“Picture books are what I read – as a child, and still as an adult. I’ve always felt more deeply in images than in words. So perhaps it’s no surprise that visual art has become my language, my way of speaking into the world.”
Born in 1971, Helen van Stolk embarked on her journey as a full-time artist in 2008, leaving behind a successful corporate career in retail property to pursue a more intuitive, expressive path. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, she currently works from Woodlands Hub Art Studios in Woodstock. Her artistic home has evolved through shared spaces such as StudioVOOP, Frere Street Studios, and Eastside Studios, as well as enriching collaborations with fellow artists Margie Johnson (2010–2013) and Lesley Charnock (2013–2016).
In 2010, Van Stolk became a member of the South African Society of Artists (SASA), participating in their annual Kirstenbosch exhibitions and garnering awards in both 2010 and 2011. Her paintings now reside in private collections across the globe.
The artist works predominantly in oils, moving fluidly between abstraction and figuration. While she primarily paints in her studio, she occasionally takes to the outdoors for plein-air painting and sketching, drawing inspiration from the characters, moods, and fleeting moments encountered in her travels and around Cape Town. The human figure remains a recurring motif, especially in life drawing, where gesture and energy become central.
Van Stolk’s methodology is rooted in exploration and emotional resonance. Her creative process is playful yet deliberate, guided by intuition and a desire to connect deeply with her subject matter. Whether working in oil, acrylic, or collage, she allows colour, light, and movement to shape each piece organically. Through layering and experimentation, her paintings become tactile conversations—between inner life and outer world, between the tangible and the ephemeral.
“My work aims to evoke a feeling, a visceral response—whether through a landscape, a figure, or a moment suspended in paint. I’m drawn to the challenge of capturing energy without being literal, allowing colour, shape, and line to speak emotionally. I think of it as expressing the spirit physically—letting a canvas become a bridge between the mundane and the mysterious.
“I am driven by a search for light and connection, and by a need to make visible not just how something looks, but how it feels. There is always something unfolding in my work—an echo of thought, an invitation to pause, to see, and to feel more deeply.”
