Blog

A Passion For Still Lifes

by

Helen E. Becker

      Passion doesn’t happen overnight.  When artistic passion begins to grow, creativity flows and the seeds for art-making are    sown. This is what happens in Helen Becker’s studio called “Rabbit Ears Art Place” or REAP for short. As a collage painter, Becker combines multiple materials (paper, fabric, and paint) to create eye-catching still lifes. REAP  is an excellent word  for her collaging activities. Reap means to cut or gather a crop. Becker’s crops, so to speak, are the materials she gathers to glue onto wood panels. These are the basic structures upon which she builds her collage paintings.

     Becker built her 600 square foot studio in 2018. It is where she prepares materials; ideas incubate and connect; and her medium- to large- sized collage paintings are completed. The studio is the perfect environment  to stimulate art making. It has a 12 foot high vaulted ceiling covered with tongue-in-groove wood. LED lights inside large metal shades hang down from the ceiling and provide just the right amount and kind of light. Outdoor light shines through eight large windows. This building is truly an art home away from home.

     Becker begins the art process by writing playful or whimsical titles for the works. The title comes first because it dictates what the focus of the painting will be. It is the hardest part of creating. Becker explains, “I like the challenge of matching a still life with a lighthearted title. The “stills” include real objects, and in some cases these objects may be imaginary or may have a new or unexpected relationship among them. Whichever way it is, I hope the viewer is entertained and delighted.”

     Once the title is known everything else falls into place. With the still life set up in the studio’s “half bath turned darkroom” she photographs it under the illumination of a single spotlight. After cropping the photo on a computer, she then turns it so that it sets at an angle. The original photos are passive because they are set in a vertical position, while the latter photos are more dynamic and pour out energy. They bring life to the “stills.”

     After drawing outlines of shapes with acrylic ink, Becker rapidly tears or cuts paper and fabric, and glues down the pieces in different areas according mostly to whim and sometimes with purpose. Acrylic paint comes next, followed by another “high energy” round of glueing collage paper. Her objective is to meld paint and paper into one creation, where the boundaries of each can no longer be deciphered.  Examples of her work are  

     “A Slice of Paper Plate” (24” x 30”  2020) which is illustrated by a white paper plate holding an apple with a slice  cut out of the plate much like the shape of a slice of apple pie.

Another is “Oil Lamp” (30” x 24”  2020) which shows a bottle of olive oil with a lampshade on top.

And several apples sliding off a table become “On A Roll”  (18” x 24”  2020)

     Becker’s passion for art began when she was four years old. Her childhood home, Champion, is a small bedroom  community in northeast Ohio. Both parents, noticing her excitement to color, bought a roll of butcher paper to save on the cost of individual sheets of paper. Rolling out the paper on the kitchen floor, she ambitiously set out to draw and color on the entire roll in one day. When imagining the possibilities afforded by so much paper, she remembers thinking, “This paper keeps rollin’ and rollin’ and I can keep drawin’ and drawin’.” 

     Perhaps her family’s interests and hobbies which fill a treasure chest of inspiration are how she caught the artistic bug. From her paternal grandmother who painted florals on fine china from Europe, to her maternal grandmother who painted large landscape murals of midwestern USA; and from her father who sculpted and painted, to her mother who crafted many projects, Becker was impacted by several generations  of creativity. She is grateful for all their passions to invent and actualize their visions.

     She remembers so much creativity and playfulness when a child. Those times can not be easily forgotten. She not only designed a set of paper dolls by using the Sears catalog to cut out figures of men, women and children, but also designed fashion outfits for all. When 12 years old she founded the neighborhood newspaper, “The Glendola Press”, priced at five cents a copy. She appointed herself publisher, editor and writer.

     Other neighborhood activities included theatre performances and 4th of July parades. Most important was the Big Dirt Pile where monster trucks and cars zoomed over the terrain and through tunnels.

     Art endeavors continued to expand. She was set director and stage manager for all the plays performed during her sophomore through senior years in high school. Inventiveness and creativity was ingrained in her by then.

     Then college began and art somehow dipped under the radar screen, only to thankfully reappear later at a crucial time. Becker attended and then met her husband at a liberal arts college in Ohio. She jokes that, not only did she earn a B.A., but also an M.R.S. degree. Yes, they were married in her senior year at college.

     Even though Becker and her husband began setting up roots in Ohio, the great mountain vistas of Colorado and Utah eventually drew them out west. One day they packed all their belongings in a Hertz Penske truck and Becker, in the family car, and her husband, in the truck, left Akron, Ohio, destined for Salt Lake City, Utah. Since that trip out west, the Beckers have made Moab, Utah, their current home, where Arches and Canyonlands National Parks are located.

     About the time of her arrival in Utah, emotional setbacks and challenges forced her to deal with issues plaguing her physically and mentally. In order to crawl out of her sinking emotions, she challenged herself by returning to and pursuing the creative endeavors she always loved. She promised herself, “When I get out of the mess I’m in, I will passionately devote all my time to everything that is art.”

     And so she has. Becker counts this experience as being the renewal of her motivation and passion for drawing and painting. It has taught her wonderful things about who she is and what she is capable of doing and becoming. She wouldn’t trade in this time and give up the wisdom she has gained and the success she has achieved.

     Becker’s artistic training has taken her workshopping across most of the western states. At Robert Burridge’s mentoring workshops in California, she has worked with small groups of artists who meet to work on their own projects. Burridge expertly guides participants through this intensive learning experience.

     An artist who has inspired her is the passionate Richard Diebenkorn who catches her admiration for being so steadfast in studying one subject matter for so long in his “Ocean Park” series. Henri Matisse is a favorite for his decorative  and colorful paintings.  And the elegance of Robert Motherwell’s large black shapes on white remains impressive. Finally, Art and Fear, written by David Bayles and Ted Orland, has had a profound impact on her.

     Finally, and most importantly, her practice of art has been the greatest teacher. After using a wide variety of materials from pencil, charcoal, and pen & ink to pastels, oils, acrylics and mixed media, she admits there are favorites. There, also, is an appreciation for and an understanding of many artistic possibilities afforded by so many mediums.

     As an artist, Becker’s main mission is to make something that has never existed in the world. It means to create something with her own hands with a unique design in mind. By teasing the minds of viewers to think beyond what they might expect, she is able to create a wonderfully lighthearted and dynamic still life.

     Becker has hopes and dreams for the future, especially to continue creating art with passion  until the day she departs this life on earth. She explains, “I want to continue to grow and expand my collage paintings so that they encompass all that I am capable of creating.  I want to be inspired and to inspire; and to be passionate about my still lifes; and to share these with all.”