For this Ephrata senior, life is art
Helena Dueck, Lancaster Newspapers Photo By Lori Van Ingen
Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era
February 1, 2010
Helena Dueck was always interested in drawing and painting, but as a child growing up in a poor country she didn't have the means at her disposal to become an artist.
"I grew up in Paraguay, and when we went to school, we only had a half-hour of drawing on Friday afternoons. All week I looked forward to it," Dueck said.
"We only had a black slate, so we had to erase it every day. We had no time and no materials to work with."
As a young woman, Dueck moved to Canada and then permanently to the United States in 1966.
It was then that the Ephrata resident began taking lessons in oil painting from Jay McVey at the old Ephrata rec center, which was located behind her home.
"When I quit with him, I quit painting in oils," she said.
She then took lessons, mostly in pastel, with the late Ronald Sykes for 17 years every Wednesday evening.
Dueck, who was a live-in housekeeper for an Ephrata family and the main baker at the Nav Jiwan Tea Room in Ten Thousand Villages, said she "worked all the time, and my Wednesday night lesson was a way to keep in touch with the arts." Dueck said she then took a watercolor class and liked it.
"There's no odor to it, and it's easier to clean the brushes," she said.
Now, most of her artwork is in watercolor, although she has done some acrylics, too, she said.
Dueck prefers to paint portraits, but there's no outlet to sell many portraits, she said, so she began painting other things.
Florals and landscapes are now two of the 72-year-old woman's favorite subjects. She paints buildings, too, she said, but it's not her strong suit.
Dueck said she gets her ideas from just looking at things.
"I see something and I go, 'Oh, I'd like to paint that.'"
She takes photos of what she might want to paint, then adds other things and changes things around to make the painting her own.
What she likes most about painting, she said, is that she gets lost in herself.
"When I take a white piece of paper, it's kinda scary. But what are you going to lose? So you start and see what develops."
For years, Dueck also did appliqué work on quilts to make extra money.
When she retired from the tea room in 1993, she said she had always wanted to volunteer, so she began helping out at Mennonite Central Committee's Material Resource Room and appliquéd quilts for MCC's relief sale.
Because the Material Resource Room couldn't keep up with all of her appliqué work, she decided to do some for herself, too.
Although she has a studio, she does everything in her kitchen, where her radio is located, Dueck said, so she can hear the news.
"I have to clean everything out to bake and cook," she said.
Dueck's artwork -- a variety of her most recent works in acrylics, watercolors and quilted art -- will be on display at Landis Homes, 1001 E. Oregon Road, Lititz, through April. The opening reception will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Harvest View lobby and galleries.
lvaningen@lnpnews.com
© 2010 Lancaster Newspapers
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