Legacy of Helen Davis
By Annie Drysdale, Graduate Class of 2025
Helen Davis’s life was dedicated to people and art. Her adventurous approach to art was nurtured at Northwest Missouri State University, experimenting across a wide variety of media. Davis moved to Colorado in 1948 and established an arts therapy program at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital.
Davis has long been affiliated with the University of Denver. She received her Ed.D. from DU in 1961. Her experience of gender-based discrimination reinforced Davis’s feminist convictions and inspired her lifelong mentorship of and advocacy for women. She went on to lead the art department at Colorado Women’s College from 1962 to 1971. Later, Davis led the Boulder Valley School District’s art program and helped develop the Boulder Arts Commission. For her pioneering contributions, the University of Denver awarded Davis the Professional Achievement Award in 2009.
The Davis Gallery, named in her honor, opened in January 2022 and has featured dozens of creative and engaging exhibitions, largely emphasizing the innovative work of students in the School of Art and Art History. The University of Denver is immensely grateful for Davis’s generous support and leadership.
This work was featured in the Davis Gallery exhibition “Recent Acquisitions: Artworks by Former DU Faculty,” which ran from September 12 to October 11, 2024. To learn more about the works in this exhibition, visit Recent Acquisitions: Art Works by Former DU Faculty.