Freda_Koblick
Freda Koblick
American plastic artist (1920–2011)
Freda Koblick (1920 – 2011) was an American artist, sculptor, and educator, she was known for plastics engineering, acrylic arts, and designing decorative art. Koblick introduced cast acrylic as a medium for sculpture.[1]
Freda Koblick | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1920-08-26)August 26, 1920 |
| Died | June 18, 2011(2011-06-18) (aged 90) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Education | City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, Plastics Industries Technical Institute |
Freda Koblick was born on 26 August 1920 in San Francisco, California, into a Jewish, Russian American family.[1][2] She attended City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University).[1] In 1939, Koblick continued her studies at Plastics Industries Technical Institute in Los Angeles.[1]
She returned to San Francisco in the early 1940s.[3] Her first job was designing plastic molds for an office machinery factory in Emeryville.[2] Early in her career she worked in collaboration with architects and created functional acrylic decorative objects for the home, including Lucite doorknobs, candle holders, trays, and lighting accessories.[1][3]
Eventually by the 1960s, architects started asking for larger sculptural works made of acrylic, and she started transitioning into the acrylic arts.[1][3] Koblick held her studio in the North Beach neighborhood at Battery Street and Clay Street.[2] In 1956, her work space burned down and she had a period of studio displacement.[2] However 1980, with the help of her friend Mariquita West she was able to purchase the 4,300-foot former Congregation B'nai David building in the Mission District and maintain the space as both an art studio and residence.[2]
For many years she taught her acrylic casting techniques at the Royal College of Art.[1] She received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970, in fine art.[4]
Death
Koblick died on 18 June 2011 in San Francisco, California, from renal failure due to diabetes.[1][5][6][3] She never married.[2] For 30 years she had an affair with a married man, which she openly discussed.[2]
- Baker, Kenneth (2011-06-22). "Freda Koblick, influential abstract artist, dies". SFGATE. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- Guthmann, Edward (2006-08-05). "Plastics -- there was a great future in it for one artist who pursued her passion". SFGATE. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- "PASSINGS: Phyllis Gebauer, Les Guthrie, Freda Koblick, Lee Ames, Brian Haw". Los Angeles Times. 2011-06-21. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- "Freda Koblick". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- "Deaths: Koblick, Freda". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- "Freda Koblick Obituary (2011) - Los Angeles, CA". www.legacy.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
