Born and raised in Moscow in the Soviet Union, Helen was enrolled in art school in her youth where she learned watercolor, gouache, and oil painting. Upon graduating from high school, she was accepted into an architectural program, and she worked professionally as an architect for nearly a decade, until emigrating to the United States in 1989. Initially living in Connecticut, she worked in civil engineering, later moving to New York City where she was employed as an architect and designer for many years. Near the turn of the millenium Helen was living in Snug Harbor, where she took up her paints again. Now based in Sarasota, Florida, Helen is a full time artist, primarily focused on abstract expressionism. Artist StatementMy art appears abstract but represents my emotional responses to real things. I paint with a full palette and an unmoored light source, and my scenes have neither traditional depth nor gravity, with sky, water, and ground blending into one another. Oil, my chosen medium, brings out subtle shapes and color and allows light and dark to melt into each other. My goal is to engage the viewers in an intimate conversation with the paintings, and by doing so, to discover something about themselves.