Bio

PAINTER
BORN: June 27, 1966, Abington, Pennsylvania

"I invite the viewer to experience the sense of entrance into a space, or I keep them out with opaque layers. I invite them to watch something seem to emerge or grow from the picture plane. I invite them to try to see real or imagined faces or words that may evoke a sense of nostalgia, confusion, or understanding. When we interact with the world, how do we project the complexity of ourselves? How much do we allow of ourselves to be 'seen?' How much do we really see of others and our surroundings?"

Painter Kirby Fredendall is inspired by the process. In the making of visual images, Fredendall uses traditional oil paint, at times mixing it with wax or applying it to acid-etched tin. What she finds inspiring is the natural response of her media - the "random movement of wet acid as it etches the tin or by paint as it interacts with wax." The amorphous quality in her forms reflects their almost organic development. They are drawn from images of biological processes, images revealed by x-rays, biological photographs and video ultrasounds.

One can see both Georgia O'Keefe's and Robert Motherwell's influences in Fredendall's work, in that it is based on natural forms such as seedpots and budding plants and in the abstraction of such forms that renders them unidentifiable. 
Since 1993, Fredendall has taught painting, two-dimensional design, and figure drawing at Solebury School in New Hope. A resident of Buckingham Township, Fredendall exhibits her work regionally and nationally. Her work has been featured in five solo exhibits and in over 22 group shows.