D. Helene Woods is a Minnesota-based visual artist with a BFA from Southwest State University and a Master of Public and Nonprofit Administration from Metropolitan State University. Her artistic career includes numerous solo exhibitions, such as Covid Stories at Inver Hills Community College, Femscapes at Great River Arts, and exhibitions at Southwest Minnesota State University, Maple Grove City Hall, and Red Jungle Art Gallery. She has also participated in notable two-person exhibitions, including No Rest for the Women with Klaire Lockheart and Oscillations Urbaines at Calendula Gallery.

Woods has an extensive record of selected group exhibitions throughout Minnesota, with recent appearances at the University of Minnesota’s Larson Art Gallery, AZ Gallery, Jackson Flats, and ArtReach St. Croix. In addition to gallery work, she has completed significant public art projects, including large-scale painted panels for the Monticello Community Center and a mural at Foley Elementary School. Her artistic achievements have been recognized through multiple grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Central Minnesota Arts Board, supporting her continued creative development and contribution to Minnesota’s arts community.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Helene Woods' artwork explores how family history, culture, and everyday experiences shape our health and sense of well-being. Through symbolic imagery and imagined anatomies, she creates visual representations of what it feels like to live in and move through the world with a body that can both support and challenge us, whether through visible or invisible conditions.

Her acrylic and ink paintings feature environments and objects that reference gender, social class, and personal history, revealing how these forces influence both our lives and our physical experiences. Woods examines wellness as something woven into every aspect of human existence, from public interactions to private thoughts and emotions. Her work considers how our sense of well-being is shaped by memories of the past, expectations for the future, and the realities of the present moment.

Using a range of techniques, including spray paint, acrylic ink, thick impasto, and transparent washes, Woods creates surfaces rich in texture that echo the complexity and variability of the human body. Through color, line, and materiality, she highlights the interconnected relationship between our internal physical experiences and the broader world we inhabit.