The Whatcom Museum is featuring five women artists from its collection throughout the month of March—Women’s History Month—in conjunction with the #5WomenArtists campaign. The campaign is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. This week we highlight Helmi Dagmar Juvonen, whose work was last exhibited in the Lightcatcher in 2015.
Helmi Dagmar Juvonen
Helmi Dagmar Juvonen (1903-1985), was a Seattle-based artist who found success capturing the culture of Native American tribes across the Pacific Northwest. She was a persistent artist who strove to create art in a time where being a female artist was tough. Even as she struggled with poverty and mental illness, she continued to create art until her final days.
Drawn to Northwest Coast native culture, she developed a rapport with the Lummi, Swinomish, Makah, and Yakama chiefs, who invited her to participate in their ceremonies. Aboriginal art and ritual nurtured her creative spirit, empowering her to transcend gender bias, poverty, and decades confined to an asylum for mental illness.
With an avid interest in anthropology, she believed in the importance of documenting Native American spiritual life. As a result, she forged a unique style, merging Northwest aboriginal culture with modern art. The artist also conjured “imaginary things.” Many of her works reflect the dark and light sides of the human psyche.
In many ways, Helmi was ahead of her time. Her graffiti-like abstraction, mixed-media compositions, and paper cutouts relate to trends in contemporary art.
The Museum’s collection of her work numbers 250 objects. It includes some of her finest pieces, such as paintings of petroglyphs from Central Washington and watercolors of Lummi masked dancers. You can view a selection of her work in this online virtual gallery and read more about her life on the Museum’s blog.
Compiled from curatorial narrative and research by Barbara Matilsky.