Helen Lavelle: Humanity & Divinity
Helen Lavelle
La MaMa Galleria is honored to present Helen Lavelle: Humanity & Divinity featuring drawings and paintings which explore the artist’s personal journey through pain and vulnerability to resilience and grace. The exhibit is curated by C. Finley, founder of the Every Woman Biennial-NYC, London, LA. Acknowledging that loss of life, the pandemic, political climate, racial hatred, war and economic uncertainty have given rise to unprecedented and unbearable pain, Ms. Lavelle’s work puts it center stage. But she does not stop there. The exhibit, which includes both figurative and landscape pieces is designed to remind viewers that the path from humanity to divinity lies in a personal connection to nature.
“Nature is our greatest teacher, Lavelle states. Life and death, love and loss, pain and promise...the opportunity to transform in the face of tragedy, to recover (as does nature) is cellular.” For Lavelle, painting is a spiritual process. Landscapes created in Ireland while experiencing extreme grief and sorrow express both heaviness and connection to universal energy. As to her figurative work, Lavelle explains, “Connecting on a deeper level with nature and God allowed me to portray moments of human vulnerability that are real, raw and honest. I can barely look at them myself.” Lavelle has had more than her fair share of grief, having lost multiple friends and members of her own family to addiction, to AIDs, and to the inability for many to move forward in life. She knows that art heals, brings forth light, even in the deepest darkness. An advocate for the arts in every genre, she understands that the arts help move people through life’s circumstances. Her hope is that through this exhibition, people will see something in themselves that is about transformation.
Helen Lavelle is an artist and an advocate. A communicator and a collaborator. A classically trained, contemporary painter based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A nationally-recognized leader in the advertising industry and the founder of Lavelle Strategy Group, she was educated at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia’s Moore College of Art and Design, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has also personally worked with American realists, Canadian impressionists, and Irish expressionist masters. Her painting “Pandemic Pieta” which will be featured in this NYC solo show, was recently exhibited in Milan, Italy and the Canary Islands for the International Art Exhibition “Hysterica” at M.A.D.S. Art Gallery. Inspired by extensive travel throughout France, Italy, the United States, South America, Ireland and Greece, her work is affected deeply by current global need and influenced by political climate. Her figurative, landscape and abstract work is held in corporate and private collections worldwide. Lavelle has devoted her life to chasing the light and capturing spirit. Whether it be with oil paint on canvas or with the launch of a multi-media, multi-platform advertising campaign, Helen Lavelle delivers her message with brazen authenticity. And has the awards to show for it. www.helenlavelleartist.com
La MaMa Galleria
Founded in 1984, La Galleria is a nonprofit gallery committed to nurturing experimentation in the visual arts. La Galleria encourages an active dialogue between new media, performance, the plastic and visual arts, curatorial projects, and educational initiatives. It serves the East Village community by offering diverse programming to an inter-generational audience, and expanding the parameters of a traditional gallery space. As a non-profit, La Galleria is able to provide artists and curators with unique exhibition opportunities that are largely out of reach in a commercial gallery setting.