Born and raised in central New York State, Helen Werner Cox used her life-long passion for art to gain entrance into Boston University’s prestigious School of Fine Arts. Trained as a classical painter and thoroughly grounded in visual arts and education, she used her training to effectuate her second great passion in life—the affirmation of multiculturalism and access to quality education for underserved communities.
Helen taught art in several different environments, public and private, before taking on program management at the Neighborhood Arts Center in Boston’s South End. Through these experiences, she developed an interest in literacy and obtained her M.Ed. at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Helen relocated to Long Beach, California in 1988. She taught art at Lindbergh Middle School in a low-income neighborhood of North Long Beach for three years. Upon the retirement of the school librarian, Helen stepped into the role and developed a proposal to promote literacy through the middle school library. Working with a mission to provide the highest quality programs and materials anywhere, she transformed the Lindbergh library into a magical “Reading Room,” which won the School Library Journal’s and Gale Publishing Company’s 2002 Giant Step Award for the nation’s most improved media center.
After obtaining her national credential as a Library Media Teacher, Helen spent the last four years of her teaching career transforming yet another underserved library at Hamilton Middle School into a center for literacy, art, and multiculturalism.
Following her retirement from teaching in 2010, Helen decided to actualize her passion and talents as an artist. She graduated with an MFA from the College of the Arts at California State University Long Beach in May, 2016.
Helen what a joy to experience your art again. You have a true gift and you found a unique way to share it with everyone. I have looked at your paintings many times and find something new each time. Thank you for sharing it with us.