Featured Artist: Helina Metaferia

With Frida Kahlo as an inspiration, Helina Metaferia could indeed be channeling the Divine Feminine. But don't take our word for it, read on and check out her art. You can share with her in person as part of the Harlem Open Artist Studio Tours (HOAST) on Saturday, October 6 at 4:00 PM for her Artist's Talk. Canvas Paper and Stone is proud to introduce Helina.

How did you get your start as an artist?

I started creating at an early age. Writing, dancing, and drawing seemed to come as natural to me as breathing. During high school I had an art teacher who encouraged me to enter national visual art competitions. At that point I started to think of creating art as a career. I began having art shows at 15 years of age and continued ever since. I majored in fine art in college, studied as an apprentice to established artists, and continue to learn the business aspect of making art a professional career.

Free Womban, 2007
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Deep Womban, 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Who are some of your past and present artistic influences?

I am an admirer of Frida Kahlo, a true inspiration. Like Frida, my preliminary paintings and drawings were self-portraits and portraits of loved ones. Art became a medium to read beyond the physical realms and dig deeper into the human persona - a chance to examine the depths of what it is to be human. Frida is not afraid to be vulnerable and expose herself in her paintings. She does not separate her art from her life, she uses it as medicine. I find her bold self-expression empowering, fierce, and honest. She is unafraid to communicate her deepest secrets, pain, and pleasure. This, to me, translates as being unafraid to exist.

How would you describe your work? What message if any are you sharing with viewers of your work?

My art is a source of energetic strength. I am not a portrait artist, I am a reader. I read what goes on behind the physical surface and tap into the soul's consciousness. Each of the subjects in my paintings are people on a journey to return to their whole essence. They are reflections of states of awareness. My art is meant to engage the viewer into this state of contemplation.

I use color heavily because through color we can tap into Spirit. Color, like sound and movement, engages the senses and sends us signals and vibrations. Color triggers our emotions. Through color we can heal. I am not afraid to use this tool to communicate my visual messages and send the viewer into the suggested state of consciousness.

Compassion Womban, 200_
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Dream Catching Womban, 200_
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

How does your audience experience your work?

Art is twofold: there is the creation aspect and then there is the interpretation of the viewer. I often have people come up to me saying that they saw this and that in my art, often things I had never intended to express. I feel that this is simply the nature of art. The viewer's interpretation may be subjective to their own life experience, development, and mind frame. As long as the viewer is gaining what it is that they need to receive from my work then I am satisfied.

Fire Womban, 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Tree Womban, 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

What would you like to share about work that you are presently creating? What is inspiring it or what inspires you generally?

The mixed media series, "Finding Womban," is about women discovering liberation by rejoicing in their femininity. The faces of bold women on a quest for soul recognition are merged with abstract images of wombs. As the viewer searches for the abstracted wombs within the paintings, the viewer experiences a similar quest to the portrayed woman who, in turn, is searching for her own feminine essence.

The women in the paintings seek to gain an emotional and spiritual connection to their wombs and facilitate healing from physical disease, misplaced sexuality, poor self-esteem, and other imbalances. It goes beyond the need to justify a gender or sexual identity. A woman's scared center is her power, her creative life force energy. Once she is able to embrace her "shakti" feminine power and heal herself, she can then transmit that source healing to her family, community, and in turn the world.

The "Finding Womban" series was a two-year personal project in which I meditated several paintings into existence. I birthed each painting in order to discover my own feminine energy, undo negative conceptions, heal from challenges, and own up to my womanhood. After reading Queen Afua's book "Sacred Womban" in 2005, womb healing became a path of practice for me. These paintings are my shared findings.

Whole Womban, 2007
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Water Womban, 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

What is inspiring it or what inspires you generally?

I am most inspired by the human experience. Art has been a way for me to turn challenges into blessings. Through art I am able to analyse the extraordinary or the mundane on paper. I can give meaning to that which might otherwise be seen as unnecessary.

Traveling inspires me. As an Ethiopia-American it is important for me to return to my ancestor's home and commune in the way my grandparents do. It appeases my blood line, but also gives fuel for creativity. Harlem inspires me. There is still something of the renaissance in the air. As soon as I moved here from Maryland I fell into a painting trance and was attached to my paintbrush for hours on end.

Meditation and my yoga practice provide me with loads of inspiration. It is through my connection with the Creator that I am able to channel works that extend beyond me. It is my spiritual practice grounds me, uplifts me, and motivates me to create art, even at times when I may feel unsupported by the external world. This is what gives my solar plexus fire to move forward when I feel like the challenges of being an artist are overbearing.

Opening Womban, 2007
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

Red Moon Womban, 2007
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

What projects will you be working on and/or where will you exhibiting in the next few months?

I have five shows on display during September and October. Three are in New York, one in Washington DC, and one in Baltimore. Community art is important to me, and so I am proud to be involved in the Girls Gotta Run exhibit at Chelsea's Phoenix Gallery. This is an art auction to support young Ethiopian females to stay in school and participate in sports. You can learn more about my shows and programs I am involved in at www.metaartist.com. In late fall and winter I tend to go into hibernation and create more works of art. My current projects include reflections of ancestral wisdom and what it is to be a daughter of the African Diaspora.

Any final words for our readers?

Creating art is something I feel obligated to do. My reasons for making art extend beyond something comprehensible. Likewise, teaching the healing arts and being involved in community art have surfaced as necessities. People may not know why it is they are called to do things. They just get an impulse and do it. When they aren't doing it they are not well. Through finding the art in life, creating art, and sharing art, I am achieving the wholeness that we each desire.

Inner Womban, 2006
Acrylic, charcoal and pastel on paper

She, 2006

Helina's work will be on view at and available for purchase at Canvas and Stone Gallery during HomeBase, an eclectic and diverse group show of amazingly talented Harlem artists. The Opening Reception will be held on Friday, September 28, and the exhibition will run from Wednesday, September 26 through Sunday, November 11. We are located in The Bradhurst at Striver's Row, Suite 2N. You can learn more about Helina by visiting her website.

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Featured Artist: Helina Metaferia

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