Scott Helmes, an architect and multifaceted artist, always kept a tidy room, says his sister.
"Even as a little boy, he was building and creating," said Julia Gaskell, Helmes' younger sister. "He was very low-key, even modest. But he was incredibly talented."
That fastidious boy would grow up to be an internationally renowned artist and celebrated architect. Helmes, whose full name was Leslie Scott Helmes, died in January at age 77.
Across the Twin Cities, Helmes' architectural vision is embedded in his redesign for Minneapolis City Hall council chambers, and his visual poetry graces the glass wall at the Rondo Community Outreach Library. As principal at Skaaden Helmes, the Mahtomedi native and graduate of the University of Minnesota specialized in contracts for medical facilities, including the Virginia Piper Cancer Center, extending care for individuals through design.
With an inexhaustible creative gusto and a mild-mannered Midwestern, soft-spoken humility, Helmes pursued other passions. He attained status as a visual poet, as well as a stamp and mail artist. His design firm, S2BH, marketed tabletop artwork in museums, including the Walker Art Center. His automatic writing to musical scores can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His visual poetry sits in the Ohio State University's Avant Writing Collection.
"His poetry was sort of traditional, but he really stood out in his visual approach to things," said John Bennett, a retired OSU professor and curator of the collection. "I think it was related to his architectural work, as a kind of drawing that he did using rubber stamps, using inks, using pens and markers. The stuff is really beautiful."
Friends and family say defining Helmes in a singular endeavor risks overshadowing his polyphonic talents.
"I could show him plans that my team had done, and if the city inspector called him weeks later, he could completely recollect them from memory," said Margret Lemkins, an interior designer in Minneapolis.
