Helen Rowlands
“The inspiration for my work is a delicate balance between observation and imagination. I find my joy and satisfaction in the juxtaposition of
unlikely and unorthodox colours and while attention to detail is still paramount, what I most appreciate when creating my felts is total freedom of expression.”
Helen Rowlands grew up on the South Coast of England but has lived on Prince Edward Island since 2017. While art, in its many guises, has always been a large part of her life, music has also been a constant from a very early age. Ultimately, music won Helen over, and she went on to be a very successful professional double-bass player.
At the age of 23, Helen won a much-coveted full-time position with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, England, a position she held for nearly 20 years. She has performed, toured, and recorded extensively with most of the world’s top conductors and soloists and has played numerous times in all major concert halls around the globe.
After leaving the BBCSO, Helen continued to work, tour, and record for many years with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, London Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. She has recorded over 200 CDs and played on soundtracks for a number of blockbuster films, mostly recorded at London’s EMI Abbey Road Studios (The Beatles), including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, and Iron Man 3. She also appeared on screen in Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, with Tom Cruise, and has two platinum discs to her name.
Since moving to Canada, music has taken a temporary sidestep. Helen’s artistic and creative abilities have developed in other ways, and felting has become her current method of expression. Coloured wools and other fibres have taken the place of paints, needles have replaced brushes, and felted wool has become the canvas. Helen’s inspiration comes mostly from her imagination and also from anything within her surroundings that catches her eye.
She is a member of the International Feltmakers’ Association.
