Helen Waimel Robertson
Helen Waimel Robertson (1917-2002) was born in Tartu, Estonia and emigrated with her parents to Canada in 1925, settling in Kitchener, Ontario. From a very young age she liked to model her own toys, fashioning animals from clay, plasticene, or anything malleable. Later on, as a young woman she travelled back to Estonia to visit her birthplace and was pleased to find a farm set she had created still on display at her kindergarten.
In grade school in Kitchener she came under the influence of a wonderful teacher, Miss Mabel Hedley, who recognized and fostered her talent and finally recommended thirteen-year-old Helen for a full scholarship to the Ontario College of Art. There she completed a four-year course in three years, and was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal in her graduating year (1936). In 1986 she honoured Miss Hedley’s memory by dedicating a bronze statue to her memory. Entitled “Giving”, the abstract bronze features a woman kneeling with her arms lifted towards the sky.
After College, she worked steadily at her sculpture and as an interior decoration consultant with an architectural firm in Toronto. She created her sculpture in stone, concrete, hydrocal, bronze, aluminum, copper, iron, wood and with certain pieces she applied gold leaf. Much of her work was done out of her studio and home on the Niagara Parkway south of Chippawa.
Helen’s commissions include: twelve Canada Coats of Arms and all ten Provincial Coats of Arms for federal buildings; Shields of Arms for Ontario Law Courts in various cities; architectural and ornamental sculpture for the Workers’ Compensation Centre; sculpture for the Cobourg Municipal Building; Stations of the Cross for St. Kevin’s Roman Catholic Church in Welland; work for St. Denis School in St. Catharines; sculpture for the interior courtyard of the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre in St. Catharines, a large mural, 30 x 10 feet for Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto, a theatrical panel of copper in 47 pieces, 50 x 12 feet, for the Queen Elizabeth Building at the CNE grounds in Toronto, designed by Elizabeth Wyn Wood; and the gold-leaf gilded Goddess suspended over a pool in the Colonnade Hotel in Toronto. In 1940 she created the twin water nymphs astride sea creatures for the Bullas Building in Kitchener. After the building was torn down in 1985 the cast stone works ended up in that city’s Centre in the Square. For her home in Chippawa she fashioned a stone bas relief of Adam and Eve as well as a two-tiered fountain pool, entitled the “Golden Fountain”, featuring three bronze figures: “boy with bird” (or “Freedom”); girl with fish; and boy riding a turtle. This joyful work of art was later donated by the family as a feature of the fountain at the entrance to the Niagara Parks Commission Floral Showhouse in Niagara Falls In the Niagara Falls Public Library her stainless steel “Evolution” graces the Reference Department. In all, fifty-four complete works are listed in her compilation of accomplishments. She also created many donated works of art and had numerous pieces in private collections. Her creative genius earned her entry into the Sculptors’ Society of Canada in the mid 1950s.
On a lighter side she has created wax figures and heads for museums. After retiring, she turned her talents to designing and modelling exquisite porcelain figurines as a hobby. She created her own figurines and then draped them with very special fabrics and lace all in porcelain.
Mrs. Robertson passed away in 2002, but her life’s work will live long and generations to come will appreciate her talent.