KRISTIN HELBERG
Naïve Paintings & Vinegar-grained Furniture
Kristin Helberg is a painter and makes her home in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, Maryland. The Frank J. Miele Gallery of New York City and the America Oh Yes! Galleries in Washington, D.C. and Hilton Head Island, N.C. permanently represent her.
Her work is included in private Folk Art collections in Europe and Japan, and in the permanent collections of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Children’s National Medical Center. Michelle Pfieffer, Andre Codrescu and Nien Cheng own her paintings as well as the ABC television network, which featured her artwork on the set of “All My Children”.
In 1994, she was one of the three American artists chosen to represent the United States in the 23rd International Naïve Art Competition in Switzerland. In the fall of 2003, one of her paintings was chosen for the permanent collection of the Clinton Presidential Library which opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2004. Her work has also been included in the permanent collection of the Folk Art Museum in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Kristin's painted chests have been featured in Country Living Magazine and have been sold at the Museum of American Folk Art Gift Shops and ABC Home in New York City. Currently her painted furniture is sold at the Finewares Gallery in Takoma Park, MD.
In 2001, she was chosen to participate in the Fish Out of Water project in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Over 200 sponsored artists created the 3’ x 6’ fish, which were then auctioned off to raise money for art programs for inner city children. Kristin’s fish, entitled Conefish, received the highest bid of $22,500 during the art auction at the Walters Art Museum.
As part of the artist-in-residency program with the Maryland State Arts Council, Kristin conducts classes and workshops in schools throughout Maryland. Her residencies have produced over 60 permanent murals in Maryland schools. She has taught both child and adult classes for the Resident Associate Program at the Smithsonian Institution.