Born in Poland and raised in Berlin and Amsterdam, Halpern was a highly successful ceramic artist when she came to the United States in for an exhibition of her work sponsored by the Holland House at Rockefeller Center in New York. The exhibition ran from February 15 to March 15, 1940. While she was in the United States, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Having lost her studio, her kiln, her materials, much of her work, and the formulas for her glazes, Halpern stayed in New York and rebuilt her career, scrambling to exhibit and sell work. In the midst of this, an exhibition of her work traveled to the Delaware Art Museum (then the Delaware Art Center). Nine works were sold to community members and one to the Museum. Halpern eventually settled in the Baltimore area where she continued to produce and exhibit ceramics.
