H E L E N A      B A R N E S

b.1992.                                                                                                                                          

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Education

MA Fine Art, Falmouth School of Art. (current)

PGCE Secondary Art & Design. UWE. 2017

BA Fine Art & Art History. Kingston School of Art. 2015 (first class)

Foundation Degree Art & Design. Newcastle College. 2008.

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Raised in Northumberland, and now living in the Highlands I have always sought out Big Sky Country. Walking in wild and open places, climbing mountains, or swimming in the sea. These experiences underpin my practice.

 

I work on multiple canvases at once in my studio by the sea on the north coast of Scotland. I layer and remove paint in an effort to capture the fleeting light, shifting seasons, and liminal spaces where hills give way to moorland, peat to bog, sand to sea.

 

Working primarily in oils and acrylics on panel and canvas, I’m interested in how material behaviour — absorption, layering, removal and viscosity — can evoke the shifting, unstable and liminal qualities of landscape. The slowness of oil paint allows me to work with duration; surfaces are built up and eroded over time, mirroring the geological and atmospheric processes that form the terrain itself. The fastness of acrylics allows me to work gesturally and cover large surfaces. I am fascinated by the alchemy of paint — how emulsion retracts from oil, how acrylic clings on top, how a brush or scraper dipped in white spirit can shift a surface as dramatically as weather reshapes a landscape. This dialogue between material and place underpins my practice, reflecting the instability and richness of the land itself.

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Galleries

Holroyd Gallery, Glen Coe

Eion Stewart Fine Art, Stonehaven (from March 2026)

Fika Gallery, Morpeth

Gallery 48, Cromarty

Loch Torridon, Shieldaig

Bealach Gallery, Applecross

Eion Stewart Fine Art, Stonehaven

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Group Shows

Graystone Gallery, Festival Show, July 2026 (upcoming)

Eion Stewart Fine Art Spring Show, March 2026 (upcoming)

Dennis Kilgallen Gallery, Feb 2026 (upcoming)

In Cahoots Nov 2025

Cromarty Group show Aug 2024

Cromarty Group show Aug 2023

Oliver, Shoreditch Aug - November 2016
Dinner Conversations, The Centre for Useless Splendour, Kingston - March 2015
< - America Square, London - 15th May - September 2014
£100,131,100.00 - Knights Park, Kingston - May 2014
Exhibition - The Centre for Useless Splendour, Kingston
24th March 2014
Distortion - Hart's Lane, New Cross, 16th - 18th February 2012
Altered Image - Gallery Two - Queen's Hall, Hexham, 9th July - 6th August 2011
 

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Solo Shows

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Hallbankgate Hub Oct 2024

Wired, Nottingham June - July 2016

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Residencies

Fish Factory, Iceland. October 2025​

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Press

Artist Insights Podcast ​​

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