Axle Contemporary
a mobile artspace based in Santa Fe, New Mexico
an Axle 2023 Nanogrant winner
Helen Walters
Fred Walters
Memorial Reading and Display at the Santa Fe National Cemetery
Our anniversary would have been 34 years - on August 4th
So I will spend the day with him there to celebrate our anniversary.
I would like to invite the public.
Helen Walters will be holding a public Poetry Reading at the National Veterans Cemetery in Santa Fe on Friday August 4, 2023, at 11:00 a.m.. Please join her and "The Paintbrush People" in Section 27A at Site 467 at the resting place of Frederick E. Walters, Jr. USMC. The poetry has been written by Helen, Fred and collaborations of both of them. This date is the Walters' 34th wedding anniversary..
Fred Walters grew up in Philadelphia, PA. He’d often skip school to go to the art museum. He joined the Marines, married and held a variety of jobs before going through a divorce. During that time period he would draw, creating his personal art. He later met his second wife and moved to New Mexico which gave him more of an incentive to be creative. He joined the Bluefish Clothing company and became a studio artist, producing hand block printed garments. It was around that time that he started painting on larger canvases. Fred left behind at least 85 paintings, numerous drawings and sketches as well as a variety of mixed media creations. In addition, Fred was also a poet and left behind many writings.
https://www.theartistlives.org/artist-gallery/john-frazier-y5y9z-bdfcp-7xlz7-4m2s8
https://www.facebook.com/helen.walters.33
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Helen Walter's Proposal:
I would drive to the Santa Fe Veteran National Cemetery and have a Poetry reading of writings by my late husband, with a display of his self portraits and other creations. He started with a sketchpad, and worked in various mediums to produce his art. He progressed to painting in acrylic, first small paintings, then later in his life he worked on large canvases. He worked for a few years at Bluefish a Clothing company where he was one of 32 artists in their studio. He block printed over 20,000 garments and developed a love for block printing. He designed his own blocks and printed them on clothing, canvas, paper, and wood. He also created "Paintbrush People" from the old brushes used in the Bluefish studio.
He suffered abuse in the foster family, became a Marine at the end of the Vietnam conflict, had a family and worked in machine shops - getting laid off many times, went through a divorce and remarried a creative woman who complimented his works with her own. He suffered from chronic PTSD and went on disability just after he turned 50. Fred Walters died from cancer in 2021. Showing his art and reading his poetry keeps his spirit alive. It shows that a person can live through horrible events in their lives, and still see beauty in the world. He encouraged many young people in his life to be creative and follow their dreams.
Helen M. Walters, BA, Getting her BA in Advertising Design and Commercial Art, she worked in the graphic arts field for 10 years, working in typesetting, layout and design, forms design, photo studios and labs. She then returned to school to complete a Computerized bookkeeping course, and worked in Taos as an administrative assistant/bookkeeper.
She also was on the Board of Directors and business manager of a non-profit Recycling center in Taos, winning the New Mexico Small business environmental award for the company.
As a folk Artist, she has studied art in college in New Jersey as well as in Poland, and created ecological artwork, teaching and demonstrating creative recycling to groups young and old with various cognitive abilities. Her works have been on exhibit in Taos and Roswell, New Mexico, Philadelphia, PA, Frenchtown NJ, and are in several private collections. She has given many presentations on the topic, recently speaking at the Annual Association of New Mexico Activity Professionals.
Her many skills include writing articles, poetry and short stories, public speaking, singing, painting, drawing, crocheting, sculpting and creating art from found objects.
A native of New Jersey, she has lived in Philadelphia PA, Taos, NM, Albuquerque NM and currently resides in Roswell NM. She has two grown children, 2 step daughters, 6 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild and was married 32 years to her 2nd husband - artist Fred Walters who passed away on May 3rd, 2021.
Hobbies include making jewelry, photography, gardening, nature walks, and two lovable cats.