Helen Dynes studied Graphic Design to Masters level in the UK and have taught art in tertiary education for over 30 years, including Art as Therapy at Hawkes Bay regional Prison, for almost 5 years. 

She emigrated to NZ in 2003 and joined the HB art trail. Helen teaches weekly painting workshops at the CAN (Creative Arts Napier, Byron St) and offer private tuition from her home studio by arrangement. She is primarily a people painter and loves painting the human figure. Inspirations have included Art Deco, the Royal NZ Ballet Company, and recently painting directly from life at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts for Realist Painters, Florence, Italy, exploring the techniques of the Old Masters. Helen’s style is naturalistic and she enjoys expressing the beautiful interplay of light and shadow on the human form, working mainly in oil or acrylic on canvas. Her work is held in private collections throughout NZ and overseas.