HELEN C. FREDERICK

Download Full Bio

HELEN FREDERICK (American born in 1945) is recognized as a distinguished artist, curator, educator, coordinator of international projects, and as founder of Pyramid Atlantic, a center for contemporary printmaking, hand papermaking and the art of the book. As an advocate for and an active participant in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area arts scene, she has served on the directorial boards of alternative art spaces, various local and national boards including the College Art Association, and national peer-review panels. Her work has been exhibited at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, Dieu Donne Gallery, New York, Henie-Onstad Museum, Norway, and the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, and is in collections of the Whitney Museum and Brooklyn Museum in New York, the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, and Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., among many others. Frederick who is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Art at George Mason University, has fulfilled speaking engagements around the world, always emphasizing collaboration across disciplines.
Throughout her life, Frederick’s passion for diverse cultures and histories has led her to travel to observe the material cultures of many societies, their skills, and ideas and to make connections among disparate cultural traditions. Her private Reading Road Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, provides collaborative opportunities for artists interested in works in and on paper, constructions, artist books, and critical conversations about social justice, cultural and visual literacy. She has received the Southern Graphic Council International Printmaker Emeritus Award, the College Art Association Distinguished Teacher Award, and was invited into the Feminist Art Base archive, the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Frederick is an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Publications referencing Frederick’s work include: Handmade Paper Today, Silvie Turner, Frederic C. Biel, 1983; The Complete Printmaker (revised) John Ross and Clare Romano, Prentice Hall, 1989; The Best of Printmaking: An International Collection, selected by Lynne Allen and Phyllis McGibbon, Quarry Books, 1997; Evolving Forms / Emerging Faces, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1997; Dieter Roth In America, Dirke Dobke, The Dieter Roth Museum, Frankfort, Germany; Collaboration as A Medium, 25 Years of Pyramid Atlantic, historical document and traveling exhibition curated by Jane Farmer, 2005; Papermaking for Printmakers, Elspeth Lamb, UK, A&C Black, publishers, Soho Square, London, April, 2005;Printmaking, A Contemporary Perspective, Paul Coldwell, Black Dog Publishing, London, UK.

SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS:

ACTS OF SILENCE
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
January to May, 2016
Installation of sculpture, video, and works on paper

HUNGRY GHOSTS, Hunt Gallery, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, August-September 2011

DISSONANCE, The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA, February-April 2011

INDEFINITE STATES OF EMERGENCY, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, DC, December-January 2009

FOLLOWING THE SCENT, Fine Arts Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth Gallery, Richmond, VA, March-April 2008

THE VIEW IS DAUNTING, Lamar Dodge School of Art, University of Athens, Athens, GA, March 2002

SUSPENSION SCIERAN/LEAVE QUESTIONS BEHIND, Southwest School of Art and Design, San Antonio, TX, June, 2000

UNDER CONSTRUCTION, RELAY, REWIND, RECORD, Dieu Donne’ Gallery, New York, NY, 1996

CAUTION, APPEARANCE (DIS) APPEARANCE, Emerson Gallery, McLean Center for the Arts, McLean, VA, fall, 1995. Traveled to the Laurie Wagman Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1996

SOLAR HOUSE, Centro Colombo Americano, Bogotá, Colombia, 1994

TREADING WATER, David Adamson Gallery, Washington, DC, 1991

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2013-2019

National Print Invitational, Artspace, Raleigh, North Carolina, February-April, 2019

National Print Invitational, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA, September 7- October 19, 2018.

Alchemical Vessels, Joan Hisoaka Gallery, Washington DC, May 2018

Paper/Print, American Hand Papermaking 1960’s to Today, International Print Center, NY
International Invitational, April – June, 2018

International Print Exchange Portfolio, Arts Walk, Monroe Street Washington DC, April, 2018

Women Now, National Invitational, January 23 – April, 2017, Workhouse Art Center, Vulcan Gallery, Lorton, VA

Sol Prints Studio, February to March, 2017, McDonough Gallery, Baltimore, MD

Drawn Out, Drawn Over: Mapping the Territory of Experience
National Invitational, Brentwood Art Center, MD, January to March, 2017

Apparitions, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington DC, September-October, 2018

Collaborative Printmaking: Shared Creative Expressions, NAVIGATION PRESS, George Mason University School of Art, January 25 to May 22, 2018, Cosmos Club of Washington DCJaipur Kala Chaupal Exhibition, Our Body and Hands in the Water International Invitational, Jawahar Kala Kendra Museum, Jaipur, India, November, 2017

Hand Print Workshop, 20 Years of Partnership in Print
National Invitational, The Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA, February to April, 2017

Latinas 4 Latinas, Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington DC November, 2017

C. D. Edwards Studio, December 2015, " Cultural and Spiritual Icons": Helen Helen Frederick, Curlee Raven Holton and Cheryl Edwards.

TEN YEARS AFTER 9/11, Edison Place Gallery, Washington DC, 2011

INTERNATIONAL PAPER ART BIENNIAL, Fine Arts Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, May-June, 2011

IN UNISON: 20 Washington, DC Artists, The Kreeger Museum, January, 2011,

MIND BODY AND SPIRIT, University of Maryland Arts Program, College Park, MD 2010

MATRIX, Printmaking, Prints and Books, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. 2009

INTERNATIONAL PRINT EXHIBITION, USA AND JAPAN, Municipal Museum, Kyoto and Tokushima Museum of MODERN ART, JAPAN, 2007

FACES OF THE FALLEN, Women’s War Memorial Museum, Washington DC, 2005

NEW EDITIONS: OLD AND NEW DIGITAL, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA, 2005

THE ELEMENTS: CREATIVE ENERGY, The Hunterton Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ, 2005

NEWER GENRES: TWENTY YEARS OF THE RUTGERS ARCHIVES FOR PRINTMAKING STUDIOS, Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, 2004

IN PRAISE OF PAPER, An Exhibition of American and Vietnamese Artists, College of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2000

SELECTED AWARDS:

Fulbright and American Scandinavia Awards, for residency in Atelier Nord, Oslo, Norway

The Fabric Workshop, NEA/ Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Printmaking Residency Award,

Barbara Bishop Distinguished Artist/Lecture Series, Longwood College, Farmville, VA. Selected as the first honored lecturer.

Rutgers Center for Innovative Prints and Paper, NEA/ Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Residency Award

Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Artist, Rollins College, Orlando, FL,

Governor’s Award for the Arts, Named leading artist and contributor for service in the arts, in the State of Maryland

2008 Printmaker Emeritus Award from the Southern Graphics Council, the highest national award of recognition for print artists in the world, for her leadership in the field and her artistry.

ArtTable Oral History Project, housed at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art

Francis Niederer Artist-in-Residence, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

BOOKS:

F. Lennox Campello, 100 Artists of Washington DC,: Schiffer Books, 2011

Paul Coldwell:. The Best of Printmaking: A Contemporary Perspective. London,UK: Black Dog Publishing, 2010.

Jane Farmer, Collaboration as A Medium, 25 Years of Pyramid Atlantic, Pyramid Atlantic, 2005

Elspeth Lamb: Papermaking for Printmakers, A&C publishers, London, 2005

Dirk Dobke. Dieter Roth in America, Hamburg, Germany: Dieter Roth Foundation, 2004, Interview with Helen Frederick.

Lynne Allen and Phyllis McGibbon. Printmaking, An International Collection Minneapolis, Minnesota: Quarry Books, 1997.

John Ross and Clare Romano. The Complete Printmaker (revised), Englewood,
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989.

Silvie Turner. Handmade Paper Today, London, UK: Frederic C. Biel, 1983

Critics and reviewers such as Ferdinand Protzman, Michael O’Sullivan (Washington Post), Ron Rice (Philadelphia Inquirer), J.W. Mahoney (New Art Examiner), Roxanne Orgill (Wall Street Journal), Claudia Rousseau (The Gazette), and John Dorsey (Baltimore Sun) have written about her work over the years.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey;
New York Public Library, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA
Washington University Rare Book Department, St. Louis, Missouri
Yale Rare Book Collection, New Haven, Connecticut
Oslo Municipal Museum, Oslo, Norway
Ohio Sate University, Columbus, Ohio
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Champion International Paper Company, Stanford, Connecticut,
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin
Crowell and Moring Law Firm, Washington, DC
DC Commission for the Arts, Art Bank Program, WDC
Rare Book Library, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
United States Department of State, Washington, DC
The National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Kanagawa Prefecture Museum, Yokohoma, Japan
Kyoto Municipal Museum, Kyoto, Japan
The American Scandinavian Foundation, New York
United States Embassy, Seoul, Korea and Geneva, Switzerland