Helen Loggie Retrospective — January 29 - March 7, 2010
This IMA Retrospective of Helen Loggie's work: her drawings, paintings, and etchings spans decades of time, between 1917-1956. The spirit of Helen Loggie lives on in her mastery of the full range of values in drawing and the dramatic energy communicated through her etchings of the cargo shipping activities on Bellingham Bay, her European drawings, etchings, and paintings of cathedrals and her vignettes of daily life and ordinary working people. Loggie returned to Bellingham and Orcas Island from Europe and New York dedicating herself to the depiction of the land around her. She felt passionately about the trees, mountains, islands, flowers, and sea tides. In this work, one sees the full development and power of her art, as she emphasized the divergence between dirty city commerce and the 
cleansing effects of nature.
Helen Loggie Biography
Helen Loggie, a modern woman of her time, spent her life drawing images of things that fascinated her. From portraiture to dynamic scenes of New York, to bridges and magnificent cathedrals in Europe, and the vibrant fishing and lumber scenes of Bellingham Bay, but most importantly, the cathedral of nature that lay in her own backyard. It was her love of the Northwest, its mountains, islands and especially trees that spoke to her heart and ultimately became her passion and mission in life.
Growing up in Bellingham, Washington, with a wealthy timber magnate for a father, Helen did not have to concern herself with making a living from her art, she was free to fully invest her life and time how she chose. Studying at the Art Students League in New York from 1916-1924 with some of the most influential artists of that period, she found her footing in the art world. Spending those summers back in Bellingham and on Orcas Island, she spent her days down on the lumber docks or out in nature with dozens of hand sharpened pencils and her sketchbook, drawing the scenes of daily life she knew so well and loved.
As many young art students do, Helen traveled to Europe on several occasions for extended periods in the 1920's. There she studied the art of the masters, the gothic cathedrals and the vivid picture of European life. She honed her technique and produced drawings of incredible detail and beauty. Near the end of her time in Europe she had a great insight about herself and knew that she wanted her art to represent her heritage and where she was from.
After her trips to Europe, she moved back to the Northwest permanently. This is when etching became an important tool in making her drawings more accessible to the public and entering her work in national exhibitions, print clubs and societies. It also allowed her art to be more affordable, which was important to Loggie as she believed that young people should be able to hang good art on their walls.
Helen chose to devote herself to her art form and forgo perhaps a more normal life of marriage and children. In fact, fairly early on she's quoted as saying, "I made a decision. I would be an artist or have a family life." She divided her time between her home in Bellingham and the house she had built on Orcas Island, just a ferry ride away. It was on Orcas that she created some of her most important and recognized works, her exquisitely detailed portraits of trees.
Her work received much notoriety, winning many awards and being exhibited in some of the most prestigious art institutions in the world. Her highest honor was being awarded the title of Academician in 1971 from the National Academy of Design in New York.
We see now that her choice to be an artist was a lifelong commitment to expressing herself, her passion for nature and the vignettes of everyday life, through drawing with a patience and dedication that is rarely seen. Read More
