Join us for an artist’s talk with Helen Heslop, Fenja T. Ringl, and Christine Upton to learn more about their practice and artworks in the Occupying Space, Histories & Habitats, and Passions, Journeys and Imaginings exhibitions.
This event is free but registrations are required.
About the Artists
Helen Heslop is a Canberra-based contemporary artist whose works illuminate social issues, trauma and healing. She plays with pattern and repetition through a unique blend of sculpture, digital collage and textiles. Helen embraces these as symbolic elements in her works, reflecting the cyclical nature of societal issues and the potential for transformation and growth. Born in Zimbabwe and moving to Australia as a young child, Helen was affected by the cultural, social and environmental changes happening around her. She became increasingly aware of the trauma and injustices faced by people, particularly women and Indigenous Australians in her adopted country. She uses her art as a tool for exploring the intricacies of healing and resilience.
Dr Fenja T. Ringl is a printmaker whose practice explores nature’s intricate patterns, textures, and layered histories. She works across a range of printmaking techniques, often integrating traditionally paper-based methods with pottery processes to produce distinctive ceramic artworks. Drawing on years of travel and professional experience as an archaeologist, Fenja transitioned from hobbyist to full-time printmaker in 2020. Her scientific background and fascination with the deep-time narratives of landscapes frequently inform the motifs and thematic undercurrents of her work.
Christine Upton is a multidisciplinary artist and owner of the Wacky Bird Gallery in Corowa, NSW.
Recognised as a master printmaker, her strikingly detailed artworks are created from hand-carved vinyl blocks and incorporate layers of intricate pattern and colour. Christine’s larger works are foot printed.
The Carved Line, a retrospective of her relief block artwork from 1972–2015 was held at Belconnen Art Centre in 2015. Since then, Christine has had 8 solo and 2 focus exhibitions throughout NSW and Victoria.
Christine grew up on a farm near Parkes NSW, spending hours watching and wandering through fields of wheat, flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. These early experiences of patterns, shapes and colours within the environment of rural Australia have profoundly influenced her artwork.
Banner Image: The Long Con (detail) by Helen Heslop; The Peat Archives 1 (detail) by Fenja T. Ringl; Outside the Box (detail) by Christine Upton
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