Helen Ferguson
Designer/Founder Create Collaborate Collective
LGA of QPRC - Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country
Helen Ferguson grew up in Queanbeyan and after 4 years of travelling and living in Europe she moved to Sydney and finally returned to her hometown with a young family in 2008. She trained as a graphic designer at the University of Canberra and has had a long and successful career with a wide-ranging portfolio of design experience from publishing to advertising to fashion and government work. Her passion has been working in the area of public gallery, museum exhibitions and on educational programs.
In September 2014 Helen purchased a run-down heritage cottage with a dream to create something special in Queanbeyan for the locals to enjoy, use and appreciate. This ambitious project has been evolving and is called The Queanbeyan Hive. Helen is also the founder of the local not-for-profit group called Create Collaborate Collective Inc whose mission is to support and nurture the community arts scene through events that include music, art and markets.
As a Project Alchemy participant Helen brought people together who were interested to know more about the impacts of plastics, pesticides, forest decimation, monocultures and fossil fuel burning. She coordinated the screening of Bob Brown’s biopic ‘The Giants’ for World Environment Day in conjunction with an exhibition of Dennis Mortimer’s Fifth Extinction Series which is an ongoing visual art project called ‘Silent Canary’. She also held a people’s choice exhibition called ‘Outside The Square’ which encouraged people of all ages and abilities to create and showcase artworks made from materials that would normally end up in landfill.
