While working as the director of Peter Bray Gallery in Melbourne, Helen Ogilvie organised exhibitions for such avant-garde artists as Margo Lewers, John Brack, Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd, to name a few. Her own work was also very modern and she was engaged with the Crafts Revival of the 1950s and 60s, which allowed her to make a living designing cutting edge lampshades in London for a period.