Biography:

born in brooklyn

princeton university

parsons school of design

the new school

Helen is a visual artist, and award-winning architect.

Her collaborative projects about public space, land art, and dwelling have been exhibited at The Van Alen Institute, The Wexner Center, The Urban Center, MoMA and in galleries in Atlanta and New York.

Throughout her career, in various outlets of the visual arts and built environment, Helen has provided written and spoken commentary about art, perception, visual education, and architecture for NPR, Metropolis Magazine, The New York Times, and The Carnegie Foundation.

Known for her intricate drawings, layered paintings, and collages about environmental arts and spatial investigations, Helen was named one of 30 artists under 30 by critic Herbert Muschamp for The New York Times Magazine in 1994. She was a full-fellow at Princeton University from 1993 to 1996. Helen has taught visual studies studios, design studios, and art/architectural theory seminars at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Princeton University.

Helen lives in Atlanta with her family where she enjoys meandering, people watching, street sitting, and porch lolling.

She also owns and operates a small, one-woman design company. visit.

Exhibition Schedule:

2D work

J. Crimmins and Friends: New York/Atlanta, Kibbee Gallery, Atlanta

Postcards From The Edge, Sikkema Jenkins, New York

Haber Space at Central Booking Gallery, New York

Fine Arts Gallery, Georgia Perimeter College, Clarkston**

The New York Armory Show, New York

Emerging Artist Show, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta

Little Things Mean A Lot, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta 

Group Show curated by Beth Malone, Dashboard Co-op, Atlanta

Spaces, One Twelve Gallery, Atlanta

Living Color, Poem 88, Atlanta

The Defoor Art Center, Atlanta

HomeGrown Gallery, Decatur, Georgia

HomeGrown Gallery, Decatur, Georgia

Art in the Afternoon, Avondale Arts Alliance, Atlanta

Spotlight on Art, The Trinity School, Atlanta

3D work:

TKTS Booth, The Van Alen Institute, New York

House Rules, The Wexner Center, Ohio

Olympic City, Princeton University, New Jersey

Princeton University, New Jersey, Master’s Thesis Prize

Imaginary Projects for Times Square, New School, New York

New Park: New Ideas, The Urban Center, New York

Foundation Arts Show, Parsons School of Design, New York

Putnam County Arts Center, selected as Best In Show

**indicates solo

Pop-up Exhibitions:

Postcards From the Edge, Sikemma Jenkins, New York

Postcard Pin-up Show, Mint Gallery, Atlanta

Postcard Pin-up Show, Mint Gallery, Atlanta

Noted Museum shows, Collaborative Exhibitions and Press:

House Rules, The Wexner Center, Ohio, 1996

House Rules, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1996

Prince Charles on Architectural Education: NPR, 1995

“30 Artists: 30 and Under”, The NY Times Magazine,1994

New Park: New Ideas, The Urban Center, New York, 1992

Riverside South: NPR, 1992

Corporate Collections:

CBS News, Washington DC

Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta

Selected Private Collections:

New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta

Residencies:     

2013    St. Anne’s Artist in Residence, Atlanta   

Artist Talks:

Georgia Perimeter College, Fine Arts Gallery, Clarkston, GA

Poem 88, Atlanta 

Big Huge Things in Interesting Places:

2009 - 1997 (designed and built huge things) look here.

Selected Review Commentary

Robin Bernat, Curator and Gallerist at {Poem 88},

“While [Helen Crawford] may initiate the work as an exploration into landscape, there appears to be a kind of devolution into something entirely without form or loosely hinting at form.” Living Color Exhibition Pamphlet,

Annie Drexler, Director at One Twelve Gallery,

“Artist Helen Ferguson Crawford uses the medium of painting to weave narratives about the places and things she observes in her daily life. Crawford often writes stories and poems to accompany her abstract “landscapes”- sometimes the painting inspires the writing, and other times it’s the opposite. Though the pieces (visual and written works) may share a mood and a tone, they stand on their own as independent works of art.” Spaces Exhibition Pamphlet

Herbert Muschamp, The New York Times,

“Her drawings boast a delicate, almost Renaissance beauty.” The NY Times Magazine, “30 Artists: 30 and Under”

Bibliography, Publications, and Press:

ArtsATL: Cullum’s Notebook, review of Civil Discourse,  December 2018

Bedford + Bowery: See What Happens When..., August 2015 (NY Mag)

Curating Contempory: Going Big at Central Booking, August 2015

Joanne Mattera Art Blog: Going Big on the Lower East Side, Aug. 2015

Structure and Imagery: Painter’s I Admire,  March 2014

Hamptons Art Hub:  Fountain Art Fair, March 2013

The Decatur Minute:  January 2011

Jen Sign Creatively: Art in the Afternoon, 2010

Avondale Arts Alliance: June Artists,  2010

Katherine Tyrell: “Making a Mark”, April, 2010

The NY Times Magazine, “30 Artists: 30 and Under”, 1994

Herbert Muschamp, “A Park as Not Just Another Pretty Space”, The New York Times, 1992

Interviews:

Rebel Canvas, April 2022

Voyage ATL, March 2018

Hyperallergic, December 2011

Praeterita, August 2011

Relevant work: 

Selected Research and Fellowships:        

1996    Building Community, Carnegie Foundation, Research Team.

1996    Suzanne Kolarik Underwood Prize, Princeton University.

1993    Princeton University Full Fellowship, Princeton Univ. (thru 1996)

1992    Sigma Cum Laude, Parsons School of Design, New York       

Selected Design and Architectural Awards:       

2006

The BioDesign Institute, Arizona State University

AIA Arizona Merit Award

R&D Laboratory of the Year 

2005

The BioDesign Institute, Arizona State University

AIA Arizona Merit Award

AIA Western Mountain Region Citation

Valley Forward Environmental Excellence

1998       

TKTS Booth Design: Top 20, Van Alen Institute, New York

Teaching Experience/Juror:

2015    Leap Year Fellowship, Mint Atlanta, Juror

2015    Visiting Jury Member, Georgia Institute of Technology

2014    Visiting Jury Member, Georgia Institute of Technology

2009 to 2012

Adjunct Professor, CFY Program, Georgia Institute of Technology:

An intensive twelve hour core conceptual thinking studio. Students respond to conceptual and spatial conditions by creating work that ranges from drawings through full scale three dimensional pieces. 

2012    Portman Prize Juror, Georgia Institute of Technology

2005    Velux Prize Juror, Georgia Institute of Technology

2003    Velux Prize Juror, Georgia Institute of Technology   

2002    Adj. Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology

2002    Portman Prize Juror, Georgia Institute of Technology

1996    Architectural Theory, Seminar Preceptor, Princeton University