Capel artist Helen Seiver speaks of freedom received through Regional Arts WA Fellowship

Capel artist Helen Seiver has spoken of the freedom the Regional Arts WA Fellowship has given her as her involvement in the two-year program comes to an end. The Regional Artist Fellowships offers $50,000 to support four outstanding and established regional WA artists for a period of up to two years, and Seiver used the time to develop an understanding of forgiveness after a family tragedy in the 1970s. Regional Arts WA said the program was intended to support artists who want to undertake a self-directed program that builds their capacity to develop and sustain a creative career in regional WA — including new work, collaborations, professional development and training. Seiver, whose fellowship comes to an end in June, said the $50,000 had given her the opportunity to focus solely on her art. “While $25,000 a year doesn’t sound like a lot to most people to artists, and especially artists who make conceptual art like I do, having $500 a week means I can stay home and do my art,” she said. “I can just absolutely immerse myself in the project that I propose.” The Capel artist’s practice explores personal narrative through sculpture, using found objects and materials and exploring their unique quality of suggesting time, place and era. Seiver’s piece The Poetics of Memory is currently being exhibited at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery’s South West Art Now — the biennial survey of new work by artists who live in the South West. The piece uses lino scraps to tell a story of a “lived live”, with the bright colours of the material showing happy childhood memories, and the underside of the old vinyl flooring showing the “tremendous upheaval and grief of family tragedy”. “For me the materials are what is telling the story, so for instance with the lino I wanted to talk about memory,” she said. “For me it is like poetry, and that piece is called the poetics of memory. “When I put all of those pieces up, for me it is like looking at a poem that talks about those precious memories of childhood and growing up in a family home. “It is about the food that was cooked in the kitchen, and the celebrations and the birthdays, and all of those happy times. “And maybe there’s some not so happy times, but overall the whole thing is a happy memory and a whole lifetime.” Seiver, who recently negotiated an exhibition at the Holmes a Court Gallery in West Perth in September 2023, said some people do not take an interest in art because they find it hard to draw meaning from the works they see. “I would like to encourage everyone to come and listen to artist talks, because that’s how they learn how they work,” she said. “It is not a mystery, we are not a separate group of people who have our very special brains. “I would be great if everyone knew what I was trying to say, however, if it means something to someone else, that is great.” The Capel artist said despite her incredible work, she was no different from anyone else who wanted to create their own work. “Most people say ‘I’m not an artist’, but everyone is, I have just developed that part of my brain more,” she said. “I am dreadful at mental arithmetic, and memory, terrible, but I am really good at how to put different pieces of material together to tell a story.”