Fredrick Guess was born a sixth generation Floridian on April 21, 1953 in
LakeWales, Florida.
Guess says that he had no choice but to be an artist – it’s just who he
has always been. His parents, both of whom served in WWII, encouraged what
they saw as his budding talent from an early age. His formal art training
began at the University of South Florida. He went to receive his Fine Arts
degree from the AmericanAcademy of Art in Chicago, Illinois in 1975. He then
returned to central Florida to study as the protégé of renowned artist
Marilyn Bendell for three years.
Since then, he has continually earned his living as an artist. His career
began as a portraitist in Manhattan, where he lived for nearly five years,
after which he returned to Florida for the next fifteen years. During that
time, besides pursuing his passion for painting, he owned and ran an antique
store, owned a shopping center, restored old homes, and restored and sold
vintage grand pianos.
In 1997, Guess decided to move to New Orleans, the city that held his
imagination since his first trip here at the age of fourteen. He opened the
Fredrick Guess Studio on world famous Royal Street in the middle of the
French Quarter. The Fredrick Guess Studio doubles as both retail gallery and
working studio. In the studio, he enjoys meeting clientele from the world
over, many of whom have become dear friends. He also has a wonderful time
teaching workshops in the gallery and sharing his knowledge of painting.
Upon moving to New Orleans, Guess first lived in the French Quarter. There
he fell into the rhythm of the city and immersed himself into its culture.
He then moved to the Garden District and began to get a deeper appreciation
for just how extensive the local culture has been ingrained into the
area’s fabric. After ten years, Guess moved again, this time deeper into
Louisiana’s unique aura. He now resides in the fishing village of Jean
Lafitte, a small hamlet about twenty five miles south of the city. Nestled
in the coastal wetlands he draws inspiration from the Cajun knack for joie
de vivre and the environment’s serene waterways and picturesque settings.
An additional point of interest regarding Guess is his generosity. In an
average year, his donated paintings raise over twenty five thousand dollars
for social and charitable organizations as diversified as the Faulkner
Society, Project Lazarus, Bravo – New Orleans Ballet Society, PBS, the
Krewe of Petronius, the Krewe of Armenius and Parkway Partners, to name only
a few. In 2006, in the aftermath of Katrina and the levee failures that
devastated so much of his beloved New Orleans, Guess pulled together a group
of friends to organize a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity’s
Musicians’ Village. That event alone raised over twenty three thousand
dollars.
Artist Statement
Life is a wonderful thing. The colors, movements, sounds and shapes that surround me inspire me. It doesn’t matter whether I am looking at French Quarter architecture or a pelican flying over the bayou or a pile of hot, boiled crawfish – they all move me.
My career began as a protraitist – a reflection of how much I enjoy people. But as life changed, so did my work. I still do portraits, and still love painting them. There’s just so much else in the world that I have seen and experienced that is so incredibly important to me, I had to expand my subject matter to include as much as I could. And especially since first moving to New Orleans and now gaining familiarity with Louisiana, I’ve come to appreciate what a marvelous abundance exists all around us for our taking.
To me, picking up a brush or pallette knife is an act of communing. I take in what’s around me, let it become part of me, and let it out again. In that step of letting it out, when it takes form on canvas, I get to not only re-experience it, but also to share it with someone else and hope that they make it part of their life. That’s when I feel that I’ve made a difference because my satisfaction doesn’t come from the taking in – it’s with the passing along.
One artist shows :
Polk Public Museum - Polk County Florida 1976
Florida Southern College – Lakeland, Florida 1983
Beechwood Gallery - Tampa, Florida 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988,
1989
Parkshore Gallery – Naples, Florida 1990, 1991, 1992,
1993
Galerie Mihalis – Boca Raton, Florida 1992
Galerie Louisiane – New Orleans, Louisiana 1997, 1998, 1999
J. Proctor Gallery – Seaside, Florida 2001, 2002, 2003,
2004
L2 Gallery – Seaside, Florida 2006
Fredrick Guess Studios – New Orleans Since 2000
M Contemporary – New Orleans 2019
Collections :
Louisiana State Museum
Polk Public Museum
Burt Reynolds
William Shatner
Nicolas Cage
Smith Production
Free People of Color Museum
St. Louis Cathedral
Special honors :
Art Auction Catalog, Cover Artist, WYES PBS, New Orleans,
Louisiana 2000
Opera Association of New Orleans, Honored Artist, New Orleans,
Louisiana 2000
New Orleans Ballet Association, Harlequin Ball, Special Recognition,
New Orleans, Louisiana 2001
Save Our Cemeteries, Invitation Cover, New Orleans, Louisiana
2003
Krewe of Cork, Poster, New Orleans, Louisiana 2004
WYES Showboat Auction, Featured Artist & Poster, New
Orleans, Louisiana 2004
Greek Festival poster 2004
Tournament Players Club, Commemorative Painting at Opening,
New Orleans, Louisiana 2005
Opera Association of New Orleans, Honored Artist, New Orleans,
Louisiana 2007
Love In the Garden, Honored Artist, New Orleans Museum of
Art, September 2007
Forever New Orleans, Travel Channel, Featured artist, TBA
2007
Smithsonian Magazine Culture Fest, Expert to lead Art Tour
of Royal Street, October 2007
Commemorative Portrait of Pope John Paul II for St. Louis Cathedral 2011
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