Living Light

Helen Steele found herself busier than ever during lockdown but found herself drawn even more to the colour that makes her work so well known. She speaks to Jennifer Stevens about getting back to her beloved studio and some very exciting new projects. 



Artist and fashion designer Helen Steele has had a busy year. Expecting to claim back all the time spent commuting to her studio in Monaghan, new projects and private art commissions have meant that she found she needed more hours in the day.

“It’s been really busy to the point that I can't keep up with it. It's just been manic, actually that’s an understatement. When COVID came, I thought oh great, I'm not going to be commuting, I'll get back four hours a day, but those four hours have just gone.

“I’ve been extremely busy. We moved house, my son started a new school, and my daughter started university. We haven’t seen my other daughter because she's in London, so it's been mad.”

As well as Helen’s sportswear collection with Dunnes Stores she has her own main fashion line and continues to work as one of the country’s most in demand artists but she’s had to pivot her business to what people currently need. 

“It's been so busy with Dunnes, and then it was so quiet with my own main line because no one really wants occasion-wear so while one really picked up, the other just dropped totally. That's why I went back to scarves again because they’re an all-around year thing. Though with saying that, I have basically run out of the rainbow scarves, I think I have one left. I sold 300 scarves in just over a week, I can't believe it. I've had to actually reorder more, but the lead times is going to be a while.”

Helen’s scarves are a thing of beauty and just like her art, they are full of colour and a joy to behold and wear. Colour has always played a huge part in all of Helen’s work and is currently more popular than ever. 

“I'm doing new pieces on glass and commissions too because people have just gone bonkers for art. I suppose we’re all staying in our homes an awful lot more and want color around us. I think a lot of people are keeping their interiors quite plain with the walls, curtains, and carpets but they're going mad with colour in the accessories, with rugs and cushions and paintings.”

Helen found it a struggle to be creative during lockdown, especially during the winter but the recent change in the weather has really had an impact on Helen’s work, which she says happens every year. 

“Lockdown, especially from January, was just horrible. All that walking in the rain. But it could have been much worse, it really could. None of us got sick. None of us got COVID. My mother got her second job there, a few days ago so I feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't easy, and it did not feel good, but it is what it is. It could have been much worse.

“During lockdown, I found myself really drawn to color right down to what I was wearing and the blankets that I was using. All I wanted was color and comfort, just to visually see it. I started just painting canvases just an actual shade, and I'd just put them or dot them around the house. It was an interesting experiment. I did it on myself and the kids, and it was fascinating because your mood would actually change.

“For example, my son has this makeshift gym I put these two Pepto-Bismol canvases in the shed where he was working out, and instead of coming out all fired up he'd come out feeling good because he'd been exercising, but he would be calm too.

“I always do my best work between April and September or October, so I have a short period. I don't know why, it's just how my head works, and the creativity works. I would paint ferociously for those couple of months, and then create the prints during the wintertime. It's really ramped up the last couple of weeks. I think it's because I was able to get to my studio. I hadn't been up there for so long but a water pipe burst and I had go up to secure the property, but while I was there, I painted for hours, and that was incredible. Then just seeing the countryside, and the light, and then just the weather the last couple of weeks, it's just been, from a personal point of view, life changing. The sun really makes all the difference. I don't know what my work would be like if I lived somewhere really warm - I'd say that I'd be churning it out! I don't know what it is, but the sun and the light does something to my creative side of my brain, and it just changes the way I think and my outlook. Everything's in bloom now, it’s amazing, it's really good.

Things are about to get busier for Helen. There is a swimwear addition to her sports line in Dunnes Stores and the 2021 collection from her own fashion line is about to launch, this time using an amazing 70% recycled fabrics. But possibly Helen’s most exciting new project is a brand-new home wear range for Dunnes. Joining firm favourites Helen James and Carolyn Donnelly, Helen is bringing her signature vibrant prints to interiors. 

“I'm really excited about it. The team are amazing, they totally get us. It’s so nice to work on because with the sportswear and my own main line, you have to be commercial. You're somewhat restricted but with interiors, the world is your oyster, especially when it comes to, say, cushions or rugs, or things. Yes, I'm super excited.”

As restrictions ease and life starts to return to a little bit of normality the thing that Helen has been most looking forward to the most is getting back to her studio in Monaghan. Trying to work and especially paint in her new Dublin home was proving tricky – even her children were giving out to her! 

“I just can’t wait to get back to it. I was up there when the pipe burst and it's filthy, but I am actually going to kiss the filthy, paint-splattered ground because I just cannot wait to see it, and to be able to splash loads of paint and not worry about the mess. It's like role-reversal in this house, my kids are like, ‘please don't mess it up with paint, mom.’ I'm painting in my bedroom where the light's great, but it's not ideal. I remember I was working on prints for Dunnes for January next year and I woke in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and I stepped in a load of work and walked loads of paint all around the floor and into the bathroom. Oh, it was such a nightmare the following day. So my kids will absolutely be waving me off like ‘bye, don’t come back for a while’.”

As well as heading back to her studio there are a couple of things that Helen is going to keep from lockdown life for a good while yet and has some wise words for us all. 

“Vainly, I don't think I'm going to get my hair dyed as much, and I've stopped blow drying it and straightening it. I'm just going to let it do its own thing because it was falling out. It was dyed off my head. And I definitely think we should just all prioritise the important things in life and learn to do what makes us happy.”