Dorich House Museum

Histories in the Making: Helen Storey & Elaine Wilson

Spring 2015 Exhibition & Symposium

As part of celebrations marking 140 years of Kingston School of Art, social artist and designer Helen Storey presented Life on the Outskirts: Making Sense and Use of a Creative Life at Dorich House Museum.

The symposium, on Friday 20 February, brought together Helen Storey and sculptor Elaine Wilson to ask how creative practitioners respond to personal and other archives and the place of past artefacts within a forward looking practice. Storey spoke in conversation with Andrew Ibi, course director for MA Fashion at Kingston University. A selection of sculptural ceramic works by Elaine Wilson were integrated into the museum collection to accompany the symposium itself, with the exhibition open to the public during regular Museum opening hours on 13 and 27 March 2015.

Helen Storey’s career began at Kingston Polytechnic as a student in the Fashion department. After working for major Italian fashion houses and establishing a highly successful fashion business in her name, she now works on public projects that exist in the spaces between design, science, technology, art and the sustainability of creative human practice in contemporary life.

Elaine Wilson is an artist working primarily in ceramic sculpture. Her practice examines received notions of femininity, looking at the way women see themselves and have been seen in historical and social contexts. Many of her sculptures incorporate ceramic processes combined with diverse materials and objects that often reference historical artefacts and ornament. Figurines developed during her Norma Lipman Research Fellowship will be exhibited at Dorich House Museum. The works draw on the contexts of ornamentation and the romantic ideal.

This event was part of a wider programme of exhibitions, talks, and events celebrating the 140-year history of Kingston School of Art. To find out more visit Archive Kingston School of Art.