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 is an American artist and a curator. She was born in 1945. She is also the person who started the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Maryland. Helen Frederick is famous for her printed artworks and big pieces made by hand-papermaking. She often uses words in her art. She has also organized art shows that explore human feelings and experiences.

Early Life and Art School

Helen C. Frederick was born in 1945 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. She studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her first degree in Illustration in 1967. Then, she got her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting in 1969. While there, she met a German artist named Dieter Roth. He taught her new and exciting ways to make printed art.

Discovering Papermaking

Helen Frederick became interested in paper as an art material in 1976. This happened after she visited Ahmedebad, India. There, she saw a special papermaking project by artist Robert Rauschenberg. She continued to learn about papermaking during her travels. She visited countries like the Netherlands, Japan, and China to study this art form.

Her Artistic Journey

In 1981, Helen Frederick started the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. This center is a place for modern printmaking, hand-papermaking, and making unique art books. She led the center for 28 years.

Since 1996, Frederick has taught art at George Mason University. She teaches printmaking and helps graduate students. She also leads Navigation Press, which is part of the university's art department.

What Kind of Art Does She Make?

Helen Frederick specializes in art made by hand. This includes custom-made paper, artist's books, paintings, drawings, and prints. People in the Washington, D.C. area know her as a very skilled paper artist. Her art also uses modern technology. She has created works with electronic media, video, digital prints, and photography. She even makes "video books" and sculptures.

Her video art piece called “Dislocations” (from 2011) has been compared to the work of Andy Warhol. A critic named Paul Ryan described her work in “Hungry Ghosts” (also from 2011). He said it helps us feel closer to people who are in a difficult, unclear space. This art was inspired by Helen Frederick's interest in Buddhist teachings and meditation.

Art About Important Topics

In 2010, Helen Frederick had a solo art show called Dissonance. It was at Hollins University’s Eleanor D. Wilson Art Museum. In this show, she explored themes like the atomic bomb and the Cold War. These topics have often appeared in her art.

For example, her 1996 art installation Caution: Appearance (Dis)appearance looked at the meaning of the atomic bomb. This was 50 years after it was first used. Helen Frederick was born just before the first atomic bomb test. So, she explored her own connection to the bomb. She also thought about how it affected her life and the natural world.

She explored similar ideas in a book she made with Bridget Lambert in 1995. It was called Abracadabra. This book used 50 images to show the 50 years of Frederick's life, from 1945 to 1995.

Her art piece Masse Ici was shown in 1998. It explored ideas about our modern technology and how we remember things.

Art Shows and Collections

Helen Frederick's art has been shown in many important exhibitions. These include shows at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University (2011) and Dieu Donne’ Gallery in New York (1996). Her work has also been displayed at the Henie Onstad Museum in Norway (1979) and Harvard's Fogg Museum. Her art has traveled to museums in Japan, Scandinavia, Europe, the United States, and South America.

Her artwork is part of many famous 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 in Washington, D.C. Many other national and international collections also own her pieces.

Awards and Recognition

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