Frances Frederick: Evolving Potpourri
(C) Frances Frederick
ON DISPLAY
November 5, 2024 until January 25, 2025
RECEPTION
Frances Frederick describes herself as a jack of all trades, but a less modest and more accurate description might be a polymath, a person of great and varied learning. She plays the piano and the violin well enough to be in the orchestra of operas. Her forays into the art world encompass not only the two-dimensional art in the new exhibit at the Montgomery Museum, but also weaving and spinning, paper making, Chinese printing, stained glass, pottery, and steel sculpture. She has sculptures in her back yard that are ten feet high. By the time she was 14, Frederick had read the complete works of Shakespeare just for fun. She doesn’t like to be told what to read or what to think about it. She learned to square dance and act well enough to be a part of the “Common Glory” group depicting the history of Williamsburg. That lead to another paying gig depicting the history of Jamestown. Unfortunately, square dancing was not in style in the court of King James, where the opening scene was set, so Frances had to quickly learn some ballet. She even acted in movies. Frederick was also good at math. Yes, but how good? Well, she was good enough to be hired at NASA, where she was the first woman to get a professional rating. After earning degrees in math from William and Mary and Virginia Tech, she was good enough to teach mathematics to engineering students at Virginia Tech for 20 years. She retired in 1979. Not all polymaths do math, but this one does.
The new exhibit at the Montgomery Museum features works in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pastel on canvas and paper. The exhibit title “Evolving Potpourri” describes the expanding variety of media and subject matter. There are landscapes, still life works, and more abstract pieces such as “I Am Free,” an impasto work featuring oranges and yellows. The circular them is repeated in “Bonzi” using vivid purples and oranges. Frederick says she really gets involved in her paintings. Her back may hurt when she starts, but when she focuses on her painting, she doesn’t notice any pain.
According to the old adage, you have to know the rule before you are allowed to break it. If you are a professional artist, you may suspect that Frederick broke some rules deliberately. Why else would she follow the rule in one painting and break it in the next? If you know Frances, you know it was deliberate.