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Helen Toomer

“Failure is just information.

You take that information

and move forward.”

Helen Toomer Toomer is Co-Founder of STONELEAF RETREAT, an artists’ residency and connective space in the Catskill Mountains of New York focused on supporting womxn and families. She is the Founder of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND and the Co-Founder of Art Mamas Alliance. Formerly, Toomer was Executive Director of Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) and Director of the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair, Collective Design Fair and PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs. She lectures on art fairs and professional development at universities and arts organizations in the US and the UK and was an adjunct professor at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Toomer co-founded and managed a contemporary art gallery, toomer labzda in New York and graduated with Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, England. She serves on the Board of AIRIE and Advisory Committees for ProjectArt, Foundwork and the Baxter St Camera Club of New York.

Let’s start at humble beginnings, tell us about your early life, and your journey to where you are at present…

I did a fine arts degree in England and as I graduated I realized I was a better arts organizer than an artist. I traveled for a bit, then went on to work at the Affordable Art Fair in London and fell in love with the intersection of art and events – particularly large-scale, like an art fair in which thousands of people gather.. From there I went traveling again (this re-centers and energizes me) and was transferred to work in New York City for the Pulse Contemporary art fair in 2007, with fairs then in London, NYC and Miami. This is where I finally felt I belonged and am so grateful to have moved, lived and loved in NYC for over a decade. I continued to work at Pulse, then took a turn in running a gallery in the lower east side in 2010-12, which was the best of times and worst of times! After that I helped launch a design fair and returned to Pulse as the director in 2014. I loved this role of overseeing the whole art fair, from the exhibitor, the artists they were showcasing, the production of the entire environment, the design, marketing and programming. It was like piecing together a huge jigsaw which only came together when the fair opened and people came to interact with the art and each other.

After a couple of years I started to get a little burnt out by the rat race and the art market and wanted to return to why I was doing what I was doing, which was art and artists. I’d always wanted to create a residency program, provide a safe haven for artists and in 2016 we found our magical home, STONELEAF and the next year launched the residency program focused on supporting women artists, which grew to incorporate a Family Residency program in 2020.

Tell us about Stoneleaf Retreat? How did the idea come about?

I’d always wanted to run an artist residency program and when we looked at the place, I stepped foot into the top of the barn and said this is it! It was way before any real plan to start one as I still had a full-time job, but I knew that our place was for artists. After we saw it, my husband Eric drove us back to the city and I wrote STONELEAF RETREAT in my book and so it was.

For artists interested in Stoneleaf, how can they apply?

Because of the pandemic, our applications have been on hold as we are still placing artists who were accepted for the 2020 season. The best bet is to follow @stoneleafretreat or sign up for our mailing list here.

"The first time they had seen art and friends again"

Tell us more about Upstate Art Weekend…

I had the idea when we moved here years ago, as I was making itineraries for visiting friends and couldn’t find a comprehensive listing of what was where, but things like a job and baby got in the way! It wasn’t until June 2020, months into the pandemic when I was like I HAVE to make UPSTATE ART WEEKEND happen now! I was feeling so isolated from people and wasn’t seeing art and realized further how lucky we are to be surrounded by such natural beauty and wanted to share it. So I threw it together pretty quickly and the 20+ organizations had such a positive response as they were feeling the same way. At STONELEAF during the first UPSTATE ART WEEKEND many people said to me that it was the first time they had seen art and friends again, as we had gathered safely outdoors and masked indoors. Last year it grew to 60+ organizations and projects and felt like a huge celebration, which I’m excited to continue.

What can we expect from Upstate Art Weekend?

We really want people to explore the region, whether they live here and are discovering something new on their doorstep or if they are visiting from out of town. There is something for everyone to experience that doesn’t just end with the art, as part of the discovery process is also the amazing food, local produce and products made by people who care about and have invested in the region. And don’t get me started about the landscape! It’s so insanely beautiful, whether you’re catching a bus, train or driving from place to place – the natural beauty of Upstate is incredible and has been inspiring artists for centuries.

How can people apply to exhibit at future Upstate Art Weekends?

Further information can be found here.

Tell us more about Art Mamas?…

My dear friend Katy Donoghue and I started a weekly zoom call in April 2020 for parents we knew as we were all totally spinning out and feeling isolated. So every week without fail on a Monday we would host and share, listen and support and every Monday evening I didn’t want to get on this call, because I hate Mondays and I wasn’t really coping well, but every time I did – I felt better. I feel supported and loved and it basically got me through the early months of the pandemic.

Over the months we had posted some images and thoughts about the group and more and more people wanted to join, so in October 2020, we solidified the name Art Mamas Alliance and opened up membership to all.

We host two-monthly Meetups via zoom, which is a safe space to share, support, listen and connect with our 250+ members. We also host quarterly in/person events and offer reciprocal membership discounts with our partner organizations Female Design Council, POWarts and Storm King Art Center.

A percentage of the membership fees also go into the new Art Mamas residencies at STONELEAF, which we are launching this summer and member applications are coming out shortly!

Membership is always open and open to all – you can apply here.

What advice would you give to emerging artists who have never exhibited before?

Keep making and keeping looking- this is a long game.

Upstate vs the city….

I don’t prescribe to the vs. I love both and their proximity to one another.

Who’s been your biggest influence, and why?

That’s a tough one as I would say my family. The love they have for each other and me and now my husband and son has shaped me to be a better, loving human. But if I had to say one person, I would say my Granma and even more so as she just passed. She was the matriarch of the family, mother to four boys and Granma to thirteen grandchildren, of which I’m the oldest. She is where I inherited a lot of my creativity and determination from. She was headstrong, loved to love us and was always laughing – at least with me as I would share so many ridiculous stories of my life with her. I appreciated that I could tell her anything, without judgment – which is something I’m always trying to practice.

In honor of her, we are launching the inaugural Peggy Toomer Family Residency at STONELEAF, to confine her legacy of love and creativity.

What do you laugh about?

So many things! I love to laugh, but the first thing that comes into my mind is my dad .. he CRACKS me up! I started videoing him when he dances as it’s too funny – he’s a mountain of a man with a HUGE beer belly and LOVES to dance, so this makes me (and now a fair few people on the internet) laugh a lot!

What do you cry about?

Well now I’m homesick and probably going to have a little cry! I cry a lot … better out than in, I say! There’s no stiff upper lip here!

Do you have a daily routine?

No but I’m striving for one! I basically get woken up by my threenager anytime from 5am and from then it’s a blur of coffee, emails, Instagram, cooking, shopping and dreaming of the summer!