As a successful tobacco merchant, Daniel commissioned Denis Straub & Son to construct the family home at 1240 St. Charles Street in Alameda.

Helen Bruton began her formal studies at the University of California, Berkeley,[2][3]: 11  but her education was interrupted by World War I.

[2]: 51  In 1920–21, for two years,[5] she continued her artistic education in New York at the Art Students' League, learning under sculptors Alexander Calder, who was teaching there between 1918 and 1922, and Leo Lentelli.

Asked about her style she replied "I've always been more interested in people, I never was a very abstract thinker", she considered herself, to some extent, a late Ashcan School artist.

[7] In about 1929 during the early Great Depression, while her sisters embarked on an artistic expedition to New Mexico (Taos and Santa Fe),[8]: 49  Bruton moved to Los Angeles.

There, she worked at the Gladding McBean tile company, creating terra cotta portrait panels which are now preserved at the University of Southern California's Mudd Memorial Library.

Partnering with her sister Margaret,[5] she designed the exterior mosaic panels for the Fleishacker Zoo Mother House in San Francisco, an undertaking of the Federal Art Project.

The second mosaic, St. Francis, portrays the revered protector of animals and the namesake of San Francisco, encompassed by a deer, wolf, snake, and several birds.

[14] In 1939, she worked on the Treasury Relief Art Project (it was active from 1935 to 1938 and headed by Edward Bruce) for the post office in Fresno, California.

The Bruton sisters utilized a unique technique, carving the design into masonite panels to create a bas relief effect, allowing for depth and shadow play when illuminated.

In 1940, Art in Action was highlighted at the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE), offering attendees an intimate look at artists practicing in diverse fields such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, metalwork, and woodcarving.

Helen Bruton, was in charge of supervising Art in Action throughout the event while Beatrice Judd Ryan, being the State Director of Exhibitions, was one of the organizers.

[5] In a 1977 interview, Margaret and Helen revealed that they have been living on Cass Street near downtown Monterey "in the attractive adobe home".

Nativity mosaic located at Saint James Episcopal Church in Monterey was created around 1952 and was displayed in October–November, 1952 in the de Young Museum's during the "Contemporary Religious Art by California Artists" exhibition.