HELEN HOPCROFT

A powerful creative experience designed by your team or group? Yes, it’s more than possible. Helen Hopcroft can expertly guide your group to paint their own murals, create their own installations (like stage sets or creative cubby houses) and tell their own stories. Why? Because it brings people together, helps them focus on the topic of your choice, articulate what’s important to them and…well…because it’s a great team building experience.

PUBLIC ART
Helen has been commissioned to create a number of public art installations and has facilitated collaborative painted murals. Examples include a large-scale mural at the Kampot Writers and Readers Festival in Cambodia, where she worked with festival patrons and high school students from Liger Leadership Academy. Helen also worked on a temporary mural using cling wrap at Maitland’s Levee precinct during the Aroma Festival, inspiring members of the public to help design and paint the artwork. Most recently, her mural process at Belmont Library involved asking visiting children to name their favourite sea creature, which were then worked into the mural design.

COLLABORATIVE INSTALLATIONS & STORIES
As an artist, Helen has painted and helped design CONDA-winning stage sets. Imagine an installation – like a stage set or creative cubby house – designed and developed in collaboration with your team, school or community group. Helen is also a playwright and poet who can work with your group to create a story. Your team’s story may even be performed using an installation or ‘stage set’ created by the team.

EVENTS & PLACE ACTIVATION
Helen has experience facilitating small scale arts festivals and creative activities in in inner-city laneways and various under-utilised spaces. Activity concepts include:

• Puppetry shows
• At-event collaborative mural
• Shop front art installations

CREATIVE GROUP ACTIVITIES
For team-building or community engagement projects, Helen can design and facilitate a project particular to your group’s needs. Teaching others about creativity is second nature to Helen. She has held sessional academic positions in painting, drawing, art theory and creative writing courses at the University of Newcastle. She has also held casual lecturing positions at the Royal College of Art, UNSW and Newcastle Art School.

EDUCATION
Helen has a Master’s Degree in Painting from the Royal College of Art, which has been ranked as the world’s leading art and design university for the last five years. More recently, she completed a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle, where she took a deep dive into the enchanting world of fairy tales and the Arabian Nights.

MAKE CONTACT
Helen Hopcroft: 0408 637 404
E: hhopcroft@hotmail.com 

Or contact us at Creative Ingredient

Helen has a team ready for puppet performance fun.

Belmont Library Mural – informed by local children.

Helen’s stage set design experience means your group/team can create one of their own – and a story to play out in it.

Temporary community mural at the Levee created on clear plastic.