While many of us found time to travel elsewhere during some of the hottest summer months in years, artist Bruce Helander spent most of his time in his cool Whitney condo studio with an abundance of art-related projects. He finished a successful solo show at Toronto's Georgia Scherman Projects in July, then switched gears and completed two large "This is Your Life" collages. One celebrated the birthday and life of local art collector and developer Jim Pappas, and the other was commissioned by Marvin and Baylie Rosenberg to commemorate their daughter Robin's presidential appointment as a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida. Helander, who was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame this past season, (click here to view video) was in demand to speak on Hunt Slonem's new book, Bunnies, for which he wrote a critical essay. He is scheduled to speak on Slonem's work and the book at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach on December 1st.
Summertime lectures by Helander were presented at the Downtown Art Fair in Manhattan and at Art Southampton, where he also showed new work at Gallery Valentine, directed by Palm Beacher Ryan Ross. He was spotted at Russell Simmons' Art for Life party in Bridgehampton, attending with Ralph Lauren model Morgan O'Connor, which was over the top with a festive environment created by Bruce Sutka. Helander is working on a new series of animal images for group exhibitions at the Palm Beach Cultural Council and at Art Miami in December. The artist just received a prestigious grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts to pen a book titled How Artists Live, and he continues to contribute to The Huffington Post. Helander, who serves on the executive board of the non-profit Center for Creative Education, was just reappointed to be the chairman of their annual fundraising gala, "Circus at the Center," which will be held on Saturday, December 6th in Northwood. to contact Bruce Helander and for any inquiries please email Bruce at helander@bellsouth.net