See-Saw Glasses 2010Parasites (laser cut banana leaf)Tree BoatCow Carousel 2009Liquid Landscapes:Green and Red Road KillLiquid LandscapesTree BoatSlow Speed BoatInstallation for the Joy of MakingPaper FlotillaLife raftLiferaft GogglesFlying BoatLifebuoy Collar

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My current series of laser cut paper and acrylic vessels explore the theme of survival.

I produced these works during my residency in the laser cutting studios at Plymouth College of Art and Design.

The initial impetus for this work was a commission from Dartington Arts to work with veteran U.S. site specific choreographer Stephan Koplowitz and his company Taskforce for LIQUID LANDSCAPES, a series of water related dance performances in Plymouth in June 2009. I was commissioned to produce a site specific installation of over 300 multi coloured paper vessels to which the dancers responded at the Mayflower Steps. The first designs focused on a simple net shape and were all hand cut.

The first prototype boat shape was based on a commercial packaging net, but I repeatedly customised this to produce a range of more complex laser cut vessels. The boat can be seen as a life raft piled high with remnants of lost lands, a salvage vessel or Noah’s Arc. The devil is in the detail however; the imagery reveals that, in our rush to discover pastures new or to escape the exhausted and derelict, we bring with us unwanted passengers, be they stowaways in the form of non indigenous species, viruses, and voracious technologies, or simply our own inadequacies.

I am lucky enough to have continued access to the facilities and the fantastic technical support at Plymouth College of Art now my residency has finished. I shall be experimenting with new paper works and also laser cutting and digitally printing onto fabric.

All images copyright Helen Snell
www.axisweb.org/artist/helensnell

View my website http://www.axisweb.org/artist/helensnell/