Helen Ollivier is a painter living in West Auckland. She graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1997 and since then has had 6 solo exhibitions, participated in group shows and been included in several NZ art publications.

In the last few years, she has been busy running art programmes for kids and raising four children of her own, which has left her little time and headspace for her own work. Recently, she has embarked on a 100-day challenge in order to find her voice as an artist and is loving the opportunity to become a full time artist again.

Her latest works are landscapes with a strong compositional element. She is interested in rhythm and movement and the contrasts of texture, colour and light. Her work has a dream-like quality, combining a unique sense of movement and stillness.

Helen and I talk about how she came to be represented by a dealer gallery in her second year at Elam School of Fine Arts not long after leaving high school and how amazingly she is still connected to this gallery 25 years later. She speaks openly about prioritising her art practice, imposter syndrome, self doubt and the joy she has found rediscovering her art practice after a 5 year hiatus.

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