Interview with Helena Domenic
2024 Artist in Residence
Art is a wicked thing. It is what we are.
-Georgia O’KeefeThe Art of Helena Domenic
http://www.artofhelenadomenic.com
CJMT: First: please tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a mixed media artist, drawing professor, writer, Tarotist and lots of stuff. I am not sure how much more you want here – I was going to go on about being a wee bit past middle aged, really short, and full of ADHD, but perhaps that might be oversharing. I also like cats.
CJMT: What are your primary influences as an artist?
My very first influences were children’s illustrators of the Golden Age of illustration such as Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, Jessie Colman Smith and others of that period, and that has never really left me. As I got older, I discovered that I loved looking at illuminated manuscripts and I was very taken with altar pieces that could open and close, and/or had multiple panels. I’m also a writer, so I think narrative in some form has never been very far away from my artwork. Later on, I discovered the Pre-Raphaelites, the Surrealists, the Symbolists, and the Decadents. All of those artists of course take a lot of inspiration from mythology, folklore, and other narrative sources, so it’s no surprise I would be taken with them.
CMJT: What are you working on now?
I have ADHD, so I always have more than one project going on. I have this kind of continuing series of Goddesses that I do, often basing the imagery on my friends, trying to straddle the line between myth and modern day. I have been at work on a new Tarot deck that I am hoping my publisher will pick up. I create mini-shrines from wooden boxes, paint, semi-precious stones and found materials. There’s probably more percolating around in there, but I think that will do for now.
CMJT: What is your “grand vision” ?
I believe that art is needed to heal the world and that people ignore the arts at humanity’s peril. I also believe strongly in beauty, which was not entirely encouraged in recent decades by critics and gallerists. There’s a lot of ugliness in the world which we can’t turn away from, but beauty and kindness provide a space for calm, for breathing, for a pause. I believe art is the needed link to healing from the hatred and brutality bred by people not stopping to look and listen and understand.
CMJT: What have you found most challenging in creating art and balancing a career in academia?
Where do I begin? There’s the very obvious answer of having a regular schedule to adhere to as well as the commitments that go with that schedule: the committee meetings, dealing with people who don’t understand the art discipline at all, and all of the energy we need to give to our students to help prepare them for being professional artists in the real world. I’ve always thought that my ADHD is a wee bit of a bonus here because there is always something to do.
CMJT: What would you like to share about your individual or collaborative writing/art projects?
The Tarot project I am working on is one that has had my attention for the past few years. I am very interested in the connection between Qabala and Tarot, and a lot of Tarot people hate Qabala. I am trying to create a deck and book that will help to close that gap in a way that is helpful and show how the connections between the two systems really enrich one’s experience of both. Most of the deck itself is finished, but I am creating a lot of illustrations that will hopefully be easier to understand than a number of written explanations. I am hopeful that my publisher will be as enthused with this as I am.
CMJT: What’s next for you?
I am getting very close to retirement age, so in some ways the world is opening up. I will have more freedom to travel and explore art and magick in new places. I am really interested in the intersection of art and magick, so I am hoping that I can take part in and possibly sponsor some art exhibitions that explore that nexus.
CMJT: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers about?
Please support art and artists however you can. I have a book, The Illuminated Guide to Wicca, which is a good introduction to Wicca, and allowed me to dive into creating my own illuminated manuscript. It’s available from Schiffer, my publisher, and also on Amazon and wherever books are sold!
Helena’s book, The Illuminated Guide to Wicca can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/Illuminated-Guide-Wicca-Complete-Visual/dp/0764362801
Review copy is available upon request.
Helena Domenic is an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Prior to Kutztown, she was an Associate Professor of Art History and Studio Art at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania for eighteen years.
She is an accomplished painter who has shown her work in Philadelphia, New York, across the United States and in Germany, Egypt, and South Africa.
Helena was born in Vicenza, Italy where she was exposed to great works of art from a very early age. After viewing the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the age of eighteen months, her mother predicted she would become an artist. She holds a BFA from Kutztown University, an MA in Art Education from The University of the Arts, and an MFA from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She has also taken courses in Art Therapy from Cheyney University and will be entering Cherry Hill Seminary’s Spiritual Direction program in Fall of 2023.
Helena lectures regularly at conferences about art and the sacred, painting, and installation at both academic and healing arts venues. Her interests include antiquities from all cultures, African and Nubian studies in particular. Her art is influenced by artists such as Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, Jimoh Biramoe, El Anatsui, Bettye and Alison Saar, and Agnes Pelton. Helena also offers classes in various kinds of art and spiritual studies from her studio in Phoenixville, PA, where she works to create an environment of community and creativity.
Helena’s book, An Illuminated Guide to Wicca was released by Schiffer in April of 2022, and is enjoying great sales.