Helen O'Toole

Helen O'Toole
Born1963 (age 60–61)
County Mayo, Ireland
NationalityIrish
EducationSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago, National College of Art and Design
Known forPainting, drawing, education
StyleAbstract
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award
WebsiteHelen O'Toole

Helen O'Toole (born 1963) is an Irish-born painter based in the United States, who is known for abstract paintings suggestive of landscape.[1] She has exhibited throughout Ireland and the United States, in Singapore, and at venues including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, Tacoma Art Museum, and Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore.[2][3] Her work has been featured in the journals Artforum,[4] Arts Magazine,[5] New Art Examiner,[6] and Zyzzyva,[7] as well as the Chicago Tribune,[8] The Irish Times,[9] Seattle Post-Intelligencer,[10] and National Public Radio.[11] Art writers frequently discuss the interplay in her work between abstraction, the evocation of otherworldly light, land and space, and a commitment to investigating meaning through a painting process akin to the processes of cultivation and excavation.[10][8][12] Artforum critic James Yood wrote, "echoing the often inchoate quality of nature, her paint surges toward mystery and hints at a kind of chiaroscuro of the spirit";[4] curator Bonnie Laing-Malcomson suggests her "richly colored monumental paintings evoke the moody landscape of her rural Irish homeland, summoning the force of J. M. W. Turner and Mark Rothko."[13] She has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts, a Contemporary Northwest Art Award (both 2016), and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award (2013), among other awards.[1][2][14] O'Toole lives in Seattle, Washington and is Professor of Art and Chair of the Painting and Drawing Program at the University of Washington.[15][16]

Helen O'Toole, Mary Larkin's Bottom, oil on canvas (diptych), 100" x 156", 2013. Portland Art Museum Collection.
  1. ^ a b John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Helen O'Toole, Fellows. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b Portland Art Museum. Contemporary Northwest Art Awards 2016, Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 2016.
  3. ^ Sligo Art Gallery. Helen O'Toole: Paintings, Exhibition brochure. Sligo, Ireland: Sligo Art Gallery, August 1999.
  4. ^ a b Yood, James. "Helen O'Toole, Sazama Gallery," Artforum, December 1992. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  5. ^ Hixson, Kathryn. "Chicago in Review," Arts Magazine, June 1991.
  6. ^ Moehl, Karl. "Contemporary Visual Art Invitational," New Art Examiner, April 1992.
  7. ^ Bigman, Alexander. "Irish Art in America: 'Amid a Space Between' at SFMOMA Artists Gallery," Zyzzyva, April 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  8. ^ a b Artner, Alan G. "Two more Chicago painters are guided by the light," Chicago Tribune, 2 December 1994.
  9. ^ Ewart, Mark. "Living Landscape," The Irish Times, August 1995.
  10. ^ a b Hackett, Regina. Review, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 17 March 2006.
  11. ^ Lautman, Victoria. Artistic License, National Public Radio, 19 September 1992.
  12. ^ Teevan, Colin. "New Paintings," Exhibition brochure, Chicago: Sazama Gallery, September 1992.
  13. ^ Laing-Malcomson, Bonnie. "Curatorial Comments," Contemporary Northwest Art Awards 2016, Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 2016.
  14. ^ The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Helen O'Toole, Artists. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  15. ^ University of Washington, School of Art + Art History + Design. Helen O'Toole, Faculty. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  16. ^ Kinch, Eileen. "Helen O'Toole Exhibit," Communique 6, Vol. 57, Issue 3, 2000.