A
sixth generation Floridian, Impressionist Fredrick Guess was
born April 21, 1953 in Lake Wales, Florida.
Guess says that he had no choice but to be an artist –
he was born one. His parents 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 American Academy 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. He then returned to Florida for the
next fifteen years. During this time, besides pursuing his
passion for painting, he experimented in real estate, antiques,
piano repair and running a bed and breakfast.
In 1997, Guess decided to move to New Orleans, the city that
held his imagination since his first trip there at the age
of fourteen. In New Orleans, he renovated a property in the
French Quarter while simultaneously operating a gallery/antique
store. In 1999, he sold the building and antique store to
return to painting full time. His French Quarter studio doubles
as a retail gallery.
Currently, Fredrick Guess’ work is shown in his New
Orleans gallery and the L2 Gallery in Seaside, Florida.
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,
and Parkway Partners, to name a few. In 2006, in the aftermath
of Katrina and the levee failures that devastated New Orleans,
Guess pulled together a group of friends to organize a fundraiser
for Habitat for Humanity’s Musicians’ Village.
This event alone raised over twenty three thousand dollars.
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
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
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
Keep checking our Events and Links pages for
updates on Fredrick Guess’ work.
