But the one I like in particular is how she started sculpting.”
Helen wanted to start a hobby for herself. So she decided to start an art class. She tried to get into a painting class. “I went to take a painting class. There was no room so I took a sculpture class,” Helen said. In the class she started making a sculpture of and old woman with clay. She didn’t know anything about sculpturing. “I never knew what I was going for,” she said. This was the start of a new hobby that she continued for 41 years. She said that her works were “more than your babies. I created them.” She was very fortunate that she didn't have to sell them. Her pieces became very close to her.
She worked in her sun room in her home. It was like a porch extension. Her home was near Griffith Park, Los Feliz, and the Greek Theatre. She worked with a man named John Ramon in Topanga Canyon. He did sculptures for churches. He owned a stone yard and Helen would go there and pick out a type of stone she wanted to work with. She would start with a square or boulder of either alabaster, marble, soap stone, or wood. She loved to touch the stone, what she called “a real living stone,” she said, “I felt like God.”
