ABOUT BARBARA HELMEN

Barbara Lynn Helman is a Florida-based artist who has captured national attention through her usage of a unique medium, black six-sided dice.  Barbara grew up in the Midwest and exhibited a passion for art at an early age. After graduating from the University of Iowa, Barbara began her career in the sports industry, holding a variety of front office positions for NFL and MLB teams. Her career path changed when she entered the medical device field and relocated to South Florida.

Although Barbara worked full-time, she continued to develop her skills and pursue her passion for art in her spare time. Barbara primarily created finely detailed drawings, mostly using colored pencils and charcoal. See a few samples of her previous work here. (link to page of drawings) Barbara’s artwork is heavily influenced by pop culture & historical milestones, as well as her love of sports and music. Barbara has always considered black and white imagery to be the most powerful and began exploring a variety of mediums. Black and white six- sided dice soon became her medium of choice. Through a lot of trial and error, she went beyond placing the dice into a mosaic pattern and began applying different techniques to make her images appear more 3-dimensional and life-like, most recently in applying halftones & Swarovski crystals.

Barbara’s work gained national attention when her tribute piece to Kobe Bryant, entitled “Snake Eyes”, which was featured across all ESPN and Sportscenter platforms, USA Today, MSN, and among others. “Snake Eyes” was acquired for the Los Angeles Lakers organization and will hang in their practice facility.