HELENE STEENE

Upcoming Events:
  • May 6 - June 10 solo exhibit at the Carnegie Center, Lexington,  KY. "Books-in-Progress" conference June 7 - 8.
  • June 21 - July 20 "The Language of Flowers", New Editions Gallery, Lexington KY (opening reception during gallery hop June 21, 5 - 8 PM)
  • Aug 11 - Dec 22, "Aegean Echoes", solo exhibit at the Headley-Whitney Museum, opening reception Aug 11, 5.30 - 7.30 PM
  • Sept 6, "Aegean Echoes", Greek evening at the Headley-Whitney Museum. 6 - 8 PM (more details later)
  • October "Aegean Echoes", art talk/dance/poetry at the Headley-Whitney Museum, 2 - 4 PM (more details later)

Her mixed media work is mostly non-objective or abstract, on wood panels or on collaged paper. Primarily using oil glazes with pure pigments over marble dust mixtures. Surfaces are sanded and built up in numerous, very translucent, layers to create intense colors with great depth. Sanded metal is included on most wood panels. Her figurative works are primarily drawings of nudes or plants, collaged with mixed media. Using wood panels allows for any size work, and commissions are welcome.

She was born in Sweden and moved to the United States in 1976.

Artist's Statement

"Whether my work is non-objective, abstract or figurative, there is always a search for something that signifies a subtle inner beauty, depth and simplicity even when the forms are complex and layers many. I am intrigued by the tension between forms, lines and colors that ultimately can resolve in harmony. Sometimes, this is achieved with more obvious forms, and sometimes, with a delicate balance using colors and textures to give substance to the spaces that exist because there are no objects."

"If my work can slow someone down to contemplate something within her or himself - if the work can add a moment of focus on their inner peace in this absurd world - then I have reached the viewer. We, the viewer and the mark maker, would be connected through that ephemeral magic that is all around, as I am convinced that one's range of intellect is so trivial in the face of greater mysteries."