Helen Birnbaum
I approach society, and science, in a questioning way and the starting point of much of my work is contemporary society’s relationship with world changing events such as climate change. The aim of my work has always been to communicate these ideas in the most accessible, and even, humorous way possible. I strive to create exciting art that will always make you think. I explore different materials, whilst engaging viewers in a conversation about the ecological crises that face the world. I explore themes of consumer culture, environmental recklessness, and socio-political global conflict in ceramic and the plastic debris left on our beaches. I make compelling work that reveals plastic's wider implications for our environmental health, marine ecosystems and how both marine and human populations can survive.
The sculptures are in part made of the rubbish we discard and become symbols of the way we treat our precious environments. Through assemblage and hand building methods hand-building techniques I create the sculptures, and they often incorporate found materials such as rusty industrial metal pieces, coiled telephone wires and found objects. Aluminium, steel and copper waste found in local scrap yards and recycling centres in the North West is also used. Recycling old metal and plastic pieces always plays an important part in my artistic practice bringing to fruition my design ethos and also in echoing the ecological themes I champion. By using sustainable materials the intention is that people are reminded of these pressing environmental issues.
I create large scale installations consisting of many hand-built ceramic and metal pieces and Shed Salty Tears is my third large scale installation. I always hand build in the same way, starting off by wrapping thin sheets of clay around formers made from cardboard tubes and plastic pots. Once the clay is leather hard, and this basic shape has formed, I attach different pieces as needed to create the forms and often decorate the sculptures with found metal objects. I believe that the old metal objects, often rusty, add a quirkiness and character to the pieces that clay alone could not do. I glaze my work in a variety of ceramic stains and glazes some of which I apply sometimes even before the bisque firing stage. These levels of glaze and stain give a richness and depth to the sculptural surface. The surface texture complements the distinctive forms of all the sculptures I create.
The quirkiness and energy of Modernist design excites me and I aim to harness this dynamism whilst commenting on aspects of our own vastly altered world where the use of resources far outweighs our ability to dispose of them sustainably.
Websites:
https://helenbirnbaumceramics.com
https://helenbirnbaumportfolio.wordpress.com
https://shedsaltytears.wordpress.com