Helen’s practice spans over three decades of making, teaching and mentoring within ceramic arts and industry. Known for her playfulness, precision and deep material understanding, she works across art, education, and consultancy, helping others unlock their own ideas through process and connections.

Her ceramic artwork explores the relationships between plaster, porcelain, and surface — combining technical skill with a curiosity for how materials record time, touch, and transformation.

In teaching, Helen blends experimentation with technical skill, encouraging curiosity, conversation, and hands-on learning.

“Some words about me…

A woman with short brown hair smiling with her hand resting on her head, sitting beside a sculpture made of white, layered ribbons.

I’ve always loved materials and experimenting, seeing what you can make from whatever you have to hand. In my childhood, I made my own clay substitute from flour and water, used scraps of found materials. That resourcefulness never left me. I’m still hands-on, practical, a problem solver, and always up for trying something new.

My path into clay was part rebellion, part instinct. I took an evening pottery class while studying Maths and Sciences for A-Level, mostly to escape all the academic logic. When I discovered plaster and mould-making, something just clicked. The idea that you could make your own tool and shape a form - it felt like magic.

I first trained in ceramics in the 1990s, learning the discipline of model and mould making and how to balance precision with play. After years of making, teaching and running Yoyo Ceramics, I returned to study for my MA at the Royal College of Art, which gave me space to re-examine my practice, to see how traditional craft and contemporary thinking could sit side by side.

Now my work moves between plaster and porcelain, surface and structure, art and design. I cast, colour, and construct, often exploring what happens in the space between control and chance.

Teaching runs alongside my studio practice. I love problem-solving with others, showing them possibilities, helping them work things out through making, see others be excited by process.”