“The Circle as form is ancient, seen worldwide in petroglyphs and in archaic script. For instance, the circle with a central dot is the representation of the sun in Chinese writing. The circular form represents itself at the very beginning of abstraction in the early twentieth century most clearly in the work of Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delanuay, the founders of Orphism, with Helslander continuing this interest in the circular shape into the twenty-first century….the circular rhythm and movement of overlapping shapes may also suggest a kind of cosmic dance, relating in their own way to the halos, suns, and moons that informed Orphism during the beginning of the last century. However, there also seems to be an apparent connection to abstract expressionist automatism-the circles in Helslander’s paintings appear to have been done in a frenzy of scribbles, as in the work of Cy Twombly.” -Excerpt from the book Texas Abstract: Modern/Contemporary, by Michael Paglia and Jim Edwards, 2014, Fresco Books
Jane Helslander is an American visual artist. Her work explores the graphic depiction of sound and dance movement as well as the interconnected narrative found in space and on earth.
A native of Virginia, Helslander grew up in Munich, Germany and Dallas, Texas. She received a BFA in Art from the University of Texas at Arlington. She received a MFA in Painting and Sculpture from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where she was also a teaching assistant to Jim Woodson and Susan Harrington and later was part of the adjunct faculty.
Helslander’s first public Art commission was completed in 2004, when she designed a 20 x 20 foot circular glass mosaic for DFW International Airport, titled “Floating in Space, A Waltz.”
Her work has been included in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, and is in several private and public collections, including Neiman Marcus, The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, StatOil Hydro, and the Moncrief Cancer Center.
