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2D Art

Cover Artist

In Summer 2023, Helena’s art was chosen for the cover of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs 2023 LGBTQ+ Culture and Heritage Guide, accompanied by a formal unveiling at City Hall. The city presented Helena a full-sized poster (pictured) as a token of gratitude from Los Angeles! It now hangs proudly in her home. While at L.A. City Hall, she took the opportunity marvel at the historic building’s ornate interior, and to visit the Office of Mayor Karen Bass where everyone was so pleasant! Thank you to the City of Los Angeles and the L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs.

Download a copy of The LGBT Heritage Month 2023 Calendar and Cultural Guide

Donato-Sapp, H. (2023). My two dads got married (acrylic paint on canvas; 10 ½ x 14). 2023 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Heritage Month Calendar and Cultural Guide. The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. June 2, 2023.

Helena’s original painting was selected as the cover of the magazine for the 2023 LGBT Heritage Month Calendar and Cultural Guide. The original piece of art was painted as an anniversary gift for her two fathers. It was unveiled at Los Angeles City Hall and then the poster was gifted to Helena afterwards by the City of Los Angeles.

Coffeehouse exhibit

Donato-Sapp, H. (2023). Self Portrait and Long Beach Map. Art Exhibition for Art4Equality by Feminist Uprising. Viento y Agua Coffeehouse, Long Beach, CA. December 14, 2023.

Helena was a featured artist and poet at a community fundraiser organized by Feminist Uprising. She exhibited two original paintings and read her original poem titled An Ode to Rage. The event was held at a popular local coffeehouse. Helena’s first coffeehouse exhibit reading was a resounding success. She was interviewed and photographed along with fellow local artists, musicians, and other poets.

Other Works

Process

Commissioned art

Download a copy of In Dialogue/En Diálogo

Donato-Sapp, H. (2023). Commissioned Art Portfolio for the Academic Journal In Dialogue/En Diálogo: The Journal of the College of Education at California State University Dominguez Hills. Carson, CA.

In 2022, Dr. Jen Stacy and Dr. Yesenia Fernández, founders and editors of In Dialogue/En Diálogo, contacted Helena and commissioned her to create original art for this new academic journal. They had seen Helena’s art in some family social media posts and

loved it and wanted their new journal to have youth presence. Artist-Activist Helena

pulled all of the stops out for the commission, creating a robust 53-page portfolio,

multiple cover ideas, individual art transparencies, and three custom Helenatica fonts. The portfolio was submitted in 2022, and the journal was published in 2023.

See more in Commissions.

My art Journey

First, you learn.

2-D art is when art is done on a flat surface. It is usually paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs. 2-D art is sometimes described by its height and width. 2-D means that it is any shape that can be laid flat on a piece of paper or other material.

One of my favorite new pieces is a map of my city. Here I was learning about choosing an analogous color palette and learning about topographic contour. We studied Georgia O’Keefe, a few Italian Futurists, as well as other aerial landscape artists. I added some details in oil pastel.

Helena Donato-Sapp, Long Beach, CA 2019, Pastel on Cardboard, 18W x 12H

Did you know that Pablo Picasso had a Dachshund dog named Lump and that he loved it very much? We learned about Lump and studied some more Cubism and then we did our own Picasso Dog Painting. (Right or Above)

Helena Donato-Sapp , A Picasso Dog 2019, Pastel on Paper, 9W x 6H

Another of my favorite artists is Georgia O’Keefe. We studied her in first-grade. After we learned about her flowers and how she drew them very large, we chose a flower for inspiration and filled a large format paper with colorful chalk pastels using lines and blends. This is my Daddy’s favorite piece and he had it framed and it hangs in our dining room!

Helena Donato-Sapp, O’Keefe’s Flower 2016, Pastel on Paper, 24W x 17H

O’Keefe is inspiring to me and her flowers are beautiful. I ended up trying to draw a lot of flowers because I like her so much.

Helena Donato-Sapp

Japan Spring 2014

Tempera Paint on Paper

8W x 11H

Helena Donato-Sapp

Pink Flower 2017

Tissue Paper on Cardboard

21W x 22H

Helena Donato-Sapp

Fall Leaves 2016

Pastel Frotage

18W x 12 H

In 5th-grade we had to paint a landscape. I chose a picture of my cousin and I on my Grandpa and Grandma’s farm in West Virginia. I didn’t tell anyone in the family I was doing it, so it was a big surprise to them. My Grandma and Daddy love this piece. The original hangs in my Dad’s office and we made a copy of it so that Grandma could have it in her house too.

Art is personal.

I am interested in segregation and integration in American schools. I am Black and I found out that it used to be that Black and white people could not go to school together. My class is very diverse. This surprised me. I read a lot of books about segregation and integration and I learned about important girls my age like Linda Brown, Ruby Bridges, and Sylvia Mendez. I asked one of my art teachers, Mr. Leffler, to help me because he teaches a college class on art and does linocuts. I wanted to do linocuts. We used pictures from the books I read as inspiration. Learn more about Mr. Leffler!

These are my finished pieces.

Helena Donato-Sapp

The Hate of Segregation 2018

Linocut

10W x 13H

Helena Donato-Sapp

The Love of Integration 2018

Linocut

13W x 10H

I found out that the Brown v. Board of Education Museum was having a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living the Dream 2018 Student Art Competition and I submitted these two pieces to the contest. The Brown v. Board of Education Museum honors the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision to integrate schools so that Black and white children could go to school together. Guess what? I didn’t win again! But Kansas Muralist Michael Toombs chose my art to be a part of the Brown v. Board Mural Project and now my work is a permanent part of this important museum.

Art is beautiful.

And art is political.

Photography by Papa Sino

Photographs by Papa Sino

I got to meet the great activist Dolores Huerta at a feminist event in Los Angeles. I was very excited to meet her. I did a biography project on her in third-grade and I learned a lot about her and workers’ rights.

With the help of my parents, I did a photography project where I recreated a famous picture of Dolores Huerta when she was at the Delano Grape Boycott. Because my Papa is such a good photographer, taking photographs is something I want to explore in the future. Oh! And guess what? Dolores LIKED my picture a lot and her daughter Juanita contacted me and asked if they could use my picture! I was so excited!

I like art that is political.

OMG guess what? Dolores’ daughter, Juanita Chavez, asked if they could use my picture! Wow!

Mango (2015) is the piece that made me a professional artist! I painted this in kindergarten [watercolor on paper] and I entered it into a show and it got selected! Seen + Heard is an artist project by Dr. Rachel L. S. Harper that has the aim of accumulating a solid platform to advocate for the importance of cultural works by children. The purpose of the project is to be sure that the wisdom of children is amply represented in our cultural world. My Mango piece was in the 2016 Treats exhibition that was curated by Ada Grey (age 9) and Rachel Harper and opened at the Chicago Art Department on February 12, 2016. I donated the piece to this important collection and Mango is currently on exhibit at DuPaul University in Chicago. (Source: Seen + Heard) website.

Helena Donato-Sapp, Mango 2015, Pastel on Paper, 9W x 12H

(Pictured) Here I am in Chicago for my first exhibit. I was 7-years-old.

The picture below is of me sketching at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles when I was in kindergarten.

Here are some more of my art using different techniques.

Helena Donato-Sapp

The Night Sky 2016

Aluminum Foil and India Ink

9W x 7H

Helena Donato-Sapp

Love in the City 2016

Ink on Paper

9W x 7H

Helena Donato-Sapp

Monsters 2016

Ink on Paper

13W x 10H

Chinese Brush Painting artist Mayee Futterman came to our art class and taught us the special technique of creating ink on rice paper. I created this panda. (Right or below) I think it is important to study art from around the world if you’re going to be a good artist.

Helena Donato-Sapp

Panda 2019

Ink on Rice Paper

13W x 13 H

The ball (Below) shows that my skill in shading is getting better all the time. I was 8-years-old when I did this at a summer art camp.

Helena Donato-Sapp

Shaded Ball 2017

Charcoal on Paper

14W x 11H

Helena Donato-Sapp, Several Circles 2013, Construction Paper on Paper, 11W x 17H

I did these circles in my preschool class a long, long time ago. We were just learning simple shapes back then and I think this was about us memorizing what a circle was. The teachers cut out the circles and we were supposed to glue them in any way we wanted.

But here is what happened. When I brought this home, my Papa had an instant response to it.

“Wassily Kandinsky!” he exclaimed.

A few minutes at his computer and he showed me these two pictures together. (Below)

Helena Donato-Sapp’s Several Circles (2013) and Wassily Kandinsky’s Several Circles (1926)

Not only was that my first time to hear the name Wassily Kandinsky, but it was the first time that we found a mirror of my art in the art of famous artists like Kandinsky. Now Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists. I’ve seen a lot of his original pieces in The Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

I did another Kandinsky piece based on his most famous work - the 1913 Squares with Concentric Circles (Left or below). I was excited that we were going to study the art of Russian abstract with Kandinsky in my first-grade art class because I already knew of him from Several Circles. We made ours into a Kandinsky tree! We were studying color, shape, and size contrast.

Helena Donato-Sapp, Kandinsky’s Tree 2017, Construction Paper on Paper with Marker and Tempera Paint, 18W x 22H

We also studied bug parts and looked at some examples of different bug shapes in nature before designing our own bug. This taught us about using various line thicknesses to create patterns and textures. Personally, I don’t like bugs much at all.

Helena Donato-Sapp, Bug 2016, Marker on Paper, 9W x 12H

Art can be used in all kinds of ways. See this little bee? (Right or below) I drew it for an art contest at my school. We have a garden there and the school had a contest for a garden logo. I drew this bee and submitted it to the contest. Guess what?! I didn’t win! Fooled you, didn’t I? But it is okay because sometimes you don’t win. The important thing is to try and do something. I still think my drawing is bee-utiful.

Helena Donato-Sapp

Rainbow Sheep 2017

Wool on Paper

24W x 18H

Helena Donato-Sapp

Balloons 2017

Pastel on Paper

14W x 11H

I like working with pastels and chalk on paper. We do that a lot in my art classes because shading is important. These are some of my favorites.

Helena Donato-Sapp, Ice Cubes 2017, Water Color on Paper, 7W x 5H

Helena Donato-Sapp, Spill 2017, Water Color on Paper, 7W x 5H

That is my art so far at 12 years old. There is more, but this shows you what I am interested in and that I am a serious artist. Stay tuned to my website to follow my journey deeper into art.

Contact

Email My Parents:

Erwin Sino Donato and Jeff Sapp

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