| About Drina Fried |
2018-2020- From 2018 to the present, worktime was spent as the Lead Manager of the Descendants of
Taylor Caldwell, LLC. To date all 40 of Taylor Caldwell's novels are now eBooks, 17 are audioBooks, and many have
been reprinted. Three are being evaluated for screenplay.
In 2020 Drina was one of three master artists in the "Celebrating Life Master's Exhibit" in Las Vega
2017- Featured artist at City Lights Art Gallery, Henderson, NV. April 1-30, 2017; 4-29-16 Meet the artist reception
Henderson Cultural Center solo art exhibit - May 1 -June 29,2017
Tuscany village Group Art Show Reception, Henderson, NV.- May 6, 2017
Helldorado Public Art Show, auction and reception, Las Vegas, NV - May 7, 2017
Paradise Antique Mall, Las Vegas, NV- continuous artwork April-June, 2017
Boulder City Art Guild Featured Artist, Sept. 1-30, Boulder City, NV ; Sept.9,2017 Artist's Reception
2016- December 16/17, 2016 -Barcelona International Art Fair, Barcelona, Spain http://vimeo.com201520976 ;
Jan. 3rd Place in T-Shirt "Color Me" contest at Jana's Red Room Gallery at the Arts Factory in Las Vegas.
2015- "Best of Show" - Renee's Park - diptych Las Vegas Art Guild- Spring show. March, 2015;
the Fried Family (Descendants of Taylor Caldwell, LLC) obtained the rights to all of the Taylor Caldwell works; May-
December Must I Always Smile 1st Prize Mixed Media, 2015 Celebrating Life Art Show- showed at Charleston Arts
Center until July, then Las Vegas City Hall until Sept., then Mayor's Chambers until end of Dec. 2015;
June, Horseback View Of Vegas- 3rd prize mixed media- Helldorado Show, Las Vegas; Sept. Tuscany Village Artists
showed at the Crepe at Tivoli Village, LV; Oct. 1st Prize Stratophere Atmosphere 1st prize Las Vegas Art Guild Juried
show Local Color III; December- one of the artists represented by Jana's Red Room in the Arts Factory, Las Vegas.
2014- Month of April Solo art show with reception (4-26-14) at Rainbow's End, Las Vegas NV.
Jan. 19, Art Show in my art studio for the Raw Food Meet-up Group
Jan.-July 14, 2014 two embellished collages (Mia and Squirrel) showing at Henderson City Hall; Water St. Henderson,
NV 89015. The Tuscany Village Artists, a group formed in 2013 by Drina, creates art weekly in the Recreation Center.
Their art is exhibited there also. Hawaiian Hut won "Best of Show" at the Boulder City Art Guild. 11-10-14-
Presenter for the Las Vegas Art Guild on the topic "Finding Your Niche". After 4 years of writing up the LVAG
presenters, Drina stepped down from that volunteer job to lead the Fried Family pursuit of reclaiming the Taylor
Caldwell legacy.
2013- Blissful White Ibis Morning and Squirrel showed at the Henderson Green Valley Library for the the month of
October. May-Jan.2014 "Maintenance Free Aquarium" won Honorable Mention at the Mixed Media at the
32nd annual "Celebrating Life Art Show" Charleston Heights Art Center in Las Vegas. Artwork stayed up until July,
2013. and""Maintenance Free Aquarium" was included in another exhibition in the winner's circle at Las Vegas City
Hall until September , 2013; then stayed in Las Vegas City Hall Offices until 2014
.Las Vegas Art Guild co-writer; Taking Drawing classes from Marylou Evans, Instructor at CSN. The Hampered Series
of three is showing at the Henderson City Hall for 2 months.
2012- "Pillars of Creation-Birth of Stars" 3rd Prize Mixed Media at the 31st annual "Celebrating Life Art Show"
Charleston Heights Art Center in Las Vegas. "Pillars of Creation-Birth of Stars" was included in another exhibition in
the winner's circle at Las Vegas City Hall until September 6, 2012.
Tinoco's Kitchen- in Las Vegas Club- 13 Fremont St. Las Vegas
Juried Show Feb. - March, 2012 - PUAH-.thepopuparthouse.com Salon show; Henderson, NV.; "I came for the View
And THIS is What I Get!?"
Co-Newsletter writer for Vegas Art Guild guest presenters.
2011- Artwork on display at :
Tinoco's Kitchen- VIP room- in Las Vegas Club- 13 Fremont St. Las Vegas- Aug. 7 until 2012
Gallery at Liberty Point - Nov. - Dec., 2011) - Solo Show - in the Multigenerational Center ; Henderson, NV
Juried show- Sin City at University of Nevada at Las Vegas -M.Barrick Museum- Spring, 2011
Vegas Art Guild Show- "Turn It Up"- Clark County Library; Las Vegas; June - Sept., 2011
2010- August 9, 2010, Presented for the Vegas Art Guild. I explained my "Journey from psychology to artist". See
pictures on my page at: www.facebook.com
Enso Japanese Bar- in Bakersfield- 2010
Juried into Bite at the Museum- Event 9-18-10 Springs Preserve Museum- Las Vegas - Honorable Mention for "Cactus
Apples"
2009- "Red Couch" won "Best of Show" at the 29th annual "Celebrating Life" Charleston Heights Art Center in Las
Vegas. Following this show 7-14-09, Tranquillity #2 -"Red Couch" showed in the winner's circle at Las Vegas City
Hall until September 27, 2009. 3rd prize at Annual Vegas Art Guild Spring Show; Best of Show at "Celebrating Life"
29th annual show. Artwork shown at the The Canyon Ranch Spa Artwalk, between the Venetian and Pallazzo in Las
Vegas for the second time, and at the Pfaff Downtown Sewing Center. Continued to write articles for the Henderson
Art Association and Vegas Art Guild. (Articles Written By Drina Fried )
2008 - March-May- Solo art show at Spotlight Theatre in Bakersfield. Continuing rotating change-outs in central
California, group shows in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada. Juried into a Contemporary Art Center show in Las
Vegas; Artwork shown at the The Canyon Ranch Spa Artwalk, between the Venetian and Pallazzo in Las Vegas,
Represented by the City of the World Gallery in Las Vegas. She also wrote interviewing articles for the Henderson
Art Association and Vegas Art Guild.
2007 - Rotating change-out Exhibits at various Kern County Administration Buildings and businesses; May, 2007- 3
pieces accepted in the Bakersfield Art Association “extra large” art pieces show- 5th place for “Mullions Out to
Vegas"
2008 to the present - She continues to show in California and Nevada predominantly, producing embellished fabric
art as her specialty. Her work is admired though not yet widely known.
October, 2006– January, 2007 Art show at Kern Central Credit Union - 2 sculpturers; Drina as sole hanging artist –
73 pieces of artwork – Invited by the Arts Council of Kern. 2006 Exhibition shows at the Bakersfield Philharmonic
Orchestra, Art-In-The-Park opening, and juried into the Contemporary show at the Bakersfield Art Association.
2002 - 2005 Yearly amateur entries in the Kern County Fair- Prizes in mixed media,
watercolor and abstract categories- including one Chairman’s Choice, four 1st prizes, and even more 2nd, 3rd, and
honorable mention awards.
2005 - San Luis Obisbo, CA- 28th Juried Exhibition of Fine Craft Dimensions 05; and also juried into their members'
exhibition; Juried into the Arts Council of Kern County art show.
2004 - Solo exhibit- one month with Russo’s BookStore- ending with a demonstration of the Making of a Fabric
picture, Bakersfield, CA; exhibited with the Madiera Arts Council:
Visual Art and Music Background - detailed narrative
In 1954, Drina, age 10, won $25 in a newspaper art contest, and also took her first art workshop at the Albright-Knox
Museum of Art, in Buffalo, New York. In her twenties she took portrait drawing classes from artist, Rhoda Lurie Fried.
Then she took a Master's level art history course in college, but majored in psychology. Before coming to the central
valley in California in the late 1970’s, she sold two of her only three framed art pieces at the time, abstract art.
She always loved music and tried singing- sometimes professionally- in various venues (restaurants, choirs, musicals,
and solo performances). She wrote some songs and incorporatied them in her speaking engagements as a
psychologist. (For example accompanying herself on the Omnichord while doing a couple of "gigs" on cruise ships as
a speaker on Stress Management, and also during talks coordinated with her weight control program, "Think Thin
and Win" More recently she wrote, "Time Is Flying Fast", "Cooperate, Cooperate, Cooperate", and "To Be Content"
and hopes to be able to link her fading voice before too late on THIS vain site of hers (i.e. mine).
In 1994 she became interested in fabric and learning to sew, and was taught (for 14 years) by RoseMary Ross, a
Home Economics teacher next door to Drina’s school psychology office. Within a few years fabric remnants and a
book called Snippits by Cindy Walters led her to take up art again, in a contemporary way. The Walters book taught
her how to back her fabric with glue and form professional pictures. She developed her own embellished fabric
collage art and started showing her "productions", thereby sliding into an art career. Later (in 1999) when she joined
the group of local Bakersfield artists, and then painted in a group led by Charlotte White, she won more and more art
amateur categories. In 2006 Drina moved from amateur artist to professional artist by entering 8 pieces within the
professional artist categories, in the county fair. Each piece won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize. Categories were Mixed media,
Collage, Miniature, County landmarks, and Watermedia.
She took art most seriously, taking more art classes, painting with other artists, and on her own whenever she could
find the time. .. she.usually worked in the "dead of night", and watched the sun come up as she went to bed.
Retiring from the morning pressures of being a school psychologist became foremost as, like any ambitious artist, she
needed time to voluminously read art magazines, art biographies, and how-to draw and paint books; She attended
shows locally and visited art museums and galleries almost everywhere in the world she's traveled.
Drina moved to Las Vegas in 2008. She has an art studio residence in Henderson, Nevada. As of 2012, her art is in
private collections from coast to coast, specifically in California, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New York, and Texas.
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Drina's prior experience in psychology, teaching, sewing, and even music led to her
becoming a professional visual artist. All this detail, above and below, has been written out
perhaps mostly for the artist herself - face it Drina, for myself-; thus to remember the roots
and details as I might be entering senility at some point. Click here for a chronicle of the
years before art in 1999 .City Lights Art Gallery; Embellished Fabric Collge ExhibitD
Embellished Fabric Collage autobiography
The embellished fabric collage process begins with a blueprint to guide the composition. Usually a
watercolor study or digital manipulation is this prelude, so that Fried gets the sense of which pieces of
fabric will work best for this potential artpiece. Many- sometimes a hundred or more- swatches of silk,
organza, suede, cotton, etc. are chosen for their various textures, colors, and chroma.Fabric is dry
glue-backed before being cut and each piece patiently placed onto the substrate of linen or canvas.
The composition is heat-set then, and UV protected with two coatings of a fabric spray that binds to the
fabric over a 48 hour period to make it almost impervious to the effects of light or dust. However, it is
stillusuallyshown under glass to stop the inclination viewers have had to run their fingers over the various
fabrics, to feel the textures. At this point more traditional art takes over:Fried uses acrylics and/or fabric
paint, thread, crystals and other lasting embellishments with the goal of lightening or deepening
shading, contrast, unity, bringing out the perspective and detail needed to transform each interior, still
life, floral, cityscape, or landscape into her vision. From a distance each original most often resembles
an oil painting. Looking closely though, it becomes clear that one is seeing a one of a kind complex
collage, without 'duplicability'.Born- Buffalo, New York, 1943; Living in Nevada since 2008;Her father was
a jewelry display manufacturer (Gerald Fried Displays) until he was 85 years old. Her mother was a
homemaker, amateur writer, and became a self taught artist after seeing some of Drina's
watermedia.Drina is the granddaughter of Taylor Caldwell, an immensely popular author in the late
1930's to the early 1980's of 33 best selling novels.However improbable, Drina's aspirations are to do as
well in her chosen fields of visual artist and as an educational and counseling psychologist in the area of
teaching "offensiveless defense" with two rules. If you read this material, Dr.Fried hearby gives permission
to use the process of Offensiveless Defense with 2 Rules -as presented , by giving credit to Drina Fried,
Ed.D.
The embellished fabric collage process begins with a blueprint to guide the composition. Usually a
watercolor study or digital manipulation is this prelude, so that Fried gets the sense of which pieces of
fabric will work best for this potential artpiece. Many- sometimes a hundred or more- swatches of silk,
organza, suede, cotton, etc. are chosen for their various textures, colors, and chroma.Fabric is dry
glue-backed before being cut and each piece patiently placed onto the substrate of linen or canvas.
The composition is heat-set then, and UV protected with two coatings of a fabric spray that binds to the
fabric over a 48 hour period to make it almost impervious to the effects of light or dust. However, it is
stillusuallyshown under glass to stop the inclination viewers have had to run their fingers over the various
fabrics, to feel the textures. At this point more traditional art takes over:Fried uses acrylics and/or fabric
paint, thread, crystals and other lasting embellishments with the goal of lightening or deepening
shading, contrast, unity, bringing out the perspective and detail needed to transform each interior, still
life, floral, cityscape, or landscape into her vision. From a distance each original most often resembles
an oil painting. Looking closely though, it becomes clear that one is seeing a one of a kind complex
collage, without 'duplicability'.Born- Buffalo, New York, 1943; Living in Nevada since 2008;Her father was
a jewelry display manufacturer (Gerald Fried Displays) until he was 85 years old. Her mother was a
homemaker, amateur writer, and became a self taught artist after seeing some of Drina's
watermedia.Drina is the granddaughter of Taylor Caldwell, an immensely popular author in the late
1930's to the early 1980's of 33 best selling novels.However improbable, Drina's aspirations are to do as
well in her chosen fields of visual artist and as an educational and counseling psychologist in the area of
teaching "offensiveless defense" with two rules. If you read this material, Dr.Fried hearby gives permission
to use the process of Offensiveless Defense with 2 Rules -as presented , by giving credit to Drina Fried,
Ed.D.
| To purchase museum quality prints, framed or unframed, and cards, go to: fineartamerica.com/profiles/drina-fried Original Art is also for sale. Call Drina for information at 661-343-1639 |
