my favourite things
helena richardson-collins With her artistic creations resting on walls and shoulders throughout the world, Helena, a unique artist and dancer is bringing Bendigo an original style of art never before seen with her View Street business Llanvair.H.R. Silkworks. Photograph: David Field
Music is a transformation of feelings and thoughts. I always see and hear it in dance form, choreography form and mood. My favorite piece of music is Jose Carreras’ Misa Creole - which is a Spanish Mass. I once danced to this piece at a celebration for St John of God in Bendigo. My Pointe Shoes are worn out, smelly, broken down and very loved. They bring back memories of many treasured moments dancing. Moments occur in life that are just so sublime, moments that you can’t translate into words. These moments happen for me when I’m dancing in my Pointe Shoes. The Goyesecs is the classical Spanish dance of which I had the honour and privilege of dancing for the opening of the Spanish Festival in Melbourne. This was the first time in Australia this dance had been performed. My castanets are from Spain. My great grandmother was Spanish. The sound of the castanets reminds me of my Spanish heritage. My over locker was made to race flat out. Up, down and around the corners to produce my designs. It is a very busy piece of machinery. All of my clothing pieces are one-off originals. I love my paints, especially thick, blended, rich colours. This Silk painting is one of my favorites. It’s an aerial view of water splashing
over iron ore. I import the silk and it is stretched onto a wooden frame. This is one of the most difficult forms of expressing composition and distance; there is no room for error. I then mix the dyes and begin to paint. Everything I paint has a personal story and reflects a journey in my life. If red MAC lipstick ever goes out of production, I don’t know what I will do. I wear it every day. I can kiss my beautiful husband’s face each morning and still get to work with my MAC lipstick still perfectly on my lips. My treasured photo is something very personal to me. It’s a photo of myself and my identical twin sister Elizabeth. Molly is getting old like me. She’s my little car and she is a classy donkey in disguise. I have carted so many things around in Molly and even though she is small she packs a lot of punch and isn’t at all intimidated by trucks. I have a few of my sculptured porcelain figurines displayed in my home. These figurines are based on movement, dance and feelings. I spent more than 20 years as a fine arts potter and these figurines have travelled with me throughout the world. ■ 71