Bill Frederking

(b. 1955; resides Northfield, IL)

Bill Frederking documents his home and family with a view camera. His training as a commercial as well as a fine art photographer has informed his choices of lightning, form, and direction. A certain stillness in the pictures suggests an eerie narrative-perhaps a sudden departure—though the evidence is of people throughout. Form coupled with natural light as an emotive element heightens this sense of presence: the kitchen cutting board after a meal, the dramatically sunny corner of a child’s room in which a pair of fuzzy slippers lie discarded. Full and tense framing add to the psychological mood, with lines often working against each other or against the edge of the frame itself.

Frederking earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MFA from Columbia College Chicago where he is currently a professor of Photography. He also works as a professional photographer and has served as a visiting artist at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and at the Milwaukee Institute for the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His work has been exhibited in Chicago at the Vedanta Gallery; the Northern, Illinois University Gallery; The Museum of Contemporary Photography; Artemisia Gallery; the New Orks Gallery, the University of Illinois at Chicago; and The Cultural Center of Chicago. Frederking’s numerous awards include the Ruth Page Award, Chicago; an Artist’s Fellowship Grant from the Illinois Arts Council; a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago; and a Purchase award from the State of Illinois Museum in Springfield. His photographs are held in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago; and the State of Illinois Museum.