NEWS

I am delighted to announce that I am now an artist member of Propeller Art Gallery, 30 Abell St., Toronto.

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair at Nathan Phillips Square has come and gone for this year, but the online show continues until March 2026; all artists, including myself, have a page on the TOAF64 website. You can check out my page here.

Salon19 at Propeller Art Gallery in Toronto has also come and gone, but the artwork, including my two pieces, will be available online until late October.

ARTWORK

Based in Toronto and Hillsburgh, Ontario, I am a mostly self-taught artist. Breathing new life into old stuff is my passion. Stuff that is unused, unwanted, discarded. I reclaim, reuse, recycle, upcycle stuff from friends, yard sales, the street, second-hand stores, my basement and wherever.

My relationship with this stuff is ambivalent: I am appalled by the over-consumption and planned obsolescence that produces it, but at the same time, I am inspired and excited by the art possibilities of stuff that would normally be thrown out or would languish in cupboards and basement nooks for next of kin to dispose of. I hope to make a point about this wastefulness and its effect on climate change, and to do my little bit to keep some of this stuff out of the waste stream.

I enjoy taking things apart (computers, cables, electronic devices, watches, etc) to discover the treasures within. My work is largely guided by the materials I have at hand. Once they are collected, sorted and managed (haha!!), I love playing with colour, shape, texture, exploring different techniques to create moods and to express my ideas in both playful and serious ways. And then…sometimes, I like to make art just for the hell-of-it!

I have exhibited my work at Toronto Outdoor Art Fair over the years, have had a couple of solo shows, have exhibited my work in studio tours, group shows, at Petroff Gallery, The Jackalope Gallery, Gallery 1313 and Propeller Art Gallery.

PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been an amateur photographer for many years; for a number of those years I had a home darkroom for black and white developing and printing. I went digital in the 1990's using Canon Powershot cameras.

My subjects have changed very little over the years....close-ups, landscapes, nature, flowers, abstracts. I love textures, zooming in on small parts of the visual field, manipulating images.

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*Please follow me on Instagram (@helena.wehrstein) and Facebook :)