UC Clermont Art Gallery

Kelly Murray Frigard received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Inter media art from the University of Iowa in 1996.  She has traveled widely to northern climates pursuing her interest in traditional art forms including weaving, knitting, spinning wool, and felting.  As a visiting artist in the arctic region of the Northwest Territories she worked with an Inuit women’s sewing co-operative and learned how to work with seal and caribou skins.   Frigard received a Fulbright Fellowship to study traditional textiles in Sweden for two years at Saterglantan Hemslojdens gard in Insjon, Handarbetets Vanner in Stockholm. and Jurva College of Arts and Crafts in Finland.  In addition to her work in fiber, Frigard’s work includes mixed media, metalsmithing, and drawing.  She is a Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cincinnati, Clermont College.  Frigard lives in New Richmond with her husband and two daughters and exhibits her work nationally. 

“Real and Imagined” is a series of collaged, embroidered vintage floral tablecloths, handkerchiefs, tatting and lace, harkening back to the 1940’s-50’s when bright, bold, floral prints were a cultural sign of optimistic feminine hospitality and domesticity.  They speak to a time when many women joined garden clubs, gathered for luncheons, and often had an abundance of leisure time, although history also reveals how women often felt trapped in domestic life, with the dearth of fulfilling professions for women.  In these floral prints, color and pattern worked together to create bold optical effects which made a strong artistic statement, notable for the time period.  These exuberant prints were the precursor of modern designers like Marimekko and Pop Art inspired artists like Nikki de St. Phalle.