Helma Groot's newest mobiles -- Not My Baggage -- are dangling at the airport's Port Columbus Gateway to The Arts, the exhibit space on the ticketing level behind Cup O’ Joe. Like many of her mobile installations, there are a lot of metal fish involved.
Not My Baggage was inspired by a series of children's books that looked at families from around the world. According to Groot, the Grootmobiles address the idea of what we own, what we take with us and what is most important to us.
Groot's background might contribute to her art's questioning of travel and baggage and what is important to us. Groot was born in the Netherlands, and attended high school in Indonesia, Germany, and Michigan. She graduated magna cum laude from the Columbus College of Art and Design, then studied furniture making in Amsterdam. Then she returned to Columbus.
Although she shows regularly in Chicago and Michigan, Groot is an active part of the Columbus art scene. She's led summer art programs at Columbus Academy, and has shown locally in the Short North, and in galleries in Worthington, Dublin, Bexley and New Albany. She's working on a piece for the Dublin Arts Council's Riverboxes project.