Artist of the Month at NACC
ARTIST STORY
Felting is a technique that presses and mats together natural fibres such as sheep or alpaca wool to create paintings and three-dimensional objects like hats and slippers. I instantly fell in love with felting as a way to share stories about the North: the return of the sun in January; ice roads that link communities to one another in winter; and pelicans nesting on islands in the Slave River each summer.
I have been a Northerner-by-choice for 20 years, living on the outskirts of Fort Smith. As someone with a severe visual impairment colours, shapes, and contrast define my world. Details are elusive. My work is inspired by the colours of the North’s land and sky, and by the open spaces that allow me to breathe and reflect in a place where I have found home.
In addition to my larger wet-felted paintings with wool, I also developed a technique for felting around old CDs to give them a new career as a piece of northern-inspired art.
The felted paintings on display at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre are inspired by stories from Hélèna’s latest book, Dispatches from Canada’s North.
Hélèna’s work will be on display and for sale at NACC for the month of March 2026.
In Partnership with NWT Arts ~ Click their logo below to view Hélèna’s profile
