Overview
Collection Information
Size: 14.5 Linear feet; 7.85 Gigabytes
Summary: The papers of artists and art educators Harold Helwig and Lenore Davis measue 14.5 linear feet and 7.85 GB and date from 1940 to 2013. The papers document Davis' career and personal life more heavily than Helwig's, however, material related to both individuals are present. Included is biographical information; correspondence; exhibition and business files; research and printed material; artwork and sketches; photographs; and papers and digital material related to both Helwig and Davis' teaching endeavors.
The papers of artists and art educators Harold Helwig and Lenore Davis measue 14.5 linear feet and 7.85 GB and contains correspondence, video recordings, some in digital format, photographs and slides, exhibition ephemera, clippings and various other printed material, and artwork.
Biographical material includes resumes, school papers, artist inventories, and contacts lists. The collection's correspondence is both personal and business related, and includes a series of letters from Davis' mother, Mary Shope Davis, to her brother and sister-in-law from the 1940s. Other material found in this collection documents Helwig's and Davis' involvement in exhibitions; national and local craft-related guilds and associations, education; sale of artwork and services; research material; and printed ephemera. The collection's photographs include the personal and professional side of Helwig and Davis' life.
Biographical/Historical Note
Harold "Bill" Helwig (1938-2012) was an enamel artist and educator born in Wellington, Kansas in 1938. Helwig received his MS in watercolor from Fort Hayes Kansas State College in 1961. After a short stint in the military, Helwig became the assistant director of the Creative Craft Center at the State University of New York, Buffalo (he served as an assistant professor in the design department there as well). In 1977, Helwig took the position of director at Vitrearc, a division of Ceramic Coating Co., in Newport, Kentucky. After Vitrearc, Helwig's primary focus shifted towards creating enamel art and teaching its process. Included in Helwig's artistic accomplishments was a selection in the international exhibition "Objects: USA" (1969), exhibitions in the Ornamental Metals Museum in Memphis, Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City, and the CCA Galleries in Cambridge, England. Helwig was an active member of the American Craft Council as co-founder and editor of Glass On Metal . He received the Enamellist Society's Creative Arts Award in 2001.
Provenance
This collection was donated in 2017 by Arnelle Dow, executor of Harold Helwig's estate.
Funding
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Funding Note
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
