Eleanor Healy-Wills Studio Gallery Introduction

Eleanor Healy-Wills Studio-Gallery

Australian artist Eleanor Healy-Wills creates paintings, limited edition copper plate etchings, sculpture and mixed media works, in a range of spiritual, abstract and natural themes.
Eleanor has been working independently for 30 years, at first in oil and progressing through an exploration of symbolic/religious art in both oil and acrylic, large canvas work, and eventually into copper plate etching and other media.

In the seventies, while discovering the potential and demands of gold leaf on the very large Victorian State Transport mural, Eleanor felt drawn to larger canvases, and regularly contributed works in this format to the Blake Prize for religious art. This work eventually lead to the realization that not only does the same sensitivity to technique apply to both larger and smaller works, but the same intimacy of communication is possible on a small or large scale.

Following this, copperplate etching was explored as a means of keeping the creative flame alive, and yet in balance with the practical needs of a working artist. Meanwhile, behind these outer movements through the different mediums of expression, there has been a continuous need to maintain a subtle connection with the higher self.
The challenges of the copperplate etching technique, in particular the rendering of colour, eventually lead to the use of gold leaf and hand colouring to reach the inner light beginning to emerge from the work. This aspect of the development is highlighted by such works as the Ascending Angel which was a turning point in the movement towards releasing this light in the etchings.

In parallel with the exploration of copper plate etching, there was also a movement into sculpture in clay. This has since included a number of commission portraits, and some bronzes inspired by a search for a more permanent medium.
There has also been a brief exploration into the use of hessian to build up texture, which resulted in a study of the eye, in a series of paint and hessian on panels.
Refer to the sculpture page for examples of this work.

The general intention of the work in all its forms, has always been to communicate an inner meaning. Through much of the work this meaning has gradually unfolded as the work itself develops from the first idea towards a final form, and sometimes leads to a series of related works in which the emerging theme becomes progressively clearer.

'Song of the Magpie' - click for other paintings

The symbolic use of colour and gold leaf forms an important part of how this meaning becomes revealed. This in turn has been strengthened by the discovery that the colours revealed seem to be universal in religious and icon paintings and other traditions.

The work is diverse and extensive, ranging from traditional to contemporary in both technique and subject, and in which a subtle individual style emerges through the careful attention to detail and technical skill.

" My paintings and etchings are emotional responses to the beauty of nature. Life is a dance - revealed again and again through the forms of nature, always different but never actually changing.
The timeless, revealed through the countless movements and shapes - that is the dance."
"My work seeks to capture these essential and unmoving forms, using colour to reach depth of tone in sound, and form and shape as movement."

Eleanor Healy-Wills

	Unmoving, it moves; is far away, yet near; within all, outside all. - Eesha Upanishad Proceed to the gallery... If you do not have access to the Melbourne gallery, unframed etchings allow standard postal delivery of items that can be ordered by phone or email. Please contact Eleanor for all your enquiries.
© All images in this gallery are Copyright by Eleanor Healy-Wills.

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