 For
more than 30 years in Santa Fe, Helenn Rumpel has created
fine art in cloth, in stitchery, and in oil and watercolor
paintings. Her primary medium has become fine art stitchery,
in splendid arrays of colorful threads and yarns, reflecting
fascination with the mythological and spiritual symbols
of ancient and contemporary cultures.
Inspiration in fiber art is much like that in a painting:
a majestic cathedral, the colorful cup of a flower, halos
of snow falling in a cold land. Helenn has been fascinated
with Byzantine art and architecture, and her art often
burns with its fervor.
Travel has been a great inspiration, and Helenn has lectured
and exhibited all over the world. Winner of the 1990 Governor's
Award as the Outstanding New Mexico Woman in Art, she
has had 20 one-woman museum/art center exhibits in the
past 15 years, in Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, California,
Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota and other states.
And of course, a great concentration of her art is in
her Southwestern base.
 In
New Mexico she has had solo exhibits in Taos and Santa
Fe, and more than 400 pieces of her art are owned in the
West Texas area alone. So popular is she there that Texas
Tech University in Lubbock has created an archive of her
works, papers and records.
Helenn has studied, exhibited and lectured internationally
as well, in Russia, Italy, Japan, England and Turkey,
and has visited other countries. Her drawing Russian
Snow Trilogy, in intense blues and whites, was also
made into a stitchery, which is currently on a two-year
national tour sponsored by the Embroidery Guild of America,
which has awarded top honors to her work in 1994, 1996,
1998 and 2000.
In May 2001 she will be the featured national artist
at the Albuquerque, NM, Fiber Arts Fiesta, "chosen because
the themes, techniques and themes she uses .interest so
many."
Helenn's expanding world of stitchery continues to include
commissions, intensive study and extensive teaching and
lecturing. Her studio publications include full-color
posters, note cards (82 to date) annual calendars (wall
and engagement) and a Book of Days.
--Resume edited by Sheila Cowing, winter
2000
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