Born in Shiraz, Iran in 1970, Helen Zarin can remember beginning to paint at the early age of five. Showing talent, her influential family encouraged her to invest in her artistic endeavors.

As a high school student, she studied with the well known Persian artist and teacher, Saber. Later she enrolled in the Art and Culture Society, a national organization for gifted Persian Artists. As a student of Art and Culture, she refined her skills in the various mediums, especially pastels and oils. Helen was recognized by the Iranian Society and earned many national awards for her works.

Conditions in her native country eventually compelled Helen to turn elsewhere for creative nourishment. “Hard work and talent are not enough for an artist to progress and blossom, creative freedom in the right atmosphere is essential,” she remarked. In the pursuit of these artistic prerequisites, she journeyed first to Europe where she displayed her works in Vienna before coming to the United States in 1993. She has continued her education first in New York and currently in Baltimore, Maryland where she resides.

Helen Zarin’s technique with pastel is atypical, standing up to the elements and lasting over time. As she creates, her fixative becomes part of each piece, sealing the pastel at multiple phases along the way before the piece is complete. Her work with mixed media, oil and collage is sophisticated yet vibrant and playful. Her abstract landscapes could tell a story. Her figures are minimalist and modest yet alluring, with abstract backgrounds and still life elements.