Helen Arthur, Welsh Artist
“When a landscape becomes meaningful to you, it gets under your skin to create vivid memories. My paintings and process represent an emotional response to landscape…”
The wild light in the Black Mountains (Y Mynydd Du) where Helen is located, impacts her creativity in an inescapable way. Every layer of paint and each bold brushstroke or detailed etching mark invites viewers to reconnect with how they feel, fully immersed in nature.
Helen grew up in North Wales, but left to study at Cambridge before beginning a career with the BBC in London. When she relocated from London to the Welsh borders with her husband and two young children, Helen really felt she had returned home. This homecoming released latent creativity and she took up printmaking (2017), which developed into a love of painting four years later. Now she has collectors around the UK and the globe, from the Netherlands to Singapore and North America.
In 2024, Helen published her first book, The Winding Light, in which she reproduces over 20 paintings made in recent years and tells the story of their conception in a mix of personal anecdote, unorthodox artistic techniques, history and topographical writing.
Exhibitions
2025: Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA), Wales Contemporary (Chelsea), Royal Cambrian open (Conwy), Oriel Cric open (Crickhowell), Perfect Hill group show (Artlandish, Hereford), The Artists’ Gallery (Ludlow), Spring Gallery (Cheltenham)
2024: Royal Cambrian open, Oriel Cric open, Mappa Marches joint show at The Courtyard (Hereford), The Old Mayor’s Parlour (lead artist), Herefordshire Art Week open studios, Oriel Cric open studios, Cowbridge Arts society open and artist’s demo, Tarpey Gallery (Derby)
2023: Found Gallery (Brecon), Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, The Lake Gallery (West Kirby), Royal Cambrian open (Conwy), Oriel Cric open (Crickhowell), Tarpey Gallery (Derby), Herefordshire Art Week open studios
2022: Mappa Marches touring exhibition at Sidney Nolan Trust (Presteigne), The Art Shop and Chapel (Abergavenny), Oriel Cric open, Herefordshire Art Week open studios, Spring Gallery launch (Cheltenham)
2021–25: Bluestone (Hay on Wye) continued representation, Herefordshire Art Week open studios
Gallery outlets/stockists:
Bluestone Gallery, Hay on Wye
The Courtyard, Hereford
North Books, Hay on Wye
Listen to Helen’s podcast interview (on Spotify) giving insights into how she transformed her creativity into a way of living.