Helen M. Webster | Painter & Writer

I was born and raised in Miami, Florida where my parents immigrated after leaving Cuba.  Having lived in various cities across the country and abroad, I am currently based back in my hometown where I live with my husband and our two children.

I graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, received an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington, and completed Stanford’s Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing.

The work featured on this blog depicts the span of my career as a painter.  Much of this work refers to the nostalgia of the Cuba my parents left behind; a sort of mirage really, upon which the community in which I was raised was built.  As a Cuban-American, I have been brought up with a blend of American values and Cuban tradition, trapped somewhere between two worlds – adhering to American values while trying to preserve that which has been past down from our parents – the tradition, the nostalgia, and the longing. As a result, there is, at times, a feeling of being from two worlds, never really fitting into one or the other.  The figures in my work often refer to this feeling of isolation and displacement, which is perhaps often felt by first generation immigrants.

The themes in my paintings have found their way into a novel which is currently in progress. The working title of my novel is From Cuba, with Coffee.