Top left: Danica with the first 4 boxes in our hall. Top right: one of the pastels. Middle: Pastel of Vancouver Chinatown celebration (1960s), Bottom: Our livingroom, filling up.
My jaw is on the floor and we have only opened one of the 5 boxes of Helen Andersen art that Danica packed in Victoria and shipped to Toronto.
Four of the boxes arrived today, in great shape. Canada Post muffed the postal code on the 5th box, so it will be along soon. No rush. There’s so much already here, I am staggered!
What an amazing body of work, spanning about 4 decades, two Canadian cities and a number of foreign locations. All originals… many media. There are even works by other artists who were Helen’s friends. I have a BIG job ahead of me, organizing all of this. It’s a lot to get my head around already, and I still have 4 boxes to open!
Danica did an absolutely amazing job of contacting people, arranging print donations, calling on the rescuers of Helen’s lost works, cleaning up broken glass and damaged frames, photographing everything front and back, and packing it all meticulously. I knew it was a huge job, especially to be accomplished in two short weeks, but I literally see HOW huge, now that the pieces are here.
For the record… thank you, Danica. You know how much I appreciate your part in all this. I just want others to know, too.
Wow!! Danica you are amazing!
What a wonderful array of art you have worked to save.
WOW! What a discovery! It must have been very emotional to discover that so many of Helen’s works had survived all these years. Great job Danica!
You’re right on, Ned… very emotional. And the artwork itself is astonishing! I’m so glad it turned up.
How exciting to go through all the work once again and to see it through your eyes Bill. It’s wonderful to have so many sketches and studies. Helen was a hard working artist and seeing her early pieces gives me a great respect for the ones that puzzle me. I love the way you see them as design and colour. But it is exhausting physically & emotionally.