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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Local Scene Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 19, 2006 Friends praise local artist’s life, lament loss of her work Helen Wilson died at Linda Vista with little art to show for her life By Alan Panebaker Ashland Daily Tidings Helen Wilson stands in front of one of her myriad tapestries. Submitted photo J. Ellen Austin, Betty LaDuke and Harriet Rex Smith talk about Helen Wilson with a jovial sincerity that is proof the local artist inspired and touched their lives below the surface. “She had such a wicked sense of humor,” Smith said Tuesday as the three celebrated the life of their long-time friend, Wilson, who died April 9 at the Linda Vista Care Center. Wilson was 89 years old. Best known for her tapestry paintings that hung in businesses all over town, Wilson was a local eccentric who was not afraid to be an individual in a world that was not always so conducive to such people. “She was a radical feminist,” local photographer and friend Robert Jaffe said. “She really was a strong woman in a time when that wasn’t socially accepted.” Like many artists, Wilson found herself in a tortured existence at some points in her life. Her mix of strange moods and the onset of dementia in her elder years caused some people around her to lose touch, her friends said. The oldest of four children, she was always the natural leader and had a habit of taking people under her wing. Wilson was born in Salina, Kan., grew up on a farm in Chehalis, Wash., and in her resumé expresses the importance of the woods of Washington state in her view of life. Many of her tapestries had a natural theme that may relate back to this era. “Lush complexity marked those landscapes, and this is how I visualize and express nature today,” Wilson wrote in a recent resumé. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon, Wilson studied fine arts and crafts at numerous institutions in California before landing in Boulder, Colo., to teach craft and art seminars to college and high school students. In 1973, a fire destroyed Wilson’s home and studio, prompting her to return to the Northwest and Ashland. It was in these first few years living in Ashland that Wilson met Jinny Brown, and the two immediately became friends. In what Jinny referred to as a “mother-daughter relationship” the two shared art and life for about a quarter of a century. “She was the only adult I felt like really nurtured me in my life,” Brown said. “Helen was just really good at seeing you for who you are and nurturing you from that place.” Brown said she remembered a trip to Taos, N.M., with Wilson and how, when she was in her 70s, she would load up her old truck and drive across the country, showcasing her art to anyone who would take a look. It was Brown also who became Wilson’s legal guardian after she moved to the Skylark assisted living center about 10 years ago and was no longer able to make decisions regarding her estate and belongings. The auctioning of Wilson’s art to pay for her care when she moved from her home at 1135 Ashland Mine Road haunts many of her friends. It was this house that held the most memories for a number of them. Maybe it was the heavy metal table with a glass cover on top of leaves and twigs or the hodgepodge of things that she would transform into art. For Bill Hicks, a local geologist, there was something about Wilson and her old house that was full of hope. Hicks said that despite the adversity she faced, Wilson always kept an eye on the bright side. “She never lost her youthful optimism, no matter what troubles she was having,” Hicks said. Her quality of life at Skylark stayed pretty good, Wilson’s friends believe. She could play the piano and pursue some form of art. However, the lack of nearby family or a guardian of her estate ended in a loss of most of Wilson’s tapestries. There is still one hanging in the music building at Southern Oregon University and a few others are at friends’ houses. Betty LaDuke, a professor at SOU and a local artist, said she would bring her classes on a pilgrimage to meet the eccentric Helen Wilson and see her tapestries. Now, that opportunity is gone. While she kept a smile on her face describing Wilson and the experiences her students shared at her gallery, LaDuke hinted with a somber tone at the sadness that creeps through the fact that most of Wilson’s work has disappeared forever from her life. “What a lot of artists face is there is no final resting place for their work. With Helen, she had this body of work that was dispersed — (it’s a) question mark,” LaDuke said with a shrug and a stare. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams