Helen Levin

I am a mature artist emergent from the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, and part of the early Feminist movement that advanced the urgent statements of women artists of all practices and artistic traditions in their personal expressions. My MFA in painting, from Columbia University, dates back to 1963 and I hold a BFA in painting from Hunter College. Besides working as an artist, I am also a freelance writer and an active member of the Women in the Arts Foundation. For my paintings, I have received grants from the Deparment of Cultural Affairs, Artists Space, Columbia University, and the Chenven Foundation.

My artist’s books are in the collections of both the Brooklyn Museum of Art and MoMA. My artwork is in the collection of the Staten Island Museum, the Janco Dada Museum (Ein Hod, Israel), the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art and in private collections in the US and Holland. The focus of my work is personal—a gestural abstraction that is founded on the concept of absolute liberty of expression, which I believe is crucial for all artists. I find inspiration in the visual world, both natural and human-made.

My training as an artist emerged from the Abstract Expressionist tradition, but it flourished only through the Feminist Movement. I have been a participating member of the Women in the Arts Foundation since 1977, an affiliation that has raised my consciousness to professionalism and assertiveness. I came to understand that my “being” as an artist was a valid lifelong choice for a woman, although my spouse did not agree. He is gone and remarried. He left me with a son who became a media artist and is doing well.

My paintings emerge from my emotions and my pains. Antrum Tantrum came from mismanagement by an MD (male); Blue Mood was inspired by a photo of a car bomb in Baghdad; the Jazz Train series and Zen Meditations are personal. They all express my humanity, and that is what Feminism is all about.