About Helen Dannelly
​Artist and Instructor based in Chicago, Illinois
Raised in California, Helen has been making art since as long as she can remember. You can find her curating Chicago's Forshey Gallery and co-developing Catalyst Art Lab - an online artist membership and workshop platform. In addition to maintaining a thriving studio art practice, she teaches sold-out workshops nationally and internationally, and is preparing to be an official TEDx speaker on the topic of following your creative intuition.
As Seen In
Behind the Work
The sculptures and paintings I create are in response to the world within and around me. I am interested in metamorphosis as a natural phenomenon as well as an interpersonal phenomenon. This interest is reflected in my work, whether in my paintings or abstract organic sculpture. My work is inspired by the natural world: plant life, sea life, pods, seeds, cocoons, coral, sea anemones. The three dimensional work resembles objects in nature, but they are unique abstractions.
Lately, I am re-exploring my roots of photorealistic painting. I see my colorful ink paintings - many of which look like water - as reflecting the colorful diversity of our community which adds beauty, depth and richness to life.
Anyone who has the urge to create should heed that desire.
Helen's Impact
Galleries
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ALMA Art & Interiors, Chicago, IL
Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
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American Exhibitions
Slate Contemporary, Oakland, CA
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Truro Center for the Arts, Truro, MA
Kolman & Pryor Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI
Christopher Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
Stola Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL
Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
Alma Art + Interiors, Chicago, IL
International Exhibitions
Ballinglen Museum of Art, County Mayo, Ireland
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Publications & Press
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The Coral Project, Chicago Tribune, 2019
Meet Helen Dannelly of Dannelly Studio in Bridgeport, VoyageChicago, 2018
Encaustic Art in the 21st Century, E. Ashley Rooney and Anne Lee (Schiffer, 2016)
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Bio
An award-winning artist originally from California, Helen Dannelly is a formally trained painter and sculptor. She studied painting with renowned Bay Area Photorealists Robert Bechtle and Richard McLean at San Francisco State University in the 1990’s. She then studied sculpture, including bronze casting and metal arts, at the University of Minnesota. She has worked in encaustic both two- and three-dimensionally which she enjoys because of its versatility.
Dannelly has shown work at Slate Contemporary in Oakland, CA, Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, CA, Conrad Wilde Gallery, in Tucson, AZ, Adam Peck Gallery and Julie Heller Gallery in Provincetown, MA, Truro Center for the Arts, Truro, MA, Kolman, Pryor Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI, the Ballinglen Art Museum in Ballycastle, County Mayo Ireland, Christopher Art Gallery at Prairie State, ARC Gallery, Stola Contemporary Art, Bridgeport Art Center, the Fine Arts Building of Chicago, CSI Project Space, Addington Gallery, Palette and Chisel, and Alma Gallery in Chicago, IL.
Her work is in included in Encaustic Art in the 21st Century, by E. Ashley Rooney and Anne Lee (Schiffer, 2016). She is the winner of sculpture awards at Phipps Center for the Arts (Juror: Erica Spitzer Rasmussen) and Sanchez Center for the Arts (Juror: William Theophilus Brown). Her 2019 two-person exhibition highlighting the effect of climate change on coral reefs - "The Coral Project" - was written up in the Chicago Tribune.
Dannelly was a professional fundraising leader for 20+ years at colleges, universities and major medical centers and does occasional fundraising consulting. She is Curator at the Forshey Gallery in the Chicago Temple First United Methodist Church where she curates 4-5 exhibitions a year. Her art group memberships include FUSEDChicago (a group of artists working with encaustic), Chicago Sculpture International, and Plein Air Painters Chicago. She is a Golden Artist Educator, a Silver Brush Educator and an R&F Trained Advanced Encaustic Instructor.
In 2020 during the pandemic, she co-founded Catalyst Art Lab, an artists’ membership community and online teaching site where she teaches color theory, painting and drawing. She has taught at PaintSpace NOLA in New Orleans, the Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center on Maui, and at BeArtz Art Center in France. ​