Draft:Lynda Frese

Lynda Frese (born January 25, 1956) is an American visionary artist exploring relationships between humans and the natural world. Her work finds inspiration in the art of prehistoric peoples, Renaissance religious themes and rituals which reference the sacredness of nature.

Early life and education

Frese was born in 1956, Jacksonville, Florida and spent her childhood in New York, Vermont, and Jamestown, Rhode Island. She studied art along the West coast, receiving a B.A. (1978) and M.F.A (1986) from the University of California at Davis and attending Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, in 1985. Her first major exhibition was the 1982 SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Arts) Photography Invitational at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, curated by Van Deren Coke. In 2016, she was named professor emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she taught for thirty years in the Department of Visual Arts. She received fellowships from the Rockefeller Bellagio Center and the Liguria Center for the Arts and Humanities. Her 2018 exhibition “Lynda Frese: Holy Memories & Earthly Delights” at the Hilliard Art Museum surveyed 40 years of the artist’s work.

Work

Lynda Frese: Holy Memories & Earthly Delights

Her 2018 exhibition “Lynda Frese: Holy Memories & Earthly Delights” at the Hilliard Art Museum surveyed 40 years of the artist’s work, from early toned gelatin silver prints produced in California to recent photo-collage and egg tempera works. An eponymous monograph with critical essays was published by UL Press. The catalogue "highlights a selection of early gelatin silver photograms and experiments made in California, while tracing a steady trajectory, from 1978 to 2018, of her continued interest in human and natural forms," said curator Laura Blereau.

Art & Shadows

The Art & Shadows program (2014-2015) provided on-site studio space for visual artist Lynda Frese and musician David Greely at Shadows-on-the-Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. The residency was supported by the National Trust for Historic Preservation which acquired the former plantation home in 1958. The Art & Shadows series consists of 24 pieces, leveraging the site’s unique buildings, landscapes, and collections. The artist combined vintage photographs and letters from the Shadows’ historical archives with her photographs of household objects, textiles, interior domestic spaces, and the south Louisiana landscape to shed light on the people who lived and worked at the plantation home during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Pacha Mama: earth realm

Pacha Mama: earth realm consists of 35 artworks accompanied by essays, prayers, songs and poems, synthesizing themes from Italian Renaissance art and the South American earth goddess, Pachamama. The book includes contributions by film maker Kathi von Koerber, Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque. The Louisiana Artists and Scholars Program (ATLAS) supported its artistic production. "The art in Pacha Mama: earth realm is lush, complex, and sinister, with traces of Goya and Brothers' Grimm ... to Frese, at the core of natural harmony beats the earth's dark heart."

Reconstituting the Vanished: Gender, Memory, and Placemaking in the Delta South

Reconstituting the Vanished: Gender, Memory and Placemaking in the Delta South (1993-1997), a collaborative installation by Lynda Frese and Dr. Barbara Allen of Virginia Tech University, sought to re-imagine the lives of four women who shaped Louisiana history: Marie-Thereze Coin-Coin (1742-1816), the Baroness Pontalba (1795-1874), Caroline Dormon (1888-1971), and Marie Laveau (1801-1881). The image and text installations explored large-scale early digital photography processes, while extending a new feminist reading of these women's pasts and the places they built, to recover and reconstruct a new gender-inclusive public memory.* The exhibition traveled nationally to over thirty public venues.

Immagini Pagane

Lynda Frese: Immagini Pagane (2000) is a 60 page catalog that accompanied an exhibition at the Palazzo Farnese in Ortona, Italy. Immagini Pagane (Pagan Imaging) addresses the divine feminine, exploring depictions of the Madonna and goddess figures from older pagan mythologies. The catalog includes critical essays by Dr. Remo Palmirani, founder of Museo Ex Libris Mediterraneo, and Alison Smith, curator Tate Modern, London.         

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

• Wild Trees: Photo Etchings and Paintings, Teche Center for the Arts, Breaux Bridge, LA (2020)
• Lynda Frese: Holy Memories & Earthly Delights, 40-year survey exhibition, Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, LA (Feb 17-May 19, 2018)
• Sacred Vessels, Lynda Frese and Babette Beaullieu, Levee Gallery, Monroe, LA. (2018)
• Stage of the Ancients, Lynda Frese and Chris Pavlik, curated by Brian Guidry, Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, LA. (2018)
• Art & Shadows, on-site exhibition and musical performance supported by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and National Endowment for the Arts, at Shadows-on-the-Teche, New Iberia, LA (2015)
• Reconstituting the Vanished: Memory, Gender and Placemaking in the Delta South, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA; visiting artist lecture (2015)
• Earth Voices (Serie di Artisti in Residenza: Through the Lens) Borgo della Marmotta, Spoleto, Italy (2012)
• Pacha Mama: earth realm, Redbud Gallery, Houston, TX (2011)
• Pacha Mama: earth realm, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA (2011)
• Lynda Frese: New Work, Mark Wooley Gallery, Portland, OR (2007)
• Petroglyphs, Dolmens and Menhirs, Dean’s Gallery, UL Lafayette, LA (2007)
• Ruins and Monuments, Turtle Cove Gallery, Arnaudville, LA (2006)
• Lynda Frese: New Work, Architects and Artists Gallery, Lafayette, LA (2005)
• Lynda Frese: Recent Work, Cidnee Patrick Gallery, Dallas, TX (2004)
• Montage: Lynda Frese and Shawn Major, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Riverfront Galleries, New Orleans, LA (2003)
• Reconstituting the Vanished: Gender, Memory and Placemaking in the Delta South, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego, CA (2002)
• Pagan Imaging, Mark Wooley Gallery, Portland, OR (2000)
• Immagini Pagane, Palazzo Farnese, Ortona, Italy (2000)
• Post Modern Ex-Votos, James Gallery, Houston, TX (1998)
• Reconstituting the Vanished: Marie Laveau and the Politics of Myth, Festival International art installation, Natural History Museum windows, Lafayette, LA (1997)
• TimePlaces, Bassetti Gallery, New Orleans, LA (1996)
• Reconstituting the Vanished: the Baroness Pontalba and the Shaping of Urban New Orleans, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA*
• Reconstituting the Vanished: Caroline Dormon’s Gift of the Wild Things, Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, LA*
• Lynda Frese, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS (1995) 
• Reconstituting the Vanished: Remembering the life of a Franco-African plantation owner Marie Thereze Coin-Coin, Rensseleur Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (1995)
• Reconstituting the Vanished, Human Arts Gallery, Atlanta, GA (1995) 
• Perspectives, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (1986)    

Group Exhibitions

• Outer Space, Atelier de la Nature, Halloween Art and Nature Festival, Arnaudville, LA (2022) 
• Wild Trees II, curated by Lynda Frese, Teche Center for the Arts, Breaux Bridge, LA (2021)
• The Healthy Artist, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA. (2021) 
• Revelations: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. (2020)
• Adam and Eve ­­–The Garden and Beyond, Biedenharn Museum & Gardens, Monroe, LA, (2020) 
• Ornithology: Flight Patterns, Bergen Community College, Paramus, NJ (2020)
• Shelf Life, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA (2018)
• Contemporary Geographies, Basin Arts, Lafayette, LA (2017) 
• ARTOUR-O Il Must a Firenze, Villa le Rondini, Florence, Italy (2017)
• International Collective Exhibition, Gallery Le Logge, Assisi, Italy. (2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013)
• The Swamp Witch, curated by Lynda Frese and Dr. Maurice Duquesné, Basin Arts, Lafayette, LA (2017) 
• Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808-1865, Bayou Teche Museum, New Iberia, LA (2017)
• XIX Encuentros Abiertos: Rastros de Irrealidad (Open Encounters: Traces of Unreality) Festival de la Luz:, projection of Art & Shadows series at Galería de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires, and 10 other outdoor cultural centers in Argentina. (2016)
• The Great California Art Movement, 1960’s-1990’s: UC Davis Fine Art Alumni Exhibition, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA (2016) 
• From Darkroom to Digital, Davis Art Center, Davis, CA (2015)
• A Small Community Collects Big: The Collection of the Davis Art Center, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2015) 
• 1000 Words, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA. (2013)
• A New Landscape, Grand Isle, Louisiana (2012)
• SWARM: Hope in Blasted Landscapes, Ironworks Gallery, during Prospect 1.5 New Orleans, La (2010/2011)
• Lost and Found: The Art of Collage, North Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY (2010)
• Conjuger Études et Editions d’Artistes, ARPRIM, Galerie Piroir, Montréal, Canada (2010) 
• Beausoleil Solar Home interior art, Solar Decathon, National Mall, WDC (2009)
• Putting-It-All-Together: Collage, Montage, Assemblage, Climate Gallery, Long Island City, NY (2009) 
• Being Open: 30 Years, 30 Artists, 30 Careers, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI (2007)
• Being Blown Back to the Future: New Digital Works, Grand Gallery, Lafayette, LA (2007) 
• Vision/ Re-Vision: Louisiana Photography, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA (2006)
• Ruins and Monuments, Poissant Gallery, Houston, TX (2005)
• Spirit of Place: Art of Acadiana, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (2005)
• Spirit of Place: Art of Acadiana, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA (2004)
• Icons, Myths, and Prophets, Pan American Gallery, Dallas, TX (2003)
• Digital Louisiana, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA (2002)
• Re-New, James Gallery, Houston, TX (2002)
• American Landscapes, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS (2000)
• Big Muddy, Zoller Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL (1999) 
• Picturing Home, Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY (1999)
• Rejuvenation, and The Clothes Show, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (1998,1997)
• Sleep: Bedtime Reading, Ricco Maresco Gallery, New York, NY (1997)
• The South by Its Photographers, Center for Arts and Sciences, Baton Rouge, LA (1997)
• Picturing the South: A Survey of Southern Photography from 1860-1995, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (1996)
• The South by Its Photographers, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL (1996) 
• The South by Its Photographers, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (1996)
• Refiguring Nature: Women in the Landscape, CameraWork, San Francisco, CA (1994) 
• I Thought I Might Be Dying, collaboration and performance, Baton Rouge Art Gallery, Baton Rouge, and the Artists’ Alliance, Lafayette, LA (1994)
• Magic Silver Show, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA (1991) 
• Image & Soul, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (1993)
• Beyond Permission, Houston Center for Photography, TX (1989) 
• Hothouse, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (1988)
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 40^th Anniversary Exhibition, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY (1986) 
• Perimeters of Twentieth Century Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (1985)
• Photograms, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (1985) 
• The Figure: Transformed by Technology, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA (1983)
• Combinations, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Los Angeles, CA (1983)
• SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art) Photography Invitational, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (1982)                         

Collections

• Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
• Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
• Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis, CA
• Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
• Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
• Palazzo Farnese Collection, Ortona, Italy
• Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
• William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
• Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY
• Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, LA
• University of California at Davis Fine Arts Collection, Davis, CA
• Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA
• KRVS Radio Station, Lafayette, LA
• private and corporate collections

Publications

• Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy; artist essay, cover art, and 10 images about motherhood. UL Press, Lafayette, LA. (2021)
• Lynda Frese: Holy Memories & Earthly Delights (Louisiana Artists Series); 89 pages, University of Louisiana Press, Lafayette, LA (2018)
• Intention, (CREATELouisiana French Culture Film Grant, supported by TV5Monde, Cox Communications, Deep South Studios, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities), cultural documentary about women in Southwest Louisiana. Intention premiered at the 23rd Annual French Film Festival* in New Orleans, Louisiana (February 2020)
• Rastros de Irrealidad (Vestiges of Reality), XIX Encuentros Abiertos. Festival de la Luz, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2016
• The Great California Art Movement UC Davis Fine Art Alumni Exhibition: 1960-1990, Natsoulas Press, Davis, CA 2016
• Fifty Years of Bay Area Art: The SECA Awards, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 2012
• Lynda Frese: Pacha Mama: earth realm, ATLAS Louisiana Artists and Scholars fund, Baton Rouge, LA. 64 pages. 2011
• Masters Collage: Leading Works by Major Artists Lark Books, Ashville, NC 2010
• Hindu Deities along the Gulf Coast, Journal of Southern Religion (Katrina issue), Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 2006
• Lynda Frese: Immagini Pagane. 60 page catalog, Italian/English texts, Progetti Farnesiani, Italy 2000
• SLEEP: Bedtime Reading (photographers & writers). Rizzoli Press, NY, NY 1998
• Picturing the South: 1860 to the Present, Photographers and Writers. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA 1996
• The South by its Photographers. Mississippi Press, Pascagoula, MS 1996
• Reconstituting the Vanished: The Baroness Pontalba and the Shaping of Urban New Orleans. Barbara Allen and Lynda Frese, Flora Levy Foundation, UL Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 1996

Recognition

• Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, artist residency, Rabun Gap, GA. (2020)
• ArtSpark grant to study photopolymer gravure process and create art exhibit in rural Louisiana, Acadiana Center for the Arts and Lafayette Economic Development Authority (2019)
• RUC Rural Residency for Contemporary Art, art residency, Valcamonica, Italy (2019, 2018)     
• A Sense of Place–and Loss: Artists and Scientists Facing Change, Guest Speaker, Bayou Culture Collaborative workshop, National Network for Folk Arts Education and Acadiana Center for the Arts, LA (2019)
• 2016 Louisiana Artist of the Year, Louisiana Cultural Awards, Baton Rouge, LA (2016)
• Art & Shadows, 12-month artist residency, National Endowment for the Arts and National Trust for Historic Preservation, at Shadows-on-the-Teche, New Iberia, LA (2014-2015)
• ArtStudio Ginestrelle, artist residency, Assisi, Italy (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
• Distinguished Professor Award, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation (2013)
• ATLAS grant (Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars) Louisiana Board of Regents, LA (2010-2011)
• American Academy in Rome, visiting artist/scholar, Rome, Italy (2009 and 2004)
• The Julia and David White Art Colony, artist residency, Cuidad Colon, Costa Rica (2008, 2009, 2010)           
• SLEMCO/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Art and Architecture, UL Lafayette, LA (2007-2016)
• Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Arts (1994)
• Louisiana State Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award, Baton Rouge, LA (2000)   
• Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, Bogliasco Study Center, Genoa, Italy (1999)
• Money for Women, Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation (1992)
• Louisiana Division of the Arts grants (2020, 2009, 2008, 2002, 2000,1999,1997,1996,1995)
• Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, the Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy (1997)
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Fellowship, Skowhegan, ME (1985)
• University of California Regents Fellowship (1985)