Artist Helene Roberts
Congratulations to Helene Roberts who earned her place as a finalist in the 6th Edition!
Who are you and what inspired you to begin creating sculpture?
Well, my life started in the Netherlands where I grew up, in a town called Zutphen, not far from the German border. I obtained a Liberal Arts degree there, focusing on languages. As a young adult I moved to London, England, then my favourite city (still one of my favourite cities) and worked for a series of investment banks as a translator/office manager. I also met my American husband there and eventually, we moved to the US, to Washington DC. While there I went back to school to study Interior Design, and I had a successful design career in which I focused on designing commercial interiors. Eventually, though, I started to feel that I was lacking truly creative design opportunities and increasingly I found myself designing furniture, often using industrial and bold materials. I quickly realized that I needed help fabricating properly, and felt a study in sculpture should be helpful, which I pursued in Belgium where we were living at the time. However, while learning to work with varied materials I was introduced to figurative sculpture, and it totally moved me. I immediately shifted my focus to sculpting figuratively and portraying the human condition. This has been my focus since, and I love it, and I will continue with it, but I have not been able to totally forget my design roots. I am now extremely interested in combining figurative sculpting with the creation of objets d’art. And, my mind is overflowing with new ideas!
“Abe” (Finalist Winning Work)
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
What drew you to explore the human figure as a topic for your work?
When I was enrolled in the sculpture program in Belgium and was ‘exposed’ to figurative sculpture I recalled some of the World War II experiences my mom shared with me. At the time she lived near an internment camp where Jewish people and political prisoners were waiting to be transported to the concentration camps further east in Europe. She witnessed things no young person should have to, and she told me stories that, at the time, I did not know what to do with. I felt especially empathic towards the young children who ended up being caught in the horror and tragedy of those times. Once I discovered I could sculpt figuratively and relay expressions and emotions, these experiences my mom talked about so long ago inspired me to sculpt the essence of human suffering, to bear witness. Eventually, this was the beginning of the creation of my series “Children of Tragedy”.
“Children of Tragedy”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind “Abe”?
The inspiration for “Abe” came from my client W. He had bought one of my pieces before and asked whether I would sculpt a bust of a former US President for him. I told him that it depended on who it was. He then gave me several options of which Abraham Lincoln was one. Seeing that, it took me no time at all to point him out and say, “yes please”. How exciting to sculpt such a magnificent and charismatic portrait, full of strong, distinguished and slightly off-balanced features. Besides, I deeply appreciate the very difficult and unpopular decisions he had to make for America during his abbreviated tenure, some of which aged him prematurely, but he stayed the course. He upheld his morals and made great advancements in the field of civil liberties, enacting measures that abolished slavery. May I become political for a moment and say that we have not had such a leader for quite a while.
“Collective Wisdom”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
Can you walk us through the physical creation of “Abe”?
The biggest difficulty sculpting somebody who is not alive anymore is that you can only use existing photographs. Usually, photographs are available of the front side of somebody and maybe the sides, but rarely can you find photos of somebody’s backside. In such a case I will have to make up what the person might have looked like from a certain angle and make sure it works with the other angles you have images of. Anyway, that I can deal with, and did. To start the process, I created an armature from which to hang my water-based clay. This armature was a combination of a metal frame with small wooden blocks connected to it with wire. Without it, the heavy clay would not stay put. Then I added pieces of clay to the armature to create the overall shape of the bust not going into details until later. I shaped it with my hands, knives and small wooden planks. I positioned the eyes, nose, mouth and ears visually, but at times I did measure to double-check. I worked the bust until I was totally satisfied, dealing with hair last. I let the completed bust sit for a while, looking at it, and at times working it a little. Once done I took the bust to the bronze foundry so they could make a reusable mould (because this was a commission the foundry made the mould; usually I make the mould myself). Once they had the mould the foundry produced a wax cast. I went back to the foundry when that was done to look the result over and I made corrections as necessary, as the bronze cast will be an exact duplicate of the wax. Upon my approval they make another, special heat-resistant mould around the wax and put the whole thing in a kiln to burn it out, creating a gap where later the bronze was poured. After the cast bronze was freed from the mould and cleaned up I went back to the foundry for patination. Then it was done. In this case my client took care of the pedestal and the mounting locally. Because I have the reusable mold of “Abe” I can make more than one edition, which my client approved.
“Crying Girl”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
How would you describe your work?
My figurative work captures the essence of the subject, at times in a provocative and confrontational manner. They evoke emotion and drama. With my created objets d’art emotion and drama are also perceived, through juxtapositions of styles, materials and textures.
“Another Victim”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
What is the message you want to send your audience with your work?
When it comes to my figurative work I am moved to express life’s dramas in a rather confrontational way, conveying the raw results of what affects and challenges us, humans, emotionally. They attest to pain, to opportunities lost, but also to survival and to the joy in pleasures lived. I am especially appalled and saddened about the plight of our children when exposed to humanity’s inhumanity and folly, which I express in much of my figurative work and has resulted in the Children of Tragedy series. I want the viewer to face these victims, grieve with and for them and become more understanding of how fortunate they are to be a mere witness to their sorrow and to work harder to create a more compassionate world for them. When I create my objets d’art, I also look for drama, and I achieve this through juxtaposing style, form, texture and/or colour.
“Child of God”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your sculptures?
As I have been working on my sculptures I have learned over and over again that I need to get to know my subject, and I mean really get to know my subject. I need to observe and study to find the essence of the person, whether a person who actually lives/lived or whether my subject is a made-up person. If I do not spend the time to truly get to know my subject, do the necessary research and look to really see them, it will be awfully hard if not impossible to either produce a true likeness, the right ambience or the appropriate emotion. When I design objets d’art, furniture or functional art I have learned to draw these items out first of all at scale, to get all the proportions right. It is a lot easier and quicker to change proportions and measurements on paper than when fabricating or sculpting.
“Victim”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
Several years ago, I was in an out-of-town exhibition with “Despairing Boy” from my series “Children of Tragedy”. I had just arrived when I wanted to see how the curator had exhibited my sculpture. As I discussed its fantastic location one of the hostesses came over and asked if I was the artist of the piece. When I answered in the affirmative, she said she had to tell me something important. When she first saw “Despairing Boy” she immediately called her husband and told him to come to view this sculpture. On seeing the piece, he immediately broke out in tears and indicated the boy reminded him of himself as a young boy during a very painful period in his life, the second world war. He was living in eastern Europe then and his father was a political prisoner in a labour camp. As he was doing labour there a heavy sack of concrete got loose from a hoist and fell on top of him. This totally paralyzed him and as a result, his father was sent home to live out his life in a bed. This brought much hardship and pain to him and his family, and my depiction of a suffering boy had been overwhelming for him. By this time the hostess and I were both crying, and I apologized for bringing grief to her husband. She stopped me and told me how good of a thing this had been because he was finally able to speak to her about this tragic experience. This just proves how personal and incredibly strong people’s reactions can be when they view a piece of art, and it reiterated to me that bringing about this series and continuing to work on it is such a worthwhile endeavour.
“Despairing Boy”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?
I have actually just finished a project, a bust of Dwight Eisenhower which was another commission. I just picked it up from the foundry and shipped it to my client. The project I am working on and interrupted to sculpt Ike is a novel approach for me, where I combine sculpture and design. In this case, this combination will culminate into a console table where the one leg it has is sculpted and the top with its backboard hangs from a wall. The table has been sketched out at scale and the leg has been sculpted and moulded. I now have to cast the leg as well as a concrete top. The backboard is a sheet of steel that will be cut by a steel fabricator. It functions as wall support but also to frame a possible sculpture or a vase of flowers. Then I will put all the parts together, and voila....a unique and original console table!
Dining Table
By Helene Roberts
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
I have started my dream project already, sculpting life-size children who have suffered in their short lives. I wish to continue to sculpt more children and I would like to place their bronze casts throughout major cities. Different ones in multiple locations, on multiple corners, in these cities so people on their way to work, shopping, or socializing will encounter them and be awakened to the fact that we still are not taking care of our children well and should do much better.
“Coming Undone”
Sculpture
By Helene Roberts
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?
Believe in yourself, believe in yourself, believe in yourself! I am sure I am not alone in having doubts about my approach to art and whether my skill set holds up. Especially, when you hear the word “no, thanks” so many times. It is important to keep on “trucking”, and not to get discouraged. And find people who do get you and your art.
To view more of Helene Roberts’ work