Helen Frik should not be confused with Helen Frick! That single small ‘c’ makes a world of difference. Frik (1960) is not the heiress of the family of Pittsburgh millionaires. She was born in Worcester, in England, and studied art in Brighton, where her teachers included the sculptor Nicolas Pope. She came to the Netherlands in 1981 to continue her studies at Ateliers ’63 in Haarlem. Frik remained in the Netherlands and settled in Amsterdam.
Confusingly enough, both Helens are connected with art collections: the Frick Collection and the Frik Collection. The first, housed in a private villa in New York, which Helen opens up to the public, consists primarily of masterpieces from various countries and periods. By contrast, the objects in the Frik Collection are linked by authorship: as diverse as they may be, Helen made each and every one of them. In due course her oeuvre will find its way into homes all over the world.
This video shows Helen Frik installing her exhibition in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. She talks about her passion for ceramics. ‘The Throphy as Used by the Artist’ as the presentation is called, lasts until 6 April 2015.
