Artist Statement

I started drawing at a year old when, sick in the hospital with severe asthma, a nurse handed me some paper and some crayons, everyone laughed and thought, yeah, right, when to their surprise I started drawing actual pictures, I drew a cat, since my family had a cat (named Daisy) at the time, I have been drawing ever since.

For me art is my way of dealing with everything that is jumbled up in my head, it’s how I keep my sanity or else it keeps me insane, I’m not sure which, perhaps the latter is more accurate, LOL.

Dogs have always been my favorite subject matter. They have such a funny human quality and I strive to capture this in my work. It’s as if they have this whole other world going on that we no nothing about, they just let on that we own them, when it’s really the other way around.

Some of my favorite artists include: Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Patrick Nagel, and Sue Dawe.

I never want to become stagnant as an artist. I want to allow myself to develop new ideas, and always have a fresh outlook on my work. I think I was probably born in the wrong era, but if it means being a starving artist, that's okay. I'd rather starve doing something that is my lifeblood, than be rich doing something boring.

-Kimberly Ann Helgeson (1997)