Helen Comerford was born near Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny in 1945. She studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Belfast College of Art and Design and the Akademie Voor Beeldende Kunst, Utrecht, and now lives and works in Kilkenny. From a background in sculpture Comerford’s practice has in recent years become focused on encaustic painting on linen. Her seascapes are infused with the repetitive rhythms of the Aegean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, echoed in her layering of molten beeswax, dammar crystals and pigment. Much of Comerford’s work is concerned with capturing passing moments in time and refers to both compositional devices, like the Golden Mean, and texts that chronicle spiritual journeys through space and time, such as The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz.
Helen Comerford has been awarded several Arts Council Bursaries and Aer Lingus/Arts Council of Ireland Artflights, as well as being selected Artist of the Year at e v + a 1993 in Limerick. She has completed two major commissions, one bronze sculpture in Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, and another, a stone installation, In Memoriam, which was produced in collaboration with the artist David Lambert at Bullies’ Acre, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. Comerford has exhibited her work at Áras Eanna, Inis Oirr; TULCA 2005, Galway; Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo; the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny; and at several RHA Annual Exhibitions. Her work is included in the collections of Bank of Ireland, AIB, the OPW, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, as well as numerous private collections.
Exhibitions with Taylor Galleries:2004 Encaustic Paintings
1996 Planetary Boxes
1989 Earth, Fire, Air, Water
1984 Paper Forms
1980 Bag Series