"Is one of your goals for 2007 to achieve balance between your professional and personal lives? Independent professional Helene Steene has worked for several years on making this goal come true. "Balance is what it's about, and I'm happy I have it," she said. Her passion is art, but it's hard to make a living being an artist. Instead of paying for her art, so to speak, with a job-job, she is a Nikken wellness consultant. She gravitated toward the Japanese company's philosophy of wellness and balance, and has no trouble switching hats from artist to consultant. "Synergy creates a really healthy body," she said.
Nikken is a network marketing company whose core concept is about balance in the areas of sleep, water, air, nutrition and fitness. "It's a beautiful company," said Steene. "It's a very clever way to do business." She practices what she preaches and shows potential clients her own wellness home. Steene stumbled across Nikken nine years ago when she was going through a divorce and couldn't sleep. A friend offered her a Nikken mattress pad to try. It helped. "I bought one, and 45 days later, my back problems went away." She doesn't go out and search for clients ("I'm not really a businesswoman to that degree"), but through networking and word of mouth, she finds them and they find her.
Originally from Sweden, Steene was a travel agent in Stockholm. She married an American in 1976 and moved with him to Washington, D.C. He suggested she go back to school and study something she truly wanted to do. She chose art. From her first day at the college of fine arts at George Washington University, every cell in her body knew she'd made the right decision.
"I loved every minute," she said. She had studied English since sixth grade, but soon discovered that "art didn't need a language." She helped the Washington Women's Art Center get organized, and in three years, its membership grew from 200 to 800 members. By the early 1980s, Steene was a full-time artist, painting away in an artists' co-op, while her baby watched from his playpen.
In 1987, Steene and her family moved to Lexington, which she calls "softer" than D.C., by the way. One of the main differences she noticed was that the nation's capital was filled with transients, while Lexingtonians had roots. "My friends became my roots," she said. "I have reached the two-degree separation now." She finished her BFA at the University of Kentucky and obtained a master's in fine art, as well. She has taught art classes at UK and at the YMCA and now has a studio at the Lexington Art League on Loudon Avenue. Artists tend to lead an isolated lifestyle, so she's grateful to have a big beautiful room in which to paint. "To be an artist with a public place is helpful," she said. Steene has a steady following in town and is looking for a gallery in another city where she can exhibit her work. Her studio at the Lexington Art League is open to the public during the "Fourth Friday" events.
Classically trained in the figurative, she has worked in the abstract for 25 years, using different materials, techniques, textures and colors. She paints with oil and acrylic and makes fiber wall hangings, monotypes and etchings. Steene's philosophy of art is to create beauty. "And I don't mean pretty," she said. Her intuitive goal with each piece is to start with tension and end with harmony. Life is like this. There may be disharmonies throughout the day, but everything comes together to make us who we are.
Steene enjoys working in layers, another artistic reflection of her personality. Any given painting might include wood, metal, spackle and marble dust.
"I cannot live without my art making," she said. To keep her sanity in this age of interruptions, she decided three years ago to have no cell phone, no iPod, no television in the house. (She does have a computer, though.) "It has given me peace of mind to think my thoughts through," she said. Steene is a collector of art, mostly of her friends' work. "I don't just see the piece, but the person. It means so much." She loves seeing original art on the walls of restaurants. "The more you can involve art, it's good for business."
Steene echoes every other independent professional's love of being her own boss. "It's such a sense of freedom," she said. "If I want to drink coffee and read a book on my porch, I can." Art feeds her soul, and her work as a Nikken wellness consultant allows her to connect with other people. This is balance. "If I can share it, I will," she said, "be it art or health."
For more information on Steene's work, her Web site can be viewed at www.HeleneSteene.com.
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