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BONNIE
FREIREICH—SCULPTOR/PAINTER
 Born
and raised in New York City, Bonnie has been an artist all her life. Even from
her early elementary school days she was recognized as an artist and held the
position of the school illustrator for school publications.
Bonnie was an art major in high school, and graduated Queens College, CUNY with
a B.A. in Art Education. She studied with John Ferren, Elias Friedensohn and
Joseph Campbell at Queens where she was also the art editor of her college
annual during her junior and senior years. After graduating from college, she
taught high school art for over twenty years, first in New York City and then in
Fulton County, Georgia. After receiving her degree in Art Therapy in 1980 and
becoming a Registered Art Therapist in 1990, Bonnie went on to create an Art
Therapy program for Independence High School in Roswell, an alternative open
classroom school in Fulton County. Being an educator and therapist for most of
her life, Bonnie retired in 1998 to finally pursue her lifelong dream of being a
full time artist, something she never had time for while teaching others.
Although she greatly misses the interaction with young people, she is thrilled
to finally be producing her long-planned-for body of work.
For most of her life, Bonnie was primarily a painter, studying with many
painters in New York and Atlanta.
Since 1998, she has been working in three dimensions as well, creating very
personal sculptures of people. Having first taken classes in life sculpture with
Tom Williams, Bonnie went on to develop her own style and is working now on
sculptures that celebrate the cycles of life from birth through old age. Her
work focuses on the relationships between people and the relationship between
positive and negative space. Bonnie works in clay creating not only a physical
likeness of the subject, but a spiritual one as well. “I find my greatest joy is
in making sculpture, especially when the clay I’m working with suddenly becomes
the person and looks back at me.”
Bonnie donated her sculpture, “Mother and Child” to Grady Hospital for its labor
and delivery area and was displayed at the reception for Grady Hospital at the
SunTrust Gallery on April, 2004. She has also donated a sculpture for auction to
the Susan G. Komen Pink Tie Ball, (2001, 2002, 2003), which helped support their
effort in fighting breast cancer. “I like to share my art with others in hopes
that they will find it as uplifting a source of joy to view, as it is for me to
create.”
While sculpture has been her main focus in the past ten years, she has recently
begun to study pastel painting and finds it very exciting and rewarding. “While
I love sculpting, I find that I sometimes miss working in color. I began taking
classes in pastel with Elsie Dresch and fell in love with the medium. I have
also taken workshops with Margaret Dyer and Gary Baughman.” Bonnie has had
several of her pastels juried into competitions.
Exhibits and Awards
2010
October—Johns Creek Art Center--Christie with Parasol--First Place
May—Sandy Springs Art Auction--Donation--Stage Fright--sculpture
April—South Cobb Arts Alliance--Pinkney Island--pastel, A Mother's Touch--bronze--Second Place
January—AAC Winners Circle--Just Another Pinch of Salt--pastel
2009
October—AAC--Quinn--Charcoal—Honorable Mention
August—Limelight Gallery—Iman in
Yellow—Pastel; Pinkney Island Preserve—Pastel; Morning on the
Chattahoochee—Pastel—Honorable Mention
June—Southeast Pastel Society—Just Another
Pinch of Salt—Pastel
June—MCMA—A Mother’s Touch—Sculpture
April—South Cobb Arts Alliance/World of
Art—Just Another Pinch of Salt—Pastel—Best in Show
April—Rome Coterie National Exhibition—A
Mother’s Touch—Sculpture
January—AAC Winner’s Circle—Garden Path; Leaving Helsinki; Weeds on Delos;
Fireside Chat—Pastel
2008
December—Seen Gallery—The Garden Path; Weeds on
Delos; The Beach at Nevis; Cesarea, Israel—Pastel
December—Dawson County Arts Council: Home for
the Holidays—Lone Cyprus—Pastel—Credentials
December—AAC—A Mother’s Touch; Reese Lily; Lily,
Faerie of the Pond--Sculpture
November—AAC—Around the River Bend—Pastel; The Potter—Pastel—Credentials
September—Avondale Estates Arts Alliance—15
Sculptures and 10 Pastels
August –South Cobb Arts Alliance—Delos, Greece—Pastel
August--Limelight Gallery—A Mother’s
Touch—Sculpture—Second Place
April 11-25—Abernathy Arts Center—The Shoe Lace--Sculpture
April 21-May 27--South Cobb Arts Alliance—Lily,
Faerie of the Pond—Sculpture
2007
November—AAC—Delos, Greece—Pastel
August—Limelight Gallery—Lily, Faerie of the
Pond—Sculpture
August—Portrait Society—Reese, Daniel, Annie—Sculpture-Juror’s
Merit Award
March—Three Person Show—Church of the Atonement—Sculpture/Painting
2006
December—Dawson County National
Show—Sculpture—Pals--Juror’s commendation
December—AAC Credentials—In Full Bloom—Pastel
November—AAC—Nite Nite Batman—Sculpture
August—Portrait Society of Atlanta—Sculpture--
Pals, Kendall-- Honorable Mention
April-May—South Cobb Arts Alliance—Sculpture ---Moccasin Maker; Mother and
Child; The Shoe Lace--Best in Show
April—AAC Dogwood- Credentials—The Water Bearer—Sculpture
February—AAC – Traveling Show—Canyon Ranch—Pastel
2005
December – Atlanta Artists Center
December/ Guests Gallery on line—Sculpture--First finalist
(Seated Nude)
November—AAC--Canyon Ranch—Pastel
October--Limelight Gallery –Moccasin Maker--Sculpture
August – www.artkudos.com/2005/artists.html—The
Shoelace—Sculpture
May—AAC Renaissance Show—Trick or Treat—Acrylic painting
April—AAC Dogwood Credentials-sculpture----She
Can Play Shortstop-- Best in Show
March—AAC Hanging Out With Art
2004
December—AAC Credentials—Sculpture--Ta Da--Honorable
Mention
December—Guests Gallery on line—Seated
Nude—Sculpture
November—Limelight Gallery—She Can Play
Shortstop, Kendall-Sculpture
October—AAC——Santa Clara Potter—Sculpture
August—Kennesaw University—Art of the Golden
Generation- -Sculpture—Mother and Child; Shoe Lace--Third
Place 3D
August – GASP Gallery Show
April—AAC Dogwood Credentials—acrylic
painting---Mom Power -Best in Show
April—Royal Gallery Women’s Show, “Wigs”—10 pieces—Sculpture
2003
December—AAC Credentials— Seated
Nude--Sculpture-- Second Place
November—Dawson County Arts Council Holiday Show—The Shoe Lace;
Kendall—Sculpture
October—AAC—Pals—Sculpture
July—AAC— At The Shore-- Sculpture --Honorable
Mention
2001
Spruill Center for the Arts –--Seated Nude--
Sculpture / Stolen
2000
Spruill Center for the Arts—Reclining
Nude—Sculpture; Gorgeous George acrylic painting
1999 Spruill Center for the Arts--At the Shore;
Mackenzie—Sculpture
Memberships
American Art Therapy Association
Georgia Art Therapy Association
Atlanta Artists Center
Portrait Society of Atlanta
Southeastern Pastel Society
South Cobb Alliance
Contact
Bonnie
Commission Information
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