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1930 - 1994
I remember watching her show and being mesmerized, not by her creation of a painting, but by her absolute clarity of knowledge and her astounding ability to convey complex thoughts in a matter of a few always informal words. "Put that cast shadow right underneath that vase," she'd say. "Park it's little carcass...because without it, the vase will appear to float." Always the why. Always the reason. Always a very clear instruction. She was a note taker's dream as I found out in studying with her. She had an ability to make everything seem right. And oh yes, if you were doing something wrong, you'd hear about that, too! No foolishness allowed. "Painting isn't fun!" she would say, "It's a battle between you and that canvas as you try to turn its flat 2-dimsenionalness into a 3-dimensional being!"
I hear she was born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and - like me - was painting seriously by age 12. She studied with Ralph Entwistle and her biggest influence, Maxmillian Rasko - a portrait painter and teacher. Soon as she got her own "legs" as an artist she, too, was off teaching people the wonders of good technique. Thousands have studied with her in her painting demonstrations around the country and came away the better for it. In 1990 she began her PBS television series - the same year she was diagnosed with cancer. She continued unabated, going full tilt with television shows, demonstrations and commissioned paintings. I last saw her in Cape Ann in June of 1994. She told me the continuous release "radiation bullet" they had installed in her, as well as her continual visualization of her tumor growing smaller was, apparently working. But we all could tell she wasn't anywhere near 100%. She said she and her husband, cartoonist Herb Rogoff, had decided to spend Winter down in Florida because she couldn't take the cold Rockport winters any more.
She may have not felt well, but when she was standing in "her place", palette in hand, canvas at the ready, she was a tiger and a fountain of valuable information. Pin-drop silence in a room of 40 people is awe inspiring as her students learned and learned.
This master artist divested herself of 50 years of knowledge, selfessly and with exceeding charm, an earthy humor, and with solid truth. Oh God! Mortification sets in. You always expected that Helen was going to let you have it, both barrels, no punches pulled. Never in a condescending way but also never gently. Her attitude was always forthright: "you're here to learn this stuff. I would be shortchanging you if I glossed over your errors." It was the kind of honest critique we hungered for yet feared! It's a little disconcerting in front of a room full of people to whom you haven't even said "Hello" yet; but it is just the kind of criticism one needs. "Teach me more! Whip it into me!"
"Jan," she began as I snapped the picture above, "this is a very nice painting." (Jan waits for other shoe to drop.) "It has many technically nice features but..." (oh here it comes!) "you should never sign your name on a painting at a slant! Always horizontal, easy to read." (Big Van Wyk smile. Bigger sigh from fidgeting, nervous artist!)
"The pot should be warmer" she added, quickly mixing a nice warm Umber & Sienna glaze to add over it." Metallic objects can be warmed up, it is not necessary to paint them cold, bluish and out of character for what else is in the picture.
"Perhaps the fine detail in the edge of the cloth should be pulled back a bit so as not to detract from the focal point: the red pepper," and she painted out some of the detail. Of course: less detail near the subject matter means less distraction from the focal point.
And on she went, through the works of more than 20 artists. The first break in the morning was a great stress reliever and after we had all chatted with one another we were much better acquainted and we unlucky souls who had our pictures critiqued prior to lunch now knew we could relax and learn for the rest of the week.
  TEACHING STUDIO WHERE A MUSEUM-FULL OF PORTRAITS WERE ON DISPLAY Jan - What do you feel is the real secret behind your painting success? Helen - I don't think I can put my finger on one thing. The whole secret is the years you spend learning your craft. It's the same way with a pianist, or a singer of opera. I like to tell people who ask me how long it took to finish a painting that it took me 2 days.....and 40 years! But if I had to put it into quick advice, I would say, "always paint plausibly". You see if a painting isn't plausible to the viewer then nothing else you can do will make it that way. Jan - Your mentor, Maxmillian Rasko, he was a portrait painter? Helen - Oh he was much more than just that. He was a teacher. I mean a real teacher, the sort whose every waking moment is devoted to showing you the way. One time he went out and bought a big bag of apples. He poured them out onto a table and told me, "Now spend the day painting these apples". So I did as I was told. When the painting was completed, he went over and put the apples back into the bag. Then he brought me the bag of apples and said, "All right now, I want you to pull each apple out of the bag and tell me which one is which in your painting!" It was a tough lesson in the difference between knowing - as we all do - that no two apples are alike, and actually painting them so you could tell them apart! Jan Who is Gertrude? Helen (Laughs) Gertrude was a student in a seminar some time ago. She painted a beautiful pear with an unusual lump in it. The lump was so counter to the rest of the painting, I asked her why she put it there. "Because it WAS there," she said. Well that's a good example of why the artist should be in charge. She would have been much better off omitting the lump, because it drew the viewer's eye straight to the lump and you missed the beauty of the succulent pear. She should have painted what should BE, not necessarily what she saw. There's that plausibility thing again. (Note: the following is my favorite of all the thousands of "Helenisms" Jan - You really put everything into painting! In this morning's demonstration you finished with your hands and arms covered with paint, it's on your blouse, the floor. You really get into it! Helen (feigning surprise!) Well that's the essense of most artists' problems with painting, you know. Timidity. You CAN'T be timid. Don't be in awe of painting. Don't be afraid of the process! Grab it with gusto and beat the CRAP out of it!" After the interview we went back into our final afternoon of class and everyone departed with best wishes for their homes around the country. Helenisms are those little "mutterances" Helen would come out with at the most unexpected times, but which always reflected her ready sense of humor. Our thanks to many people who have contributed "Helenisms" gleaned from class sessions and her television and video appearances, and if you have a favorite, let us know.:
Alan writes:
Here are some Helenisms you might remember from her show "Welcome to my Studio" - I always laughed whenever Helen would say "the Holland people" I would yell at my TV - "the Dutch, Helen, the Dutch!" - I now say "Holland people" as a kind of personal joke to myself.
- that's all I can think of for now - I downloaded her cataloge of videos from the WHMT website so now I can get access to some more videos and hopefully some more "Helenisms"
-Alan
From her video, "Oil Painting Techniques and Procedures:" as she applies an area of paint whose color doesn't please her, "Well, Helen, that was dumb!"
On "Welcome To My Studio", while painting a background, Helen said:"It's best
to do the background first. Painting a background around the subject is like
putting your bra on through your sleeve!" :)
Helen Van Wyk passed away in December, 1994 a week before Christmas. All the artists who ever studied with Helen, and who paid reasonable attention, were given a priceless legacy to build upon. Because of the tireless work of her superb husband, Herb Rogoff, Helen lives on in her BOOKS. (For Videos, click HERE). He has overseen the publishing and updating of several of her books, some with new color pictures and even additional paintings by close friends and associates of Helen's. I own them all, and many are autographed by Helen. Reading them is like being right back in class again!
For a lifetime of giving!
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Millions recognize Helen Van Wyk as the host of PBS Television's "Welcome to my Studio" which, for many years, was a breath of fresh air on TV for artists who wanted to know more about their craft. Rather than introducing a formula for making paintings Helen took the time to teach the reasoning behind every brush stroke and its value in reaching the goal of a finished work.
I never took any time to ask her about her life before I got to know her - first by telephone, then by studying with her at her studio and home on Massachusetts' beautiful Cape Ann.
The seminar I was attending was 8 hours or more a day, 5 days a week - and on weekends she would prepare for the next one! She was not well at all, but plowed through the daily sessions with an incredible deftness, humor, and energy.
Her classes ranged from beginners to professionals and yet everyone walked away having learned new things. This particular seminar was one in which nobody but Helen painted. Everyone, however, had to bring a painting for critique on which the artist didn't mind if Helen painted corrections while giving valuable lessons on corrections - which is what painting is: "a record of a series of corrections".
Everyone is basically strangers on the first day of an art seminar. It is somewhat uncomfortable before the first lunch break because nobody knows anything about each other, and you would never want to be called up in front of a class full of strangers. But that's what happened to me, as she selected my painting, "Pepper Pot Soup" as her third painting critique of the first morning of the week's session.
She did find potential improvements to add to the painting - and she was absolutely correct in finding things I had overlooked.
Helen had a unique gift of being able to simultaneously paint a subject with her hands and eyes, while continuing to speak continuously of important, complex painting issues as she went along. But this ability of hers made it virtually impossible to take all the needed notes AND make quick sketches AND to watch what she was doing. For this reason, we students were frantically taking notes, sketching examples, asking questions, and watching her painting progress, all the while feeling inadequate because we weren't getting it ALL down on paper. But, I realize now - 5 years later - the notes I did take, the sketches I was able to make, and the answers to questions I was able to ask, set me further ahead as a painter than anything else I had learned in the previous 40 years.
