Helena Stockar
Helena M. Stockar draws on her Czech roots to create abstractions that explore the emotional depths of all facets of life and living. She gathers inspiration from her turbulent past as an émigrée from the Czechoslovakia on the wings of early life under the shadows of WWII, Communism and New World beginnings starting in 1960s New England. Her art and her life story weave together into a tapestry of struggle, victory, joy and sorrow highlighted by events that seem to defy the impossible and define the essential. The central theme of her work, of love and persistence overcoming hate and oppression, embodied her life. Her story, told through an expressionist style, is one of immigration and community centred around the importance of family. It depicts human struggles expressed with passion and boundless creativity. In her vibrant colors, inspired themes and lively compositions, Helena transcended the traditional role of the artist as an observer, or interpreter, to become the storyteller that captured the inner emotions of her subjects and explores the depths of complexity which surround them as they surround us all. It is this ability to reach deep yet remain accessible that makes Helena’s work powerful and unique to each observer.
Helena was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia during a time of war and the horrors of Nazi-occupied central Europe. During a time when fear and hunger were daily companions, her family somehow overcame the odds despite her father’s chronic and terminal illness. After the war, the country was again consumed by repression under a the newly formed, Russian-backed Communist Party. Once again fear and uncertainly entered the lives of the newly “freed” Czech nation imprisoned by the Iron Curtain.
Helena found her creative outlet in art and music. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in graphic design at the School of Design in Prague and a Master’s Degree in classical piano at the Prague Conservatory of Music. The two were always intertwined in her inspiration: “My notes are my colors and my compositions are my melodies,” she would claim. Upon graduating, she found her life-long love in the arms of a young architect, named Ivo Stockar. They married and had two children. But their greatest challenges were ahead of them. Ivo’s activities in the Czech Resistance forced him to escape Prague to the West, and although he tried to take his family, they were separated. Helena and the children tried to follow only to be captured in the attempt and Helena found herself imprisoned by the Communists. Her imprisonment strengthened her determination to reunite the family. Upon her release, she tried again and soon reunited the family in their new home in New England. As learning English and adapting to a new culture proved challenging, she often turned to her art and her music as her primary means of expressing her deepest feelings and telling her story. As Ivo would often say, “Helena speaks through her art”. She found happiness in America and was proud to call Rhode Island and later Pennsylvania her home. Helena died in Avondale, PA in November 2013 in the loving care of her husband, family and friends.
