Meet Mike Helbing of helbingstudio in North West

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Helbing.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Mike. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I always drew, painted and constructed art. I started when a child. I had some art classes early on and switched from engineering to art while at Purdue University. After a stint of life training study of art began in Earnest at Ball State in Indiana. Leaving there, I worked at various jobs while always making art any way I could. Got married in 1987 and enrolled in graduate school in 88. I received my MFA degree in Sculpture from NIU in 1991. In 1995, Wendy and I moved to Berwyn in the Chicago Area and I started working with Richard Hunt as an assistant. While there, I continued to learn and inside time build metal sculptures. 2005 saw me move to a south side studio and concentrate on my sculpture while keeping in touch with Richard. I later moved the studio to 350 N Ogden in about 2008. I am still there and working on creating things that range in scale from inches to 30 feet. My sculptures have to pass the elevator test, the box is 7′ x 7′ x 11′. Anything bigger has to be made in easily assembled parts. That is just another thing to think about when making large sculptures. I am an eclectic sculptor artist, many interests, and many directions, nature, science, history, animals including humans are all blended into my work. Philosophy? Life is a blast enjoy it.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
If you are an artist, I believe you know it at an early age. Your life becomes a struggle to fulfill your mission. The struggle begins with parents, some encourage, some do not. You have to grow past them to get into yourself. Our culture likes some artists and some it doesn’t, I had to learn my own way of swimming in these waters. All artists have to do it their way. I had to realize it isn’t easy. Selling hamburgers aren’t either. Maybe the hardest thing is not to quit artistry. Inspiration is only a beginning, a small part of making art. Life throws it’s challenging to everybody but I only know the ones I had to overcome in my life. Some of these are; confidence, depression, war, school, spelling, parental fears, money, food, rent, health, materials, love, the list goes on. Success is how you define it, for each it is different. Besides talent, perseverance and tenacity are necessary. It is also necessary to develop an ability to surpass rejection. It will happen. You have to keep on keeping on. There is no guarantee of artistic acceptance, You must believe in yourself.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I have a workshop known as “helbingstudio”. For some reason, I like the name of it to be in lowercase and strung together as one word. I specialize in fabricated stainless steel works. I like the strength, it’s corrosion resistance. the beauty of it, the surface treatments it will retain and the smooth feel of it. Every artist chooses something that they love, mine is the Queen of metals, stainless steel. I do however reserve the right to work with other materials as the need arises. My themes range through all aspects of the world my mind lives in. We all create our own universe and existence. I do mine. The flow of water, growth, lines in winter (naked trees), space, negative and positive, landscapes, history, machines, human interaction, animals and more are all sources of inspiration. The editing of ideas is more of a problem than not having any. So much to do, so little time. Gotta go to work.

What were you like growing up?
I am inquisitive and have always wanted to mind wonder and to read, play, study what I wanted, draw, paint, build, play in mud, drain puddles by drawing with my fingers, ride bikes out to the country, eat wild strawberries, get caught in thunderstorms, build rafts, camp naked and swim in the river, question religion, study many, form my own, think ideas, question everything, read the stacks in the library, cook, play with chemistry and after childhood I learned real life in the army. Came out of that with a yearning to live life my way. I started expressing what I knew two days after discharge by painting a dead chicken stripped bare of its feathers, head, bowels, and feet on a chopping block in the manner of Caravaggio. That began my freedom from the Stupid Times. I have moved on to work and my childhood. I am creating art. I have never looked back.

Pricing:

• I have sculptures from $300 to my latest at $150,000

Contact Info:

• Website: helbingstudio.com
• Phone: 708-704-1088
• Email: mike@helbingstudio.com, helbingstudio@gmail.com
• Facebook: mikehelbing@facebook

Image Credit:
mike helbing

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