hel's studio

Faculty Exhibition

2012-01-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Boys visit Palomar Boehm Gallery.

Boys Playing, Cowboys and Indians; Martyrs and Infidels.

Claybone, I want this drawing!

Vicki, so fun to have the three of us in the same Exhibition.

Closing of the Discrepancy Exhibition

2011-10-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Going up for the closing Sat Oct 22nd hope to see some of you!

Feed back on the discrepancy Show in Napa.

2011-09-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Describing Discrepancy

Mark Van Proyen

Helen Wilson’s grouping of recent images titled Boys Playing Martyrs and Infidels Playing Cowboys and Indians seems to reach for the core of the matter, as if to say that the impulse to enact violent struggle lay within the deep psychological make-up of the human male. It seems to have the right kind of psychological distance for the way that we experience real conflict via mediated images, and it invites an ambiguous multi-dimensional reading that might be taken as a universalist apology for the bad decisions leading up to our troubled times.

Pagan Brooke

What an honor to see your drawings at the Napa Museum yesterday.

They were profoundly articulate, layered and powerful. The drawings them selves of course are stunning, but the way they told the story and carried the concepts was provoking and urgent. Thank you for a great experience.

Icons & Reliquares plus Couch Paintings & Coffee Table Books.

2011-09-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Finally some images of the opening.

About the skeleton...

2011-09-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have been working with the image of the skeleton for over seven years. The skeleton that we carry with us always (not simply at death), has been for centuries (and in multiple cultures) associated with Death as a Memento Mori. The Skeleton also plays a part as structure. Especially when referring to architecture. Without this foundation we would collapse. I use these multiple meanings in my art, first as a Vanitas and second as a reference to our foundations both religious and social. While death and its inevitability is an equalizing force, our beliefs about it affect our reality.

By using Velum (a transparent paper used in Architectural drawing) and placing two drawings back to back I hope to open up discussions on how our foundations affect who we become. Through the combination of being raised Catholic and the study of art history I understand the religious implication of illumination. The act of passing light through an image is a spiritual one. What becomes apparent in this action and what remains hidden is for me more of a psychological investigation into individuality.

For me personally, remembering my mortality has a very resent and personal meaning. I assisted my father only a couple of weeks ago. He died at home holding my mothers hand on August 13^th. While socially and culturally this time of life is predominated by myth and personally at times felt darkly dystrophic, the actual experience was an awakening one. Understanding more about death in the end affects how we chose to live and die.

Wendy Willis Printmaking: DISCREPANCY: living between war and peace Opening

2011-08-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Wendy Willis Printmaking: DISCREPANCY: living between war and peace Opening: "DISCREPANCY OPENING RECEPTION What a night is was! The show looked amazing. Elegant. Powerful. Beautiful. There were artist statements..."

Napa Valley Museum Show

2011-08-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Oh what a night! This was a great opening and the show is fab. If you have a chance you need to make it up.

Lynn visits San Francisco

2011-06-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

The Dry point etching entitled Lynn will be on exhibition at Modern Eden in San Francisco throughout June.

Hawkboy finds a home.

2011-05-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Toy portraits...almost done

2011-03-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Modern Eden Group show up intil Jan 16th!

2010-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

If you havent gotten to Modern Eden yet, it's up until Jan 16th.

The work looks great!

Opening In San Fran

2010-11-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

December's show will showcase Modern Eden's favorite exhibiting artists

with works in San Francisco sizes.

Featuring new works by Jaxon Northon, Leilani Bustamante, Bradley Platz, Kim Larson, Sakuna Daring, Aaron Hodges, Ryan Gannon, Justin Loney, Daniel J. Valadez, Steve Javiel, Tanem Davidson, Kurtis Rykovich, Hilary Williams, Sheri DeBow, Anderson Lewis, Natasha Dikareva, Slug & Squirrel, Christine Benjamin, Helen Wilson, Double Parlour, and more!

Live music provided by DJ Edward Aten

Got to meet the Guerilla Girls first hand!

2010-11-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

Been using their "The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art"
for years as an auxiliary text in my Art History classes for years...so cool.

Public Sculpture

2010-11-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

Just participated in my first Public Sculpture through the Palomar Sculpture Department were I teach.
It's at the Vallecitos Water District in San Marcos and is a solar driven fountain.
Using the hand of one of the students that created the design for the garden I made a bronze hand for the piece. Karen Wooten poured and I finished it.
I think it turned out quite nice.
The department is listed on the sign.

North Beach Art Walk

2010-09-23T00:50:00.000-07:00

Heading North to spend the weekend in San Fran. I'm going to be showing my work at the North Beach Art Walk

Come on by, I'll be in the garden at 2029 Powell. It sounds like the weather gods are with us. What a great way to spend a beautiful weekend, walking around North Beach looking at Art!

Family Portraits

2010-07-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

In my Wallet Portrait series, I’m thinking about real families. If you want to know about whom someone considers family look into their wallet. These are the people that we choice to carry around with us. These people choice to call themselves family by documenting their relationships through photography. People’s wallets tell stories. Some caricatures make multiple appearances as they move through their lives. I’m using children’s toys to create these stories; after all we already have histories we bring to some of these caricatures.

All Images copywritten.

Wallet Portraits Proposal

The proposal for this piece is simple. Create a life through someone’s wallet photos.

One wallet setting on a pedestal, Large photos framed and hung behind on the wall, a family gallery with extra wallet portraits to be taken home.

Eight Rattles Together

2010-07-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

Rattles are instruments of ritual used to put the participant in the correct state of mind for the ceremony. They also have a history of being toys given to infants, also to put them in the correct state of mind, i.e. quite.

The rattle babies seem to scream quietly, until shaken. They are a combination of our animal and human selves. As is the tradition in composite creatures they are given aspects of the animal they are combined with, sort of a shadow self and or an animal guide. I also feel compelled to give them the tools they may need to survive. A baby human, bird or deer all need protection and camouflage. A hawk needs the rabbit, a fish the sea. Batboy instead carries the weight of our fear of our animal selves in his little body. He carries the burden of the love/hate relationship we have with this myth of the super hero/monster. A human who carries too much animal, the unwelcome aspects (the wolf-the bat) becomes either a hero or quickly an evil creature to be avoided or stamped out. But as a baby we feel connected somehow to this animal and thereby to ourselves. I know some may look and see only the strangeness of it all but I’m hoping for a small recognition of the self.

Tuesday Nights: PROJECT ONE: THE EXQUISITE CORPSE

2010-07-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Nights: PROJECT ONE: THE EXQUISITE CORPSE: " We will begin by playing the game Exquisite Corpse. This is a method by which collections of w..."

New Blog for Tuesday the Tuesday night class.

2010-07-12T20:40:00.001-07:00

I've made a new blog so that the Tuesday night crowd will have a place to brain storm together.

Class to begin in Aug.

2010-07-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

It's time to start thinking about school again.

Project 4: Mold Making, (Replacement Method)

2010-07-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

I know the semester is over but I had to share this project!

Project Description: The project concept is personal identity and the aesthetics of duplication. What does it mean to be masked? What do you identify with? Who is your shadow self?

The cast is just a starting point. So once you have casted your face you have just begun. We will be using Alginate to cast a portion of your face. After we cast we then cast from this mold in wax were you will rework it into a mask; other things can be added at this point. From this we will make a ceramic shell mold, which we will cast in either Bronze or Aluminum.

Two More Baby Rattles...

2010-07-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Two new arrivals, the Feathered Serpent and the Mt Lion rattles, both of royal blood. That is if Gods and Royalty are the same.

New Sculpture: Louie

2010-07-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

The new sculpture Louie was excepted into American Art Collector.
Welcome to my world Louie and congrads.
If you must know... Louie was the name I gave to my stuffed lion, he was given to me in hospital when I was burned at 2. I went every where with him.
He was lost in the Cedar Fire when I lost my home and studio.
Came with a fire and left in a fire.

The rest?

One more Mixed Media Soft Sculpture.

2010-05-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

I forgot Ruth's piece Menopause how could I forget to include this wonderful one....

2010-05-04T17:03:00.001-07:00

2010-05-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

two finished rattles...The Easter Bunny Baby and the Elephant.

Project 5: Soft Sculpture Media & Meaning. (Construction Method)

2010-05-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

In this assignment you get to play like a god, really let the act of creating (process) influence your art object (product) .

Project Description: This project is about alternative media and what meanings that provokes. Sculpture for Centuries has been made from hard media, marble, clay, wood, stone and steel. This project is in part about what happens when you change that. It also covers the history of images and more specifically our history of naming species. It’s your turn.

Project 3: Hyper Realism Carving Project (Subtractive Sculpture)

2010-04-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

Using polyurethane foam the project is to replicate an object as accurately as possible by copying the shape, proportions, color and texture of the object. The light weight quality and history of foam added content to many of the objects. i.e. a rock is normally heavy and a tool is useless in foam. They were asked to think about simulation, were does real begin?

Right to left:Barbara's fake of a fake book, Drue's strawberry candle, Rose's Fantastick, Ruth's glass pear, Gosia's souvenir horse, Liz's antler, Karen's rock, Ryan's Counterfeit drug bottles, Marc's Pair "O" Hammers, Mateo's spray can, Ron's ukulele and Antonia's R.I.P. pillow.

More Sculptures

2010-03-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

Project 2: Modeling, Transformation and the Surreal Project. (Additive Sculpture):

We used a product called Carton Peidra to transform an object into something surreal. What would you never combine and why, how would that change the meaning? What strange combination would make you laugh and why? Or use chance, let the object guide you. Remember you’re on a journey, you don’t need to arrive anywhere.

Left to Right: Christian’s La Fuente Original, Drue’s Grave Digger, Joseph’s There’s Always a Bigger Fish, Ruth's This Boys Life, Antonia's Nature and Nurture, Ryan's Shedding and Karen's Stock Still. In the bottom row is Jeremiah's A Babies Hunger, Malgorzata's Perfect Female, Lauren's Sir Real and Ron's Happiness.

All the photos didn't turn out so sorry if your piece is missing...next time.

Sculptures

2010-03-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share some of my sculpture students projects.

Project 1: Drawing in Space, Wire Project. It’s time to move off a page into space. Think of the wire as a line that has come alive, moved from the flat world of 2 dimensions into our world of three. Use a roll of wire to create a three dimensional object.

Left to right: Antonia's Advance in Women, Ron's Ewa Beach, Marc's Oh Honey, Mateo's Tree, Karen's Pointy Bird and Barbara's Female Movement Through Life. In the second row is Drue's Smooth Operator, Liz's Wire Hair Terrorist, Ruth's Evolutionary Pondering and Lauren's Sunbating Vulture.

Rattle Musings

2010-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

I sent the rattles off to a show in Santa Ysabel, at the Santa Ysabel Gallery and it got me thinking...what was I thinking you ask?

Rattles are instruments of ritual used to put the participant in the correct state of mind for the ceremony. They also have the history of being toys given to infants, also to put them in the correct state of mind, i.e. quite.

The rattle babies seem to scream quietly, until shaken. They are a combination of our animal and human selves. As is the tradition in composite creates they are given aspects of the animal they are combined with, sort of a shadow self and or an animal guide. I also feel compelled to give them the tools they may need to survive. A baby human, bird or deer all need protection and camouflage. A hawk needs the rabbit, a fish the sea. Batboy instead carries the weight of our fear of our animal selves in his little body. He carries the burden of the love/hate relationship we have with this myth of the super hero/monster. A human who carries too much animal, the unwelcome aspects (the wolf-the bat) becomes either a hero or quickly an evil creature to be avoided or stamped out. But as a baby we feel connected somehow to this animal and thereby to ourselves. I know some may look and see only the strangeness of it all but I’m hoping for a small recognition to the self.

Exquisite Corpse Fun

2010-01-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

In October I invited seven artist/friends to play the game Exquisite Corpse. A method by which a collection of words or images (Images in our case) is collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse. The game was invented by the Surrealists and is similar to an old parlor game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. The technique got its name from one of the initial writings, "Le cadavre / exquis / boira / le vin / nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine). It seemed like the perfect game for fall and Halloween.

We played with abit of a twist. The body was broken into proportionately correct sheets of paper, i.e. the head is around 1/8 of the body. First we word associated body parts to warm up. For example what does arm make you think of? Then we all drew, one part at a time. The results were then put on the floor were each of us choose in turn our body, part by part.

This is where we really changed the game, everyone went home with there body and we agreed to reassemble in January. Once home your body was the inspiration for a piece of art. Everyone received canvas, paper or velum that was 2’ x 4’. Your only obligation was to your art and to keep the sense of play, after all this is was a game.

The players are Antonia Consentino, Judy Nachazel, Tracy Potter, Nancy Ferguson, Susan Bainbridge, Rath and myself. If you’re as interested as we are, (no one has seen all of the finished pieces) come to Packards Pluss on January 14^th at 7:00 for the unveiling. If you would like to get into the swing of things, we planning on coming dressed as a favorite artist, you can play too. The work will be up for at least a month.

Edan Drawing

2009-12-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

So it begins...

New Class!

2009-12-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone it is time to think about enrolling in Spring classes and some changes have occurred in my schedule.
So here is the news.
I will not longer be teaching Portrait in Escondido and Art History in Ramona. Both have been cut for budget reasons...but the good news
I will be the Instructor for Sculpture I and II, Mixed Media Sculpture on Palomars main campus and I would love to see some of you there!
This is a 3.0 unit class.

I will still be teaching the "Mixed Media Painting Intensive" in Ramona. And I have a great group of fun artist in this class. Come join us.
If you think these programs are important make sure to enroll in one of the Community Education (noncredit) classes this spring.

Water Cats

2009-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

The cats like water, how strange.
It rained enough to get the creek running and once I let the cats out, they went right in.
The two brothers turned out to be brother and sister.

So Lover and Leaver are now Lover and Leavem.

Her she comes...

2009-11-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

She is changing, this Siren.
It's sometimes, as if I'm getting to know someone.
I think this is a room not just one painting. Well I know it's more than one anyhow...it's left behind things.
It's trading cards. I'll give you this if you give me that.
Jose and Brian isnt childhood kind of a no-mans land?
Everybody wants it, while nobody claims it.
It seems to me that we value the idea of children far more then children.
Maybe it's more about making and storing memories.
We like it in memory, so safe and warm.
But it's late and I'm just going on.

2009-11-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

Naomi CarletonI love this train of thought. There is so much that is given up. Feeling secure without the knowledge of evil in the world and the fear of it. Comfort and peace with one's body...Susan Bainbridge

I am glad you are continuing to explore this issue.... would be nice if you could make an impact. Nice drawing and snakes!Maria Hennig

I loved the movie 'Hound Dog' and the layers of meaning. your drawing represents what made me sad about the story - the little girl pushed into growing up too fast and (I think) the wrong way...Kyle The cliché letter from Paul to Corinth is what comes, immediately, to mi mente. What does putting away childishness mean? What is the difference between childish and child like? … light hearted and light minded? There is too much ambiguity in the idea to make any absolute assertation, at all. I truly believe that there is an inherent error in any culture that presumes adults are, innately, any different than children. Add insult to injury by implying that adults are better, in any way shape or form. Let whatever God may be help me, should I ever deliberately leave anything at that altar. Is it too hard for people to suppose that in the universe adults and children exist on the same plane? I venture to submit that an infinite number of adults leave their desire to learn and create (which are synonymous), unsuspectingly, as an offering at the shrine of the quasi noble designation of “grown-up.” I know that’s a tangent and perhaps I’m too arrogant and not introspective enough to realize what I’ve sacrificed, but I suggest that our egos have the resolve to recover whatever it is we stand to lose. And that makes me happy.

Great, just the comments I'm looking for. I need to really think on this one. I want an altar and things left behind. At this stage the sleeping girls are gone and the siren is changing. I used clear gesso first, because in the end I want to leave the painting unfinished looking. Because yes Kyle it doesn't need to be this way.

The Altar of Adulthood

2009-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

After a pretty intense nightmare and the movie Hound-dog...I got to thinking.
It's a long way from thought out and is not a completely new vein for me, but...
Who and what are the Sirens of Adulthood. What did we leave at the altar of childhood?
What are the costs of coming into your own body in a society that tends to always view anything sensual as sexual advance. Were personal desire is transfered to the object of the desire even before the object has become aware of an another.
What did you give up too easily to the siren call of adulthood?

Next...

2009-11-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Eden is the next in the nieces and nephews series.
The photo is picked and the canvas is ready.
I think she needs an animal with her,
but I don't know what yet.
Any suggestions?

New Studio mates

2009-10-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

My two new studio companions. They are brothers, we have named then Lover and Leaver. They and 7 days of being sick have gotten me working in the studio. The start of classes always a distraction in Sept. These two are so far a good influence.

2009-08-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do something I don't normally do. Reveal one of the persona's of one of my babies.

It just seems right. The archetype for Ted was a politician and was indeed Ted Kennedy.

I just feel like I need to honor the man and the inspiration.

2009-08-24T16:53:00.003-07:00

And here is the final project from the class I'm teaching tomorrow night...

A Drawing Intensive.

2009-08-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

Start of a new school year. I love teaching art....

Here are some images from my Artist Sketchbook/Journal class.

Painting Intensive

2009-07-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Nancy and I are teaching a workshop in St Helena, CA. Come join us.

Arianna

2009-05-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of dealing with archetypical Personas in this new series, I’m working from my own relatives, my nieces and nephews. I’m from a large California Liberal Catholic family of eight who are now on the second generation of children. These are the children of my bothers and sisters children.

Arianna is the first finished painting in this series. Fifteen possibilities are waiting in the wings. Whether they will all come with an attribute, I don’t know. I only know Arianna came with an owl.

While grand scale has played a part in my previous infant paintings, I have reduced the size of these paintings simply because I needed to feel that they could all be lined up together down a long family hall.

More babies to rattle

2009-02-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

With five rattles done and a few more underconstruction, i'm starting to get clearer on a few things. They need special boxes, special homes to rest in and creation myths and stories to be told over and about them. So if something comes to anyone, if they tell you something that they have not told me yet, feel free to pass it on.

The white ones are the new ones and after they get back from the oven i'll start figuring out what else they need.

Shetaur

2008-11-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

At 4' x 4' each, the girls are much bigger then I had imagined. I've been working on this idea of young woman's energy mixed with the horse for some time now. The first thought was that this would be an etchings...but they needed to be bigger. So I'm drawing them large for now. I'm getting there but they are not there yet. They are still hanging around fantasy to close. It's not a question of reality for these creatures do exist for me, but in the two separate bodies. I'm not dealing with the animal nature and the higher mind of man as the Greeks put forth. For a young girl, it is being so close to such power while remaining safe and learning to control and relate in a right way. I've been a riding Instructor for years and watched young women relate and learn about power and it's relationship to them.

I think? One never really knows.

Oliver

2008-11-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

I've finished the new baby. I decided to start back small. But I really think the scale of the image is important and will move back up again. I was thinking of this child's aloofness. His separation he seems to have traits of an aristocrat. He made me think of Bronzino's Young Man with a Book.

New Toy, Ponyboy

2008-11-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Just finished this toy with breast necklace. I wanted a feeling of the mother powered breast instead of the breast as male toy. So I went to the Goddess from Ephesus, Turkey Artemis. For me the skeleton is the frame work, this child's foundation is the horse. I'm not the first to think of Artemis, Louise Bourgeois for one found inspiration there.

Hel's studio

2008-10-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

So it's October again 5 years since I lost my studio in the Cedar Fire and finally I feel like I'm up and beginning to run again.

Sculptures....toys with a feeling for ritual seem to be in the forefront.

I'm starting to want them to have stories or rituals that come out with them.

Like a strange coming out party.

Some are even rattles. They are surely going to need special boxes.

Deerbirdboy made "American Art Collector" catalog.