About Helena Barnes
Biography
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.
Galleries
Holroyd Gallery, Glen Coe
Fika Gallery, Morpeth
Gallery 48, Cromarty
Loch Torridon, Shieldaig
Bealach Gallery, Applecross
Group Shows
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
Solo Shows
Dennis Kilgallen Gallery, Feb 2026 (upcoming)
Hallbankgate Hub Oct 2024
Wired, Nottingham (solo show) June - July 2016
Residencies
Fish Factory, Iceland. October 2025
Press
Artist Insights Podcast
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.
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. I am exploring the richness of land; between material and place; movement and removal; instability and permanence.
