by Samantha Kang ~

When she was a young girl, her mom signed her up for art classes. Art was just something she did growing up, but it wasn’t until high school that she realized the power behind art – that art can be used to portray emotion. This was the moment Helmich consciously realized that she can use art as an outlet.

As a recent graduate from Penn State, Helmich is still in State College working in Penn State’s Division of Development and Alumni Relations. Her role is to interact with those who give donations to Penn State by connecting them to the university. She also does some traveling and has gone on a few trips to Philly, Jersey, or Virginia to meet with these contributors.

During her time at Penn State, Helmich studied international politics with an economics option because of her interest in government; she also studied African Studies and pursued a minor in Spanish that was sparked by an interest in Spanish culture. She was a part of the Paterno Fellows Program and then joined the Schreyer Honors College.

Helmich invested a lot of time into Kalliope – she was the art coordinator for two years, stepping into the role when she joined sophomore year, and became the managing editor during her senior year.

Helmich decided to join Kalliope because she likes writing, journals, and poems. It “felt like ‘my’ thing,” she says, describing Kalliope as a non-traditional Penn State activity with other students who are “different.” Kalliope helps to lift voices that aren’t in the traditional Penn State scene by providing a platform for them.She explains how Kalliope is filled with unique people and good writers with lots of different talents, a warm little community, where everyone chooses their words carefully and meaningfully. It made her respect writers and the way they articulate words that are able to portray feelings and make her feel a certain way.

Helmich has had numerous pieces of artwork published in Kalliope: “Gratitude” in the 2017 edition, “Fall” and “Magic Sticks” and “Peer” in the 2016 edition, and the cover for the 2015 edition. “Self Portrait” was a piece that was published in both Kalliope 2017 and Klio 2016.

“Gratitude” – Kalliope 2017

“Gratitude” (above) was created for a yoga class – she was inspired when she had to turn on her side and have gratitude for her body and life. It represented taking time in the day to pause and be thankful, and it was her first time physically representing that. In the piece, the colors grow outwardly because she wants people to feel that we can all radiate positivity.

“Self Portrait” – Klio 2016 and Kalliope 2017

“Self Portrait” (above) is of herself, but Helmich also meant for it to represent anyone because it is a naked body on a phone – and everyone does that. Isabelle addressed how it can be taboo being on your phone and using technology, but she wanted people to see it as normal and how we spend downtime in the year 2017. She intentionally made the body a little imperfect because “all bodies are weird”.

A few other published works in Kalliope:

“Peer”

“Peer” – Kalliope 2016

“Magic Sticks”

“Magic Sticks” – Kalliope 2016

“Thaw”

“Thaw”