Artist Clinton Helms in his studio (Photo by Ash Daniel)
“I started looking at images in the Bible when I was very young,” says artist Clinton Helms. “That led on to Norman Rockwell, one of my favorites.” Helms has always been drawn to the human element and themes that reflect an artist's times. His work ranges from landscapes and portraits to aviation art.
Many of his landscapes are awash with a sense of familiarity. “I want the viewer to recognize the scene,” he says. “That’s it in a nutshell. I really want my work to be accessible.” Helms has always been drawn to Rockwell’s color palette, and he loves looking at life as things are happening. This usually involves images of people doing everyday things.
Born in 1959 in South Hill, Virginia, Helms was the youngest of 12 children. "My parents let me do my thing,” he recalls. “I chose art. Once I graduated from high school, I really decided that I wanted to pursue art.”
In an unexpected twist, the soft-spoken artist asks the interviewer a question: “Do you see color when you look at my work?” He’s not talking about the colors he lovingly places on his canvases. Looking through online galleries of Helms’ work, it is not immediately evident that an African American artist painted them. He works in realism, and his landscapes, documentary work, city scenes and other images do not focus exclusively on Black subjects. Much like Rockwell, Helms’ paintings depict ordinary people in everyday situations.
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"N.C. Wyeth Lane Studio," 1998, oil on panel, 29 by 48 inches
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"Iconic Times Square," 2011, acrylic on panel, 24 by 40 inches
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"Reflections VMFA Grounds," acrylic on panel, 8 by 10 inches, was sold to a private collector through Crossroads Art Center. Half of the proceeds went to the hunger-relief group Feed More.
Helms, a 39-year veteran of the U.S. Army who retired in 2019, is a member of the elite United States Air Force Arts Program. The Pentagon sends members of this group on weeklong documentary missions to combat zones or training areas. Helms has seven pieces in the program's archives and three unfinished works on the back burner. He has also had his military-themed works installed in the Pentagon and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Helms was one of 25 Black artists from the state of Virginia invited to participate in “Water: The Agony and Ecstasy of the Black Experience” at the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville through the end of March. In Richmond, his work was recently on display at the Crossroads Art Center, and he pledged 50% of the proceeds from each piece sold to food banks in Richmond and Goochland.
What sort of legacy would Helms like to leave? “I would love for my work to be distributed and shown to help young kids stay in the arts, to be creative,” he says. “I’d like to set up a scholarship fund for not only African American kids, but every kid that was interested in art. That would be what I want my legacy to be.”
