Helen Corning and Discovery in Abstract Art

if i knew what I was  going to paint, I couldn't.

Because I don't know what will happen, it's possible…

     ---Helen Corning

A great artist of the New York abstractionists and a great teacher

and person... 

      To me Helen puts it so simply, for some of us, art is a process of discovery - embarking on a journey and not having a clue where we're off to. Much like improv music everything you ever learned comes into play in the right moment and circumstances but it not the narrow usual conscious mind that decides.

Yes as Helen said the conscious ("adult") plays a kind of referee, monitor role , stepping back after certain play-periods the Wild Child from the Deep Unconcious has had, to SEE if in terms of the strucutures of art, it can stand or must be changed, having infact the final word, but it is not that Adult who creates or draws it up from the depths of a place way beyond a separate conscious mind we call ourselves.  That energy, insight, comes from the  Wild Child as she calls it, free from boundaries and borders and definition; the one who has access to dance and spontaneity and juice from all those so-called 'other' emotions and experiences, maybe personal or maybe beyond what ever came into our little lives........the carrier, the medium... a wild and strong but very very serious children's play is abstract art.  

     Helen is now in Maine at 84.  She will continue painting and teaching those lucky ones up there. 

Artist’s Statement: As I grow older, and wiser (?) I become more questioning about all things, including art. The enjoyment of doing art is very much still there. The enjoyment of the results, however, change with time and place. To me, “less is more.” A year spent in Japan reinforced that philosophy. I find over load everywhere. I strive for elements that suggests but do not “INSIST.” I want the person looking at these paintings to discover at leisure what it is all about and maybe between us, we can share these ideas. I still call the paintings, “Haiku.” Haiku being a very concise short poem that has a lot to say. Biography: BFA, Ohio University; MFA in Painting, University of Washington. Studied composition with Alexy Brodovitch, New School, New York City and printmaking with Gaston Petit, Tokyo, Japan. Taught art at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Maintained studios in Tokyo, Japan, and Ein Hod, Israel. Private collections: Weitzman Institute, Rechovot, Israel; Sohio Collection, Washington, D.C.; Bell Atlantic; Federal Bank of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD; Howard Hughes Medical Center, VA. Maintains studio in Kensington, MD. Teaches abstract art at Glen Echo, MD. Click for complete resumé (pdf)