about

Helena-Frei-head-shot-small4webArtist, writer and independent curator Helena Frei loves costume, textiles and dolls and is fascinated by fashion. She’s also excited by the boundless possibilities of the digital universe.

She brings all these interests together in two projects that cover all the bases.

One is a super-ambitious project – a visual history of costume. The other is  combining 3D printing and costuming to make small dressed figurative sculptures – aka dolls.

Both projects are packed with possibility!

The costume history will take a long time to research, write  and illustrate – too long to wait to share the fun, so, as her research progresses, Helena is publishing paper doll booklets. It’s all original art and writing – a mixture of drawing, photography and digital collage.

Right now four paper dolls are available. A new one comes out every four or five months – sign up for updates and she’ll let you know when a new one comes out!

For the 3D printed dolls, Helena is looking at – and learning – 3D modeling software to see which works best for what she wants to do. The first three she’s been exploring are Rhino, Sculptris  and Blender . Though eventually, when she can justify the $800 investment, she will probably work in ZBrush.

Sign up for updates and check back to see how it comes out!

Helena is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and lives in Kensington Market, a fascinating and somewhat eccentric neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, Canada that has the distinction of being the site of North America’s only permanent, year-round outdoor market.

She shares her house with a studio full of eclectic materials, far too much work in progress, and a small, furry lady named Ferocity.Ferocity washing her foot