Helen Geier, born Sydney January 14, 1946 – died Canberra, June 17, 2025.

Legendary Canberra region artist Helen Geier has died in Hughes after a long period in care. She was 79.

The intellectual brilliance of her art was well acknowledged within her lifetime. In 1998 she was named Canberra Artist of the Year and in 2001, Canberra Museum and Gallery mounted a major solo exhibition showcasing work from her long career.

Born in Sydney, Geier had trained at Alexander Mackie College and the National Art School in Sydney and went on to gain postgraduate qualifications from St Martin’s School of Art in London and RMIT University in Melbourne.

She lectured at the Canberra School of Art (now ANU School Art and Design) from 1978 to 1994, and following early retirement, continued to work on her own practice full-time from her studio outside Braidwood on the idyllic property she shared with her husband Jeremy.

A growing international profile was boosted by exhibitions in Vienna, Paris, Belgrade, London, New Delhi, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Beijing and Auckland and Geier’s work was quickly collected by the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, Powerhouse Museum, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Artbank, the Australian National University, National Library of Australia, Lasalle Institute of the Arts in Singapore and Yiyouzhai Art Museum in Shanghai.

A collaboration with artist Kanchan Chander in New Delhi during 2000 resulted in an exhibition at Canberra Contemporary Art Space in 2001.

In 2013 Geier suffered an accident that impeded the use of her painting hand, but she adapted her normal practices to accommodate this temporary disability and five major exhibitions were to follow.

Known as a thinking artist with a particular interest in perspective, in one of her many exhibitions at Beaver Galleries, Meridian, 2012, she revisited her own work using Carrington Bowles’ 18^th century work Practice of Perspective as her source.

Her growing interest in the forces of nature was seen in shows such as Meander II at Araluen Galleries in Alice Springs, in 2008, Strange Plants at Beaver Galleries in 2008, Tree of life at Langford 120 in  Melbourne in 2015 and Coming Storm in 2016, also at Beaver.

Geier’s artistic output was formidable. When an exhibition of her new paintings and works on paper  opened at Beaver Galleries in 2016, Peter Haynes curator and author of the monograph Helen Geier, estimated it to have been her 60th solo exhibition since 1974 and her 126th group exhibition since 1972.

Her last public exhibition was held at Gosford Regional Gallery in late 2019.

Helen Geier is survived by her husband, Jeremy Campbell-Davys, her two sons from a previous marriage, and Jeremy’s children.

A private funeral for Helen Geier was held in Canberra on July 1.