Cecelia Moy Fradet

How does a young child see the world? My earliest memories are infused with the kaleidoscope of colors, smells and sounds of the marketplaces of Hong Kong where I was born. I recall the soaring mountains, deep blue skies and the vast South China Sea dotted with large shipping boats and diamond-shaped junks with faded red sails. The vivid images of Buddhas and temples everywhere, the pungent smoke coming from burning incenses, are forever a part of me.

My family’s move to New York City dramatically altered my world and my vision. The mountains became towering grey skyscrapers; Chinese opera was replaced with Bugs Bunny and Mighty Mouse, Buddhas with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and folklore with “Father Knows Best.” My grandfather was a painter, my father a calligrapher, I would watch with fascination as they painted and naturally I started working myself.

What inspires my art is the power and beauty of nature, our relationship to it and each other. My work is nonrepresentational and yet tells a story, the yin and the yang. I want the gestural marks and the spaces in-between to leave room for individual interpretation. Making art has been my personal journey in an attempt to bridge these two worlds and philosophies and my means of communication.

My formal art training began at New York City’s H.S. of Art and Design, CCNY, FIT, and Goldsmiths University of London. I am a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, the Westport Arts Center and a member of ArtPlace Gallery. I serve as a docent at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut. I exhibit widely in juried and invitational shows and my work is in private collections in the USA and in Europe.