Helen Culham Morrison

1924-2017

 

Morrison was born Sept 22, 1924, and she grew up in Toronto, Canada.

 

She studied fine art at the Chicago and San Francisco Art institutes.

 

In 1947 she married George Morrison.

 

Helen's award-winning sculpture was widely shown, her pieces notable for beautiful organic shapes, innovative techniques, varied materials.

 

From the Peninsula Art Museum, San Bruno, California:

Morrison’s iconic forms, whether in fine hardwoods or glazed ceramics, are easily recognizable.

She explored the infinite variety of spheroid and ovoid forms, often stacked, for more than five decades. More recently she has ventured into the realm of story-telling with clay (“Trafalgar”, “Cleopatra on the Nile”, “Westward Ho”).

The perfection of the finished work invites comments about power tools, but no – Morrison starts with logs, hand-carves the forms with mallet and chisels, refines the surfaces with rasps and files, then sands – and sands – and sands.

Helen Morrison (1924-2017) taught sculpture in wood and clay for many years as a Peninsula Art Association instructor in the Manor House in Belmont. When that classroom closed, she moved to the Foster City Recreation program and continued to teach through mid-2012.

Helen was a passionate feminist and environmentalist.