireland. Her work is in many public and private collections in Ireland and abroad. The Irish embassy in Washington D.C., The Office of Public Works, The H.S.E and Bono are recent collectors. 

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She is currently a member of 'Homo Faber' (a celebration of European excellence in craftsmanship), the Michelangelo Foundation and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (who recently voted her one of Irelands ‘Craft Heroes’ in celebration of 50 years of the Design and Crafts Council) and is represented by ‘rhyme studios’ in New York.

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