ARTIST STATEMENT
We all can use the tools we have to make our world better. I am an artist and my art is the best, most powerful way I have to make a positive difference. Starting January 1, 2024 I starting my Drawing for Good Project. I posted on social media a-drawing-a-day each day where I drew into an existing watercolor sampler from my collection of unfinished small watercolors that were demos from teaching watercolor workshops. For all of 2024 I posted and sold the small works unframed and un-matted for $100 apiece and donated the profits to good causes of my choosing. I created 366 pieces in 2024. I still occasionally add to the collection. Now the works are sold matted and at market value but I still donate $100 from each work from the collection to good causes of my choosing as they sell. Over 150 pieces have found new homes. My main artwork is focused on the health of our planet, pollinators and climate change. These small works allow me to address issues that arise daily and are small creative ‘spells’ to name and control the uncontrollable. I continue to channel my concerns into all of my art and to uses my tools to address these times as best I can both in the art and with small bits of support where I can. We can not all do everything, but we can all do something.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Helen Klebesadel is an artist, educator, and arts activist living and maintaining her art studio in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Born and raised in the rural Midwest, she is best known for her environmental and feminist themed large-scale watercolors. Klebesadel has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, and her artworks are represented in many public and private the art collections. A celebrated mentor to less experienced artists, Klebesadel models making beautiful yet meaningful art centered around issues important to her while working to help others do the same in their own way.
© Helen Klebesadel