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Helen working on her new body of work, "Classico":.
This piece called "Freeing the Nightingale" was
inspired by classical composer, Olivier Messian.
Artist, Helen Broadfoot
Email:
helenbroadfoot@gmail.com
Website:
www.oilpaintingforpeace.com
Education:
Vancouver School of Art, 1967
Solo Exhibitions include:
2005 Pender Harbour Gallery, Madeira Park, BC
2005 View Gallery, Richmond, BC
2006 Seaside Centre, Sechelt, BC
2006 Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons, BC
2006/07 The Liu Institute For Global Issues, UBC, Vancouver,
BC
2007 Sunshine Coast Art Centre, Sechelt, BC. Event, Stephan
Lewis Foundation,
2008 La Cabana Gallery, Sechelt, BC
2008 The Britannia Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2008 Grenfell Gallery, Adelaide Australia
2008 Gallery 15, Melbourne Australia
2008 Sechelt Arts Centre "Classico"
Group Exhibitions:
2004 Harbour Gallery, Madeira Park, BC
2005 Sechelt Arts Festival, Sechelt, BC
2007 Sechelt Arts Festival, Sechelt, BC
2008 Sechelt Arts Festival. Sechelt, BC
International Exhibitions:
Grenfell Gallery, Adelaide Australia, February, 2008
Gallery 15, Melbourne Australia, January, 2008
Helen Broadfoot went to the Vancouver School of Art (now
known as Emily Carr) in 1967, but left to seize an opportunity
to teach school to grade six and seven girls in India.
Illness forced her home and after a three year marriage in
which she tried to stay with the arts, and facing the prospect
of single parenthood, she was inspired to take an apprenticeship
as a goldsmith. In trade for her designs, the goldsmith taught
her the skills of the trade and she was able to continue with
her art and work in three dimensional design. Much of her
life has involved raising her daughter, Christine, working
with her husband in business and painting whenever she could
steal the time.
Upon retirement in 2002 she joyfully began, once again, to
paint. Only then was she able to begin her career in earnest.
Much of her work is figurative, but she gives free rein to
her imagination. Subjects are usually people or animals and
the challenge is always to catch an expression or evoke an
emotion. She usually imagines the complete painting and then
goes to great lengths collecting reference material, composing,
drawing and completing the painting, most often in oils.
“A Show of Respect” is an exhibition created
for the children of war. There are ten large oil paintings
each showing a child from a different country faced with a
different problem due to war in their county. A major component
of each piece is the inclusion, on the canvas, of an article
from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in
the child’s own language. None of these paintings are
for sale, but are used to promote peace. Cards and prints
are sold at exhibitions to raise funds for MSF (Doctors Without
Borders) and to promote the exhibition’s travel around
the world, bringing awareness to others as to the real horror
faced by the children of war.
Helen works and lives on the Sunshine Coast in Pender Harbour,
British Columbia, Canada. Her time is divided between the
technical study of painting, study of the current international
concerns of humanity and painting itself. She paints on a
daily basis. In the summer, she takes a little time to sail
the wonderful waters of British Columbia.
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