IN MEMORIAM Helene Goldstein1929 - 2026 A child of immigrant parents, Helene Goldstein was born in the Bronx borough of New York City on November 22, 1929, during the Great Depression. She began drawing at age two and was regularly visiting museums and painting in oils by age fourteen. It was then that she knew art would become her career. Her high school art teacher arranged for her to attend classes at the Museum of Modern Art School. Next she studied under painter Reginald Marsh and printmaker Harry Sternberg at the Art Students League. She earned a degree in painting from Hunter College where she focused on watercolor under Chinese-American Master Watercolorist Dong Kingman. After graduating, Goldstein first worked as a colorist for Koroseal, a commercial wall coverings company, followed by free-lancing in textile design, sterling silver and gold-plate jewelry design, printmaking, and stained glass. One of her designs was chosen as an illustration for the book Modern Furnishings for the Home by residential architect William Hennessey. Much later in her career, some of Helene's painting compositions were translated into vibrant woven rugs. In 1957 Helene moved with her family to California. Her search for "beautiful scenery and warm weather" led her to the College of San Mateo where she studied figure drawing and the complex medium of intaglio color etching under Alanson Appleton. In the fall of 1990 Helene tried pastels for the first time. This medium became a revelation of rich color interplay, one that she explored with great passion. Goldstein was juried into the Carmel Art Association for her graphic artworks in 1992. Two years later she juried in again with her vibrant oil paintings. The CAA gallery had great success selling her oils, pastels, and works on paper utilizing printmaking disciplines. Goldstein's artistic interests were laser-focused on radiant color and the purity that can be achieved when layers of intense color are applied so that they interact with and sparkle through one another. The effect is reminiscent of stained glass, with a translucent glow softened by overlays of dry-brush work. Goldstein painted with a palette knife. She found that this tool produced effects that could never be achieved with a brush. She was interested in the effects of color interplay both close up and at a distance. Her painting process was to begin with a ground—a layer of white lead pigment—which amplifies luminosity. She then scraped layers of pure colors on top of the underpainting with a knife, allowing some bits of layers to show through as bright specks of mottled color. In the words of one reviewer, "Helene Goldstein's work is soft, gentle, and sensitive and simultaneously, it is bold, brilliant, and intrepid. A true colorist, she can literally feel color. She senses the warmth of an orange, the texture of sunrise, and the hollow of midnight. She can taste apple red, breathe the freshness of green, and wander through radiant depths of blues." Influenced by her childhood in New York, Helene enjoyed devising cityscapes as well as sailboats in her mind's eye, to translate onto canvas. But her creative output in these two subjects was small compared to her "signature" subject: Florals. Helene did not work from life. Instead, she invented "still lifes" out of imaginary flowers with heroic-size blossoms. These flowers existed solely for her creative purposes: Color, design, and emotion. As she once described her approach, "It is much more satisfying to draw or paint a flower when an actual flower is not in front of me. I prefer to close in on a flower that I have created myself—a flower that I have an intimate view of in my mind's eye." Goldstein stated in an interview that she never followed a popular style. She added that she was proud her work as a whole could be viewed as a natural progression of her personal history. She expressed emotional commitment to every medium and each individual artwork she created. From the floral tiles she designed and fabricated for tabletops in her home furnishings to the mirror frames she painted, the textiles she wove, and the blooms she conceived through dreams, her artistic oeuvre indeed presents one unique and distinctively unified identity: Her own. Helene Goldstein died in her Pebble Beach home on the evening of April 6, 2026. She leaves behind fellow CAA Artist Member and husband Michie Ralph Long, who now resides in his home state of Texas. CAA Artist Member Kathleen Crocetti shared the following poignant and insightful tribute to her friend Helene: "Helene Goldstein was a study in contrasts. In a room full of people, she was the quiet one—still, attentive, always listening. Yet step into any gallery where her work hung, and you understood immediately that stillness was never the whole story. Her paintings were bold, bright, and unapologetically alive. They stole the show every time. When later in life Helene found Michie Long, something wonderful happened to them both. She had a luminous effect on him—his paintings, like his personality, grew brighter, fuller, more joyful. They became the best of friends, and in time, completely devoted to one another. That is perhaps the most fitting thing that can be said of Helene: She brought color into every life she touched, quietly, and with great love. She will be deeply missed." SPECIAL NOTE: Carmel Art Association is privileged to continue representing Michie Long's work. CAA is also honored to facilitate the presentation of an incredibly large and striking collection of paintings and other artworks on consignment from her Trust. These oils, oil pastels, intaglio etchings, tile murals, furniture, and other works come directly out of Helene's private collection. Most have never been seen publicly. A small selection of these artworks will be installed in the Helene Goldstein Memorial Exhibition set for December of 2026 in the Beardsley Gallery. If you would like to view any of these works sooner, please email Sally Aberg, Historic Collection Archivist at: sallycarmelart@gmail.com