Helen Purdie

I am a UK based artist practicing in Sheffield and I am self-taught. I did not engage with my artistic self for nearly twenty years after leaving school. However, in 2008 I realised that it was essential for me to live my life as the artist I knew myself to be within. I recognised that I would need to end my career in the National Health Service to commit to this. This was even before I had found the confidence to pick up my paint brushes again. However, once I did so, my paintings and drawings emerged and continue to develop. Within a year I had held a very fulfilling exhibition with a surgical colleague. By 2011 I was pursuing my art practice full-time. My first solo exhibition in a gallery was held in 2013.

My studio is within my home where I enjoy the peace and solitude to work. I also enjoy painting and drawing plein air. My main concerns are with colour, tone and form influenced directly by my interactions with the world around me.

In 2014 I undertook a three month residency based in the operating rooms of a hospital in Sheffield where I sat drawing the surgical team at work.

My paintings and drawings are held within private and corporate collections within the UK and internationally.

Solo Exhibitions:

2015 'Helen Purdie - Open Studio and Exhibition' Sheffield
2014 'The Art of Surgery: Capturing the Surgical Team at Work. Drawings by Helen Purdie' The Winters Gardens, Sheffield
2014 'The Art of Surgery: Capturing the Surgical Team at Work. Drawings by Helen Purdie' Claremont Private Hospital, Sheffield
2014 'Paintings by Helen Purdie' The Circle Gallery, Sheffield
2013 'Helen Purdie - Paintings and Drawings' Snig Hill Gallery, Sheffield
2012 'An Exhibition of Sixteen Paintings' Harland Cafe, Sheffield
2011 'Travel Drawings - Limited Edition Prints' Harland Cafe, Sheffield
2011 'Travel Drawings- Limited Edition Prints' Refresh Cafe, Sheffield

Group Exhibitions:

2016 'NOT the Royal Academy' Exhibition The Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London June 7th-August 20th
2016 Open Up Sheffield Open Up Sheffield
2015 'Surgeons at Work: The Art of the Operation' The Royal College of Surgeons of England, London
2014 'Art in The Gardens', Botancial Gardens, Sheffield
2014 'Six Artists - An Exhibition at Manor Farm' with Nita Miller, Ruthie Miller, Susan Knebel, Kate Enters, Kate Green, Manor Farm, Orwell, Cambs
2014 'Connections' Exhibition Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
2014 'What Is The Point?' 2014 Adam Stre...