Helen Lieros

Visual Artist

Helen Lieros is one of Zimbabwe’s finest painters belonging to a special group of the most enthusiastic teachers of art the nation boasts of. Born in 1940 in Gweru, Gwelo then, she studied art (visual Arts) at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, Switzerland.

Helen excelled in her studies coming tops in her class exhibition with an unassailable mark of 90% that earned her the certificate et Prix for such an outstanding achievement.

In all her artworks, she strives to be original – being an individual and searching for her true identity. This is the battle in her life and work, whether she is Greek or African. Her father was a Greek sailor. Helen is convinced that there is a link in the superstitions accepted as a Greek or as a white African. This is the view that she grapples with in her life as an artist. Suffice to say, this view reverberates in her artworks.

A visual artist par excellence, Helen has artworks on display (permanent collection) at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Together with her husband Roy Guthrie, they established Gallery Delta a space for visual art exhibitions.

The gallery has been very instrumental in nurturing a lot of young visual artists’ talents by giving them space to flaunt their respective aesthetic talents. Over the years she has been offering an alternative space for the exhibition and enjoyment of Zimbabwean visual arts. Many talented artists in the visual arts genre are passing through her hands.

With an incredible knack for identifying and nurturing artistic talent, Helen continues to be pivotal in doing exactly that. She is held with immense reverence in the creative sector, particularly the visual arts genre by both established and upcoming visual artists. She regularly imparts her invaluable visual arts skills to many artists, assisting them to blossom into top-notch creatives.

Helen has seen it all in the visual arts’ growth and development, from being an accomplished aesthetic practitioner herself, coach/mentor in the same field to an arts administrator running a vibrant gallery.

Many visual artists are continuously benefiting from her programmes and activities that include mentorship, marketing and the production of original and well thought out artistic works. As a tag team with her husband Roy, they have been a vital cog in ensuring that the visual arts sector becomes vibrant in Zimbabwe as an integral economic pillar as well as a vehicle for expressive art.

Exceptionally talented both as a practitioner as well as an arts administrator, Helen belongs to a class of people who will never be missed when the history, growth and development of the visual arts genre in Zimbabwe is put into perspective. Indeed, she is playing a critical role by putting Zimbabwe’s visual arts sector on the world’s artistic map.— NACZ.