Frederick Hurd

My current practice focuses on hard-edge graphic design, using clean lines, bounded areas of color, and simplified forms to explore the aesthetics of the mid-20th century. My artwork's subject matter celebrates 1940s vintage fashions and retro technologies, but it goes deeper than simple nostalgia. Through the lens of cinematic montage, I combine distinct images and historical fragments within a single composition. This juxtaposition reveals otherwise hidden relationships between clothing, machinery, and time, turning familiar historical elements into a brand-new visual narrative.

This new direction in my practice is the direct result of a long artistic evolution. For many years, my work was rooted in a deeply exploratory impressionist style, focusing on light, texture, and atmosphere. While my current work appears visually distinct, the two periods in my work are deeply connected. My early impressionist studies yielded an understanding of color required to mix and balance the flat areas of hues that anchor my complex, multi-image graphic layouts today.

My portfolio captures an ongoing transition from fluid movement to graphic structure. Bringing together cinematic montage, mid-century fashion, and vintage technologies within a h...

Bachelor of Arts, Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania.

Certificate of Completion in Studio Arts, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California.

2024 Mid Valley Art League Scholarship.

Drawing, design and painting classes at Pasadena City College under various instructors including Jeff Cain, Sarah Sarchin, John Trees and Craig Antrim.

Studied oil painting under Susan Bothwell at UCLA, Arthur Egli in Pasadena California, Robert Sherrill through the Art Center College of Design Extension, and Dale Witherow at Mansfield State College.

My artwork has been exhibited through the U.S. State Department Arts in Embassies program; at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale, California and at Pasadena Community College; with the Pasadena Society of Artists; and with the California Art Club, with whom I have membership as an Associate Artist.

Commissions:
• “Our Stretch of Brand,” Mural
(dimensions: 2.5 feet x 15 feet) for Pearlman, Brown & Wax, LLP, Glendale California.

Selected Exhibitions

• Juried Student Exhibition, Boone Family Gallery, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California. December 2 - 13, 2024, and January 6 - February 21, 2025.

• "Brand 52", a juried exhibition, included my painting on paper entitled, "Hidden in Plain Sight", at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale, California, June 15 - August 9, 2024.

• "Belmopan 2023." Arts in Embassies Exhibition at US Embassy in Belmopan, Belize.

• "Classical Gestures." Solo Exhibition of mixed media artworks and cyanotypes. V-Gallery, Pasadena City College, March 2 - 16, 2023.

• “Pasadena City College 2022 Juried Student Exhibition." Boone Family Galleries, Pasadena City College, December 15 & 16, 2002, and January 9 - February 9, 2023.

• “Rialto Visions 2...