Guest: Helen Frederick
Host: Christopher Kardambikis
Recorded on June 24, 2026 at Reading Road Studio in Silver Spring, MD.
Helen Frederick is recognized as a distinguished artist, curator, educator, coordinator of international projects, and as founder of Pyramid Atlantic, a center for contemporary printmaking, hand papermaking and the art of the book. As an advocate for and an active participant in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area arts scene, she has served on the directorial boards of alternative art spaces, various local and national boards including the CollegeArt Association, and national peer-review panels. Her work has been exhibited at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, Dieu Donne Gallery, New York, Henie-Onstad Museum, Norway, and the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, and is in collections of the Rhode Island School of Design, Whitney Museum and Brooklyn Museum in New York, the National Gallery of Art, Library ofCongress, and Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., among many others. Frederick, who is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Art at George Mason University, has fulfilled speaking engagements around the world, always emphasizing collaboration across disciplines.
Throughout her life, Frederick’s passion for diverse cultures and histories has led her to travel to observe the material cultures of many societies, their skills, and ideas and to make connections among disparate cultural traditions. Her private Reading Road Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, provides collaborative opportunities for artists interested in works in and on paper, constructions, artist books, and critical conversations about social justice, cultural and visual literacy. She has received the Southern Graphic Council International Printmaker Emeritus Award, the College Art Association Distinguished Teacher Award, and was invited into the Feminist Art Base archive, the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Frederick is an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design. She serves as the organizational curator for the Kala Chaupal Trust, New Delhi, India.