Geerte Frenken was born in 1964 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her career as an artist started at age 18 when she was awarded with a recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the world’s longest painting, “Van Polder tot Stad,” commissioned by the City of Amsterdam.
After graduating from the Academy of Art in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1987, Geerte was awarded “The Andy Warhol Scholarship,” which enabled her to continue her fine art education at The New York Academy of Art, an institution founded by Warhol, where she earned a rare Master of Fine Arts degree in Art Anatomy and Renaissance Techniques in 1991.
Through the eighties and nineties Geerte co-founded several artist communities such as De Moira and De Fabriek in Utrecht, as well as The Umbrella House in New York City. Additionally, she organized several multimedia projects and group exhibitions across Europe and the United States, completed both public and private commissions, and consistently showcased her work in various exhibitions.
In the late nineties Geerte owned and managed Fine Art Gallery “Figure it out…!” in New York City, located at “Paul’s Boutique,” aka Beastie Boys Square.
During that time Geerte also organised the Lower East Side Art Gallery Collective “The Edge” and her art work was reviewed in art magazines such as “While You Were Sleeping” and “Direct Art Buyer”.
At the same time, Geerte worked as an Ethnography Research Assistant at the National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI) in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. She facilitated Ibogaine treatments and shared her Harm Reduction research through publications and presentations at conferences around the world, including in The United States (New York, Washington D.C., Madison, WI), Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin) and Mexico (Sayulita).
In the late Nineties, Geerte received training in 3D animation at the Center for Advanced Digital Applications at New York University. She produced traditional animation, character modeling and 3D animation for Animation NYC (National Video Center and Recording Studios Inc.) in New York City. She then took on the position of Lead Character Modeler at Pulse Entertainment in San Francisco, where she modeled, textured and rigged 3D models for clients such as Warner Brothers, Nike, Britney Spears, Budweiser, NBC, Mattel, KROQ, CBS Moneymarket, Anatomical Travelogue, etc.
Geerte later co-owned two design businesses: Aloha Web Designers on Kauai, Hawaii, and Spectrum Art Studios in Penn Valley, California.
Beginning in 2006, Geerte taught, developed curricula, and managed faculty as a Professor of Visual Communications and an expert in Remote and Hybrid Learning. She held positions at several colleges and universities across the United States, including The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, DeVry University, The University of Texas at Austin, Miami International University, and American Intercontinental University. She later continued her academic career as a Professor of Visual Communication and International Communication at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, The Netherlands.
Since 2018, Geerte has been dedicated to raising awareness about domestic violence and child abuse, while providing support to survivors through The Mother-Child Human Rights Foundation, a non-profit she co-founded.
For a detailed overview of her professional journey, please visit her LinkedIn profile.
Alongside her Human Rights work, Geerte continues to pursue her passion for fine art. Feel free to get in touch here.
Exhibits
• 2016 Group exhibit “Arising” with Yoko Ono, Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland
• 2010 Group exhibit East Austin Studio Tour, Austin, TX
• 2008 Group exhibit “Water: The Common Experience”, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
• 2006 Group exhibit “Ibogaine and Art”, Alex Grey’s MicroCoSM Gallery, New York City
• 2002 Group exhibit “The Spirit World”, GI Arts Council, Lihue, Kauai
• 1999 Group exhibit “Emerging Artists”, Limner Gallery, New York City
• 1998 Solo exhibit “The Art Peep Show”, Gallery Figure it out…!, New York City
• Solo exhibit Gallery Figure it out…!, New York City; gallery collective “The Edge” at “The International Fringe Festival”
• Solo exhibit “The Moira Series”, Gallery Figure it out…!, New York
• Group exhibit “Different colors”, HSS Gallery, New York City
• 1993 Group exhibit “Kiss My Ass”, Gallery Exploding Sky, New York
• 1992 Solo exhibit Gallery Herengracht 308, Amsterdam, Holland
• 1991 Group exhibit “Diploma works of MFA Graduates”, New York Academy of Art
• Group exhibit “The Freedom to Create”, CB’s 313 Gallery – CBGB, New York
• 1990 Group exhibit The New York Academy of Art
• 1987 Solo exhibit Gallery Oudegracht 380, Utrecht, Holland
• Solo exhibit Gallery Arti et Amicitae, Amsterdam, Holland
• Group exhibit “Start ’87”, Apeldoorn, Holland
• 1986 Group exhibit Multi-media Art Festival “Ruimte in De Ruimte”, Utrecht, Holland
• 1985 Group exhibit Art Festival “Kunst, Krisis of Keerpunt”, Apeldoorn, Holland
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