For any inquiries contact: helmsshea@gmail.com
Shea Lynn Helms (she/they) creates figurative work that recontextualizes mythology and symbolism through surrealist fantasy, exploring identity, mortality, gender expression, transformation, and the tension between human connection and isolation. Her work challenges the inherited messages of perception and control imposed upon us from birth, examining how identity shifts as perception changes and the quiet isolation that emerges when others project new meanings onto our bodies and existence before we have fully understood them ourselves. She views transformation as a state of becoming not a fixed arrival, but an ongoing human condition: a continual process of shedding, and discovering the power, beauty, and vulnerability within ourselves.
Working across wood and transparent materials, Helms explores portals, membranes, screens, and boundaries as metaphors for the layers we carry and the barriers we navigate throughout our lives. Transparent surfaces like portals function simultaneously as openings and shields, revealing while obscuring, inviting closeness while maintaining distance. Rooted in ancient imagery and surrealist fantasy, her work examines the fragile thresholds between visibility, exposure, isolation and connection. Ultimately, Helms seeks to reimagine vulnerability as a source of strength and empathy as a means of reconnecting with ourselves and one another.
CV
Open Studios
May 2026 Ridgewood Open Studios, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY
May 2025 Ridgewood Open Studios, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY
May 2024 Ridgewood Open Studios, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
May 2025 Open Studios Kickoff Show, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY
July 2022 The Patriot, O’Flaherty’s, New York, NY
July 2021 Welcome Back to the World!, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
October 2018 Intersection, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
October 2017 Intersection, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
December 2016 Index Fine Art Auction, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
October 2016 Intersection, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
