Helen C. Frederick facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Helen C. Frederick
Born	1945 (age 79–80) Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States
Alma mater	Rhode Island School of Design
Organization	Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
Known for	printmaking, papermaking

Helen C. Frederick (born 1945) is an American artist and curator. She is also the founder of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. This is an arts organization located in Maryland. Helen Frederick is mostly known for her printed artworks. She also creates large pieces using handmade paper. Her art often includes words and explores different ideas about people and life. She has organized art shows, like Ten Years After 9/11, which looked at human experiences.

Discovering Art: Helen Frederick's Early Life and Education

Helen C. Frederick was born in 1945 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. She went to the Rhode Island School of Design. There, she earned her first degree in Illustration in 1967. She then got her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting in 1969. While studying, she met a German artist named Dieter Roth. He showed her new and exciting ways to create printed art.

Frederick's interest in paper as an art material began in 1976. This happened after she visited Ahmedebad, India. She saw a papermaking project there by artist Robert Rauschenberg. After this, she traveled to the Netherlands, Japan, and China. She continued to study and learn more about papermaking during these trips.

Creating and Teaching: Helen Frederick's Artistic Work

In 1981, Helen Frederick started the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. This center is a special place for modern printmaking. It also focuses on making paper by hand and creating unique art books. She led the center for twenty-eight years.

Since 1996, Frederick has taught art at George Mason University. She teaches printmaking and leads graduate studies in the School of Art. She also directs Navigation Press, which is the department's own publishing group.

Exploring Different Art Forms

Frederick is an expert in art made by hand. This includes custom-made paper, artist's books, paintings, and drawings. She is known as the "most knowledgeable paper artist" in the D.C. area. Her art also uses modern technology. She has created works with electronic media, video, and digital prints. She also uses photography, "video books," and sculptures.

Art Inspired by History and Life

Helen Frederick's art often explores important themes. Her 2010 art show, Dissonance, looked at the atomic bomb and the Cold War. These topics have appeared in her work many times. For example, her 1996 art piece Caution: Appearance (Dis)appearance explored the meaning of the atomic bomb. This was fifty years after it was first used. Frederick was born shortly before the first atomic bomb test. She examined her own connection to the bomb and its impact on her life. She also explored its effects on nature.

She explored similar ideas in a book she made in 1995. It was called Abracadabra and she created it with Bridget Lambert. The book used fifty images. These images showed the fifty years of Frederick's life from 1945 to 1995. Her 1998 exhibition, Masse Ici, explored how technology affects us. It also looked at how we remember things.

Exhibiting Art: Helen Frederick's Shows

Helen Frederick's artwork has been shown in many important exhibitions. These include shows at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University in 2011. Her work was also shown at Dieu Donne’ Gallery in New York in 1996. Other major exhibitions include the Henie Onstad Museum in Norway in 1979. Her art has also been displayed at Harvard's Fogg Museum. She has had traveling museum exhibitions in Japan, Scandinavia, Europe, the United States, and South America.

Valued Art: Helen Frederick's Collections

Frederick's artwork is part of many important art collections. These include the Whitney Museum of Art in New York. Her art is also at the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. All of these are located in Washington, D.C. Her work is also held in many other national and international collections.

Honoring Achievement: Helen Frederick's Awards

Helen Frederick has received many awards for her artistic work. She received a Fulbright award in 1973. She also got a Mid-Atlantic Arts Award in 1988. In 2000, she received the Maryland Governor's Award for leadership in the Arts. She was given the Southern Graphic Council Printmaker Emeritus Award in 2008. In 2011, she was the Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence at Hollins University. In 2018, she received the Distinguished Teaching Award of Distinction. This award came from the College Art Association (CAA).