YDF26 Artist 09 Q&A: Helen Brook

What’s your background?

BA Art & Design - University of Leeds (2015-2019)

MSc Sustainability & Consultancy - University of Leeds (2020-2021)

SAIL, Project Management & Sustainability Consultancy, full time (2021-2024) 

Wild Rumpus, Projects & Partnerships Manager, Part-time (2024)

Freelance Artist, Creative Producer and Environmental consultant, part-time in 2024, moving to full time in 2025

Who are your biggest influences?
Artistically? Who inspired you to become an artist?

Olafur Eliasson - for mirroring natural processes artistically and generate awe/ wonder in audiences. 

Studio Swine - for pushing the boundaries between physical sculpture and immersive materials. 

I grew up 5 miles down away from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and as it was free for audiences to visit when I was a child / teenager, we would visit every few weeks. Seeing art in a landscape such as this, and feeling creatively connected to nature, was a significant inspiration for me.

How have you developed your career?
(From student to artist)

I began my career studying Art & Design, where I developed a foundation in creative practice, visual thinking and an interest in working across disciplines as inspiration for creative practice, producing my final degree show as a set of live reversible chemistry lab style reactions. After graduating and working in the creative sector for a year, I became increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the industries I was part of. This led me back to Leeds to complete an MSc in Sustainability and Consultancy, where I explored how environmental thinking could reshape creative practice.

After my studies, I worked for nearly three years with Sustainable Arts in Leeds (SAIL), supporting arts organisations to reduce their environmental impact. During this time, I developed skills in project management, facilitation and systems thinking, while continuing to nurture my own creative practice.

In 2024, I began transitioning into freelance work as an artist, events producer and environmental consultant, moving to full-time practice in 2025. My career has developed through an ongoing dialogue between creativity and sustainability, and I am now focused on delivering larger-scale, community-engaged artistic projects that bring those strands together.

What current trends or area of work are you currently focusing on?

I’m currently really interested in exploring nature connection as a theory of engaging communities in place, spaces and nature - to improve wellbeing, connect communities and encourage pro-environmental behaviour. 

I’m fascinated by play within the context of creative practice, and for using artistic events or commissions to provide opportunities for children and adults to experience play in their everyday lives.

What role does arts funding have to your practice? Could you and would you still be an artist if you weren’t paid to explore your art?

I haven’t received really any artist development funding - Peshkar might actually be my first of this type of funding support! 

I have mostly received commissions and have managed to find time to squeeze in R&D within the process of developing these projects - but even then, it’s always about the delivery of the commission rather than the process of artist development for a brand new skills or idea.  

A goal for me for this year is to take the next step in applying for more funding to development my independent artistic practice - something that feels a little scary!

What advice would you give to a young artist beginning their journey to becoming an artist?

That the rejection is can be really fierce, and as a freelancer is quite relentless. That it does however get ever so slightly easier to deal with as you grow and get more opportunities. And if an application doesn’t feel the right fit for you, then it’s probably not worth doing!

Quick Fire questions…