Helen Waimel Robertson

Details

Inductee: Helen Waimel Robertson

Year inducted: 2006

About:

Helen was born in Estonia, where she developed her appreciation of the arts and began her first sculptures in clay. She immigrated to Canada in 1926 and moved to Chippawa in 1950, where she continued to create and develop her art, working in clay and cast bronze.

Throughout her youth and college years, she won many awards for her sculptured creations, including a scholarship to Ontario College of Fine Arts where she graduated with the Governor General’s Medal. Through her friendship with the artistic world she has experimented with new techniques, developing a style between realism and the abstract. From clay and bronze she moved on to work in hammered copper, and chiselled and polished composite stone, and explored bronze-like plastic materials for outdoor sculptures.

Several of Helen’s sculptures and reliefs are displayed throughout the Niagara Region. She designed the Canadian Coat of Arms in the St. Catharines Federal Building, the coat of arms in the Customs Building in Niagara Falls, as well as sculptures for various schools throughout the Region. Rodman Hall has a small collection of her work, and her fountain entitled “Freedom” (“Boy with Bird”) is featured at the Niagara Parks Commission’s Greenhouse. Her works are viewed by the public daily and are greatly admired.

Helen Waimel Robertson passed away in 2002, but her life’s work will live long and generations to come will appreciate her talent.