**Meet The Artist, Helena Domenic**

Helena Domenic is an accomplished mixed media artist who has shown her work in Philadelphia, New York, across the United States and in Germany, Egypt, and South Africa. Helena was born in Vicenza, Italy where she was exposed to great works of art from a very early age. After that auspicious beginning, her family moved to Delaware, where Helena began a lifelong love for the Brandywine River and the Golden Age of Children’s Illustration. She holds a BFA from Kutztown University, an MA in Art Education from The University of the Arts, and an MFA from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She recently retired from her position as an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Prior to Kutztown, she was an Associate Professor of Art History and Studio Art at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania for eighteen years. Helena is the author and illustrator of *An Illuminated Guide to Wicca* and *The Fellowship of the Fool* book and tarot deck.
Helena lectures regularly at conferences about art and the sacred, painting, and installation at both academic and healing arts venues. Her art is influenced by artists such as Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, Jimoh Biramoe, El Anatsui, Bettye and Alison Saar, and Agnes Pelton. Helena offers classes in various kinds of art and spiritual studies from her studio in Phoenixville, PA, where she works to create an environment of community and creativity.

Opening Reception Friday November, 7th 6:30 - 9:30 PM

Gallery Hours:

11/8: 12-3PM

11/9: Artist talk, 12-2PM

11/15: Paint, talk & hang 12-4PM

11/16: 12-3PM

11/22: 12-3PM

11/29: Closing Reception 12-3PM

To purchase from the exhibit please purchase in person or email helena@artofhelenadomenic.com

Website: www.artofhelenadomenic.com

Instagram: @helenadomenicart

Artist Statement: From The Ashes

I have always been interested in stories about transformation. My interest in transformative realms came to the forefront in June of 2024 when I suffered a severe spinal column injury that profoundly changed my life and my outlook on life. I nearly died because of this injury and my neurosurgeon said he had never seen an injury as bad as mine. He predicted that I would never get any better than I was the night of my surgery (spinal fusion from C2 through T5 of my vertebrae) and that I would never walk again. I decided not to believe him and spent two months in Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital doing physical and occupational therapy.

I am interested in the in between places; places where the veil between this world and unseen worlds is thin. I have been interested in mythology and the stories handed down from one generation to the next my entire life, and I am always researching these areas for inspiration and information. I grew up reading stories from the myths of multiple cultures: Celtic, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian. I also loved stories of fairies from Irish and British folklore.

In fairy stories both here in the United States and places like Ireland, there are references to places that are “thin.” These places are where the dividing line between this world and the other is thin; between life and death; between death and rebirth. Anthropologist Victor Turner called these spaces “liminal.” Those thin, liminal spaces that I have always been so fascinated with were suddenly within my understanding. I realized that dying in and of itself is painless and that choosing to live and fight were painful, but worth the battle. I had truly experienced what is known as shamanic dismemberment in which an individual is pulled apart and put back together again to better seek out the mystic. As I recovered, I also enjoyed art therapy and began to look at themes and symbols of healing. My work has always drawn from mythology, folklore, dreams and personal visions, and after my injury this became even more the case.

I work with a variety of media, including but not limited to acrylics, watercolors, pastel, colored pencil, graphite, ink, clay, found objects and semi-precious gems. I am drawn to altarpieces and shrines and love to create modern day versions. I am inspired by the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites as well as women surrealists such as Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Remedios Varo, and Frida Kahlo (although she didn't consider herself a surrealist). I’m drawn to artists who have suffered great emotional and physical struggles and whose art reflects those struggles.

I have survived personal loss and struggle, and I have sympathy and empathy for all those who suffer throughout the world. Each day the news is filled with horrors that should be unspeakable. I am speechless when faced with these terrors being experienced by people globally, and by the frightening prospect of what the future may hold.

Art is a bridge that allows us to cross gaps we might not have anticipated; helps us to contend with whatever the world may throw our way. Art helps us to speak the unspeakable, to heal the wounds of individuals and cultures. Art is essential.

I believe in art and in the power of art.