Timothy Frerichs

Timothy Frerichs is a professional artist, professor, and writer based in Fredonia, New York. He received a Bachelor of Arts from St. Olaf College, MN, and a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. He is a Professor of Art in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at SUNY Fredonia.

Over the course of his professional career, Frerichs has received numerous awards, including a 2015 State University of New York at Fredonia President’s award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, a Netherland-America Foundation Cultural Grant, a Constance Saltonstall Foundation Grant for Printmaking, the Global Warming Art Project Grant in Art Services of New York, and the 2022 Chancellor's Award of Excellence in Research and Creativity at the State University of New York.

Frerichs’ drawings, prints, artist books, and installations have been widely exhibited nationally and internationally. Over the last 2 decades, Frerichs has utilized his artwork to address human activity as the dominant influence on the environmental problems plaguing Lake Erie and the Great Lakes system. This concept is primarily showcased at his 2021-2022 exhibition Navigation: Lake Erie at The Morgan Conservatory Gallery, among many other traveling locations. As demonstrated through this show, Frerichs often creatively utilizes materials that he has found along the coastline of Lake Erie. [1] The mixed-media installation includes more than 130 works and a large-scale installation that includes drawings, photographs, paperworks, collected flora and fauna, as well as a video.

In 2020, the Can Journal wrote of Frerichs’ work: 

“It is important to Frerichs to create his work as sustainably as possible. Even the frames he uses are made from flotsam wood. Frerichs uses kozo, mitsumata, and milkweed fibers to create delicate translucent papers which he stencils with blue and green recycled linen paper pulp to re-create satellite images of algae blooms caused by agricultural and residential herbicide and pesticide run off. Even the algae itself is collected and used as a drawing material. Some of the handmade paper-pulp paintings are collaged with fragments of vintage Lake Erie maps and embroidered with plastic thread, from balloons found along the shore. The embroidered arrows reference surface currents directing the trash and algae bloom in the lake. Frerichs’ work investigates representations of human interaction with the natural world. He is inspired by the ways that we map our environment: using a sounding weight to create maps of the sea floor for nautical charts, drawing astronomical charts, and taking hallucinogenic mushrooms to alter perception. [2] 

Discussing his works, Frerichs writes, “My artwork and research investigate how representations have shaped our interaction and impact on our environment. The majority of my work is based on researching a specific site. My artist books, works on paper, and installations use images, drawings, and objects collected from the specific sites and related cultural and historical sources. I am especially interested in humanity’s intentional and unintentional impact on their environment.  Past works have dealt with issues such as invasive species and connections with historical transportation systems. Current work investigates geology and climate concerns.” [3]

His work has also recently been included in the On Paper: Printmaking Bookarts and Beyond at the AnnMarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in association with the Smithsonian Institution.

His artwork is included in public and private collections both in the United States and internationally.

For more information on Frerichs, visit his website.

[1] https://www.morganconservatory.org/lake-erie

[2] http://canjournal.org/2020/11/navigation-lake-erie-great-lakes/

[3] https://olsonlarsen.com/artist/tim-frerichs