Helen Brooks Artist Reception

In-Town Gallery features “Showers Bring Flowers”, a showing of floral paintings by South Pittsburg artist, Helen Brooks. The very personal processes of creating a painting and of growing and nurturing flowers have been instrumental in the artist’s exploration and expression of her hopes, ideas, beliefs, and passions. “Every painting is a new experience,” she says, “a way to voice my feelings and ideas about the beauty around me and a constant motivation to find true original expression.” Brooks’s paintings, will be on display at In-Town Gallery through April 30th, with an opening reception Friday, April 5th, 5-8 pm. In-Town Gallery is located at 26A Frazier Avenue and offers contemporary art and fine craft by 30 local and regional artists.

Helen Brooks, a long time resident South Pittsburg, TN, graduated from Tennessee Tech with a degree in education and a minor in art. While teaching reading and art at South Pittsburg High School, she continued studying charcoal, pastel and oil under Bettie Wilson. Brooks also studied experimental water-media with Sandra Paynter Washburn, and both oil and acrylic techniques with Helen Van Wyk, Janet McGrath, and Anne Bagby. She is a member of Tennessee Art League, Tennessee Watercolor Society, Chattanooga Civic Arts League, AVA, and Allied Arts in Chattanooga.

Helen Brooks’s life has been profoundly shaped by her deeply held Christian beliefs, her love for her husband, Sam, during their 59 year marriage, her children and grandchildren, her commitment to her student’s success (she was designated a Master Teacher), and her devotion to gardening, at one time tending over 200 roses! These factors combine in her art, infusing a deep and personal meaning into her floral paintings. Her use of line, shape, color, value, and texture provide a visual rhythm and movement that celebrates her joy in life and in God’s creation.

Brooks’s deep affection for flowers and her energetic but controlled technique are readily apparent in her painting, “Daffodils.” A multitude of yellows explode off a complex blue background and combine with the vigorously rendered lines defining the flowers to bring the viewer a deep sense of immediacy and the precious moment when the flowers reach their peak.

In “Tulips”, the artist, still using a dynamic line, pushes the use of color even further by building a composition that utilizes the power of reds and yellows, but also uses more neutral whites and grays to allow the eye space thereby not overwhelming the viewer. This work shows a paradoxical side to Brooks’s art-- her color is vibrant but controlled, and her composition so apparently spontaneous is subtly controlled.

Helen Brooks’s show of floral paintings  will be on display at In-Town Gallery until April 30th. The reception is April 5th (5-8).