Myriad conditions of light created by the time of day and the weather illuminate textures in the water, patterns in the clouds, and juxtapositions of color that richly vibrate with one another to form the visual experience of the landscape. The morning light slowly eases up over the horizon, gently lighting the clouds, and later seen from the same vantage, the evening fire of the sunset races through the darkening sky. These dynamic combinations of light, shape, pattern. and color inspire my work.
I enjoy the manipulation of materials and how process in itself contributes to the life and form of the final image. Dramatic, gestural lines describe the play of light and wind across the water, while softer marks add life to the slow movement of rain laden clouds. Areas of sky, water, and land are knit together with brushstrokes to represent their seamless interaction under the common conditions of weather and time. In my recent acid etched tin pieces, areas of watery marks are left visible to further suggest the underlying layers of the landscape.
John O’Donohue speaks about experiences in life that allow you to “...swerve into rhythm with your deeper nature and presence, (where) you do not have to go outside yourself to come into real conversation with your soul and with the mysteries of the spiritual world. More than striving to create the particulars of landscapes that inspire me, I paint to capture the timelessness of the elements of light, weather, and geometries that inform them. My work is not about how the landscape looks as much as about how the landscape makes me feel. My goal is to create an image that allows the viewer to engage with it in such a way as to invite similar introspection. As John O’Donohue so eloquently states, “Landscape is not all external, some has crept inside the soul. Human presence is infused with landscape.”
These are the landscapes that I seek to create in my work.
Artist Biography
Kirby Fredendall was raised in Bucks County amidst the vibrant arts culture that has defined the area since artists first arrived to establish residence on the old farms and in the eclectic river towns. Among her first memories was falling to sleep to the pianist Anna Ward, married to artist Charles Ward, as Anna practiced in her home across the street. Later, she remembers times shared swimming in the pool and marveling at the stacks of wood on George Nakashima's remarkable property with her friend, his granddaughter, Maria.
These memories, along with being raised by artists, forged deep ties to the arts for Fredendall who attended Duke University to study Art History, first in North Carolina and then in London. Following her studies in London she attended the Cordon Bleu, later to work as a pastry chef while she obtained her master's degree in Art Education and Painting.
Becoming a painter was a natural progression for Fredendall who had been drawing and painting throughout her life. Her first exhibitions were local, followed by numerous national group shows in Philadelphia, Hartford, Wilmington, Harrisburg, and later New York. Solo shows followed, including one at the Michener Art Museum. She received the honor of the Rauschenberg Foundation's "The Power of Art" grant.
Her most recent work explores her relationship to a lake in the Adirondack Mountains. While the paintings can be most directly defined as landscapes, they can be more accurately described as representations of the constantly changing energy of our relationship with not only ourselves, but also with those around us and with our environment. They examine the unbreakable but changeable connections that exist between forces both within us and without.
Education
1992 Arcadia University, Glenside, PA M.Ed, Art Education & Painting
1988 Duke University, Durham, NC BA, Art History
1987 Boston University Abroad Studies Program, London, England
1986 Duke University Renaissance Arts Program, Florence, Italy
Awards & Honors
2020 Philadelphia/Tri State Artist's Equity Annual Juried Show, Philadelphia, PA Third Place Award
2017 Spring Gala Exhibition and Benefit, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA Honorable Mention
2016 Artists of Yardey First Choice Bank 2nd Place Award,
2015 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation: The Power of Art
2000 New American Paintings, Juried Artists, Open Studio Press, Spring 2000
Bibliography
2020 "Nature Study," Luxury Magazine, Spring 2020
2018 "Artwork with various 'ViewPoints' featured in new Montclair art exhibition", Newjersey.com, May 2018
2016 Brewster, Don, “New,” DoNArTNeWs, Philadelphia Art News Blog by Don Brewster, October 2016
English, M., “Plymouth Meeting dentist, wife to display photography, landscapes in upcoming studio show,” 21st Century Media Services, The Times Herald: Art Galleries, October 2016 “Art of the State” finalists dominated by Philly area, Stephen Salisbury, Philly.com, June 1, 2016
2015 English, M., “Shared exhibit at New Hope Gallery,” 21st Century Media Services, The Times Herald: Art Galleries, November 2015
2011 Stadd, Allison, “Add Sugar And Stir: Cookbooks And The Lives Of Women Is On Display At The Michener Museum In Doylestown Beginning March 19,” UWISHUNU, Philadelphia, March 2, 2011
2007 Collins, Shannon, "Blending a lyrical, New York School gesturalism with intense areas of pure hue, (Fredendall's) paintings are a celebration of the versatility of color and reveal the depth of human experience," LifeStyle Magazine, April 2007
"Town Topics," Women & Cookbooks Show at Peggy Lewis Gallery, March 2007
"Kirby Fredendall Serves Cookbooks in Art Exhibition," Bucks County Herald, March 2007
2002 Rivera, F.R., “Morpeth Gallery,” US 1 Art Review, September 2002
2000 "New American Paintings, Juried Artists," Open Studio Press, Spring 2000
1998 “Looking Ahead (Featured Artist),” Art Matters, Philadelphia's Regional Magazine of the Arts, Spring/Summer 1998
1997 Huntington, Richard, “The Persistence of Modernism and Other Tales From Delaware and Surrounds,” Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts Newsletter, Summer 1997
1995 Francis, Anna, “Exhibit Curator Calls for a Return to Beauty,” Art Matters, December/January
Publications
2020 Luxury Magazine, Spring 2020 Featured Cover Artist
2017 Create! Magazine, Spring 2017
Fragile Express, February 8, 2017
Fresh Paint Magazine, August 14, 2016
2016 “Kirby Fredendall,” Fresh Paint Magazine, August 14, 2016
2000 “Juried Artists Spring,” New American Paintings, Open Studio Press, Spring 2000
Collections
Kaufelt Collection, Murray’s Cheese, New York, NY Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA Davis Enterprises, Mt. Laurel, NJ Kettles & Smith Collection, Gr8 People, New Hope, PA Denise Gindhart Consulting, Spring City, PA
Professional Experience
Art Instructor, Solebury School, Solebury, PA
Exhibitions
Solo
2022
New Work, LAA Art Collective, New Hope, PA
Walton Center Gallery, George School, Newtown, PA
2021 Candita Clayton Gallery, Pawtucket, RI
2020 Horizons Lines, InLiquid at Archer Law, Philadelphia, PA
2019 Impressions of Water, Candita Clayton Gallery, Pawtucket, RI
Water Meeting the Sky, Welcome Gallery, Main Line Arts Center, Haverford, PA
2016 Balance of Light, Bazemore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Kirby Fredendall: New Work, Reinboth Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
2011 Add Sugar & Stir: Cookbooks in the Lives of American Women, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
2010 Kirby Fredendall: New Work, Reinboth Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
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