HELEN MARTINO

Women in dialogue

This series of sculptural work is about communication in its different forms and an awareness of its therapeutic effects.

It has taken me years to realise that sculptural works, unlike pots, do not necessarily need openings to reveal the inside. I have slowly gained the confidence and the certainty that volume, in a sculptural form, is revealed through the form itself. As a result the volume is all the more powerful because of its containment. In this work about dialogue I am using this notion of inside and outside in a new way, hopefully exploring the tension between form, surface, imagination and communication.

There are various sorts of talking, which go on between people and there is also the internal dialogue of thought and imagination.

Some of the figures are very much alone and appear to be talking, or listening to someone unseen. The surface of the abstracted forms the women are seated on are sometimes covered with words while at other times it is the form of the woman herself that may be clothed in words.

Within the normal process of dialogue there is of course speaking and listening. On the other hand there is the internal dialogue of thoughts, dreams and decision making that can show a figure, who, though apparently listening can be wrapped in thought.

The ladies sitting in armchairs and sofas or lounging on chaises longues have a lighter more frivolous approach and are thinking much more about the pleasures of chatting and gossiping .

The construction of these flattened pieces plays with the idea of paintings and sculpture. The decorative and comfortable nature of the seats and fabrics gives a backdrop to the abstracted forms of the women.

I am now finding that my past, present and my future, my friends and the things that happen day to day have now become sources of inspiration in themselves.

I am lucky to be a potter and still to be learning and changing and enjoying my work.