BCB 2021 Artist Talks: Helen Beard
Originally recorded on 2 October 2021.
During BCB 2021, Creative Producer Rhiannon Ewing-James sat down with Helen Beard, one of the many talented artists exhibiting in the festival. Through these talks, artists shared in-depth and behind the scenes stories about how it was creating work during 2021, their careers as artists, their greatest inspirations and the artwork they created especially for BCB 2021.
About the Artist – Helen Beard
AWARD exhibitor, British Ceramics Biennial 2021
Helen Beard is a potter and illustrator and a people watcher at heart. She works from her London studio where she makes, draws, designs and sometimes teaches. The local area and people inspire much of her work. There are all sorts of characters who crop up again and again in her sketchbooks and on her pots – from swimmers in the parks to traders at the local markets. After her BA at Edinburgh College of Art, Helen began an eighteen-month apprenticeship with artist and writer Edmund de Waal. It was here, that she learnt to throw and was able to develop her drawing technique onto porcelain. She later introduced apprenticeships to her studio through the charitable trust Adopt a Potter.
With thanks to BCB Festival Assistants James and Connor for their support with filming.