Helen Frost Way

biography  |  artists listing

b. 1944, New York

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
Bowes & Co., ...CA
Connecticut Savings Bank, CT
Continental Insurance Corporation,..NY
Design Solutions, CT
Essex Corporation, .......CA
Financial Planning Consultants, RI
Gaudreau & Co.,....RI
Reliance National,....NY
Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT
Wausau International,..NY

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2005 All Things Considered III, North Tahoe Arts, Lake Tahoe, CA
Third Sculptural Basket Invitational, The American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
2004-2005 Basket Invitational, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Small Expressions, Metropolitan State College of Denver, The Center for Visual Arts, Denver, CO
Invitational Contemporary Baskets, Allied Arts Association, Art Center and Gallery, Richland, WA
Contemporary Basketry, Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2003 Western Threads, Phippen Art Museum, Prescott, AZ
Second Contemporary Basket Invitational, The American Art Co., Tacoma, WA
National Basketry Organization, Baskets Now: 2003, Yeiser Art Center, Paducha, KY
2001 Small Expressions, St. Louis Artists' Guild, St. Louis, MO
Woven Constructions, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2000 The Inspired Hand, Atrium Gallery, University of Southern Maine, ME
Container Art, Kenosha Institute of Arts, Kenosha, WI
Small Expressions, Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, Covington, KY
Fiber Invitational, Kate Gingrass Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
1999 Fiber Celebration, The Art Center of Estes Park, Estes Park, CO
All Things Considered, HGA, Gatlinburg, TN
Innovation-Baskets & Beyond, The Firehouse Gallery, Damariscotta, ME
National Crafts, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA
Fiber with Imagination, The Firehouse Gallery, Damariscotta, ME

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My fiber works are my migrational tools. They are the means to resolving my questions about my world and me. How I fit with past cultures, where I am going and the need to find direction. I do my work for myself to satisfy this yearning, to find my place. Forms in my fiberwork relate to classic shapes of pottery and basketry, but break traditions as they evolve into objects with personalities of their own.   Past cultures intrigue me.

I study their religions, customs and rituals attempting to capture feelings of bygone peoples, linking them to us, passing the markers on.   I wonder if a craftswoman in the past has created a basket or pot as I am trying to do. Was she successful in meeting her needs? Has she used her materials to reach an understanding of Self? Expression in words doesn't succeed in conveying my intent as does simply regarding the work.