Felixstowe Nub News' Amber Markwell gets UP CLOSE with Helen Cassells, the owner of Helen's Shed and well-travelled artist explaining why Felixstowe inspires her work and how she prefers life outdoors.

Much like the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz, you have to follow the yellow 'A' boards to get to Helen's Shed during opening hours.

Helen Cassells, owner of Helen's Shed, currently lives in Felixstowe after being a Norfolk native and also spending 18 years sailing the seas, reaching as far as Costa Rica and the Bahamas.

"It was brilliant, you got to travel around and wherever you go, there's always someone doing something interesting," said Helen.

Helen, arguably now the 'someone doing something interesting,' got her shed in the boatyard five years ago. She said: "I spent a little time painting the inside, doing it up and then opened it up to the public. I thought 'Okay, let's see what happens from here'."

The location of her shed at Felixstowe Ferry boatyard serves as a source of inspiration for her work. She said: "Having a shed down here where I'm by the sea, by the river, is fabulous. You see all the sunsets and the change in clouds. You get a lot of inspiration just from looking outside.

"Also, from the balance between nature and how man interacts with it. A lot of my work is based on something I've seen or something which has caught my eye – a flock of seagulls that have taken off or some trees in the winter time. Being at Felixstowe, it's also the beach and the beach huts."

Helen's style of art is unique to her and something she has mastered over many years. "I've been doing weaving with pine needles for about 16 years," she revealed. "It's been around 13 years since I started combining it with ceramics, just to try something different."

Her art takes part in an 8,000-year tradition of weaving, but with her combination of that with ceramics, she has made it all her own.

"I use hand building techniques because I don't want the regularity of edge because I think it looks more organic and much more in keeping with the pine needles. The ceramics are created to complement the pine needle weaving so I want them to look part of nature."

Recalling the first time she encountered pine needle weaving, Helen had travelled over oceans. "I came across the pine needle weaving when I lived in Abaco for three years in the Bahamas, working on a sail boat.

"The lady out there who was doing the weaving wouldn't teach me how to do it. She said "go away, get some needles, have a go, and come back to show me what you've done." I spent hours in her workshop and we got to be very good friends."

The pandemic, rather than halt Helen's creativity, has allowed it to flourish. "In some ways, lockdown was useful in that it gave me a lot of space to experiment with ceramics. I started to do something new, I learnt how to weave with a loom.

"It concentrated everything. Usually you're out there in the world and you get distracted by this and distracted by that whereas I was just able to come in here and experiment. Some things worked and some things went straight in the bin."

However, Helen does admit that the pandemic has led to some difficulties in restricting the number of people allowed in the shed. With her shed intending to be a place of comfort, it becomes difficult when "you quite often get someone waiting outside so the person in here can't just spend time and relax."

In each of her pieces, Helen puts a bit of herself into it, making each piece very personal. "If I don't, it doesn't work. That's why some of the things you can make can be so tiring. I have to create these things with love or they don't get finished."

One such work, titled 'The memory bowl,' came from a place of reminiscence. Having gone on holiday, Helen, ever the artist, took work with her and got to weaving.

"I got into the frame of mind and kept going and going. Every so often, a memory would pop up in my head, and every time a memory came up I added a bead. It took me a week to make."

After questioning the purpose of her art and her creations, Helen found that the most satisfying part of her work is the joy it brings.

"What brings me joy more than anything is creating something that gives other people joy.

"Having this space and having people come in, seeing what I create and talking to them about it, it gives everyone a boost. I want people to feel comfortable about coming here."

As for life outside the shed, Helen is an outdoors kind of person. "I love walking, climbing mountains and going camping. I'm not very good at sitting and doing nothing. I don't have a television; I have to be doing something."

As for any long term goals, Helen believes that the shed, and Felixstowe, is just perfect for her. "It's such a personal type of art and such a personal process to go through that it's nicer for people if they can visit me where I do it all. When I do go to an exhibition, I always take work with me to do to show people how it's done.

"I'm in a happy place with it. So Felixstowe, that's where I am."

To find out more about Helen and Helen's Shed, you can follow the link to her website here

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