Freda C. Tschumy

A renowned artist and educator, Freda C. Tschumy has enjoyed a successful career in education since 1968, beginning as an art instructor at Miami Fine Arts Conservatory in Miami. She subsequently taught ceramics at the Grove House in Coconut Grove, Florida, and sculpture at the Upstairs Gallery and the Continuum Gallery in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1974, she accepted her first position in higher education, teaching painting at Barry College in Miami. Ms. Tschumy later taught sculpture and stone carving at the Metropolitan Museum School in Coral Gables, Florida, and Sculpture at the Bass Museum School in Miami Beach. After receiving an Master of Fine Arts in bronze casting from the University of Miami in 1990, she was hired as an adjunct professor of sculpture, which included teaching casting and running the foundry. She taught at the university for about 12 years and during that time, she helped to establish the University of Miami’s Art After Dark program, which enabled local artists to study with university art faculty and use university facilities without formal matriculation into the university. With the repeat foundry students, she formed and directed the U of M Foundry Guild, which helped with casting activities of the undergraduate classes. They also paid dues used to augment the foundry facilities.

Previously, Ms. Tschumy provided her expertise to the Continuum Gallery in Miami Beach as founding member, treasurer and president; the Gallery at Mayfair in Coconut Grove as treasurer and president; ArtSight Gallery in Coral Gables; and the Hawaii School for Girls in Honolulu as an artist-in-residence. As a member of her community for more than 40 years, Ms. Tschumy has remained associated with the Tropical Audubon Society in Miami since 1975. Affiliated with the American Foundryman’s Society and the International Sculpture Center, she participated in workshops, lectures and forums. She contributed in a number of capacities to the Women’s Caucus for Art, including as a first vice president of her local chapter and a member of the board of directors. She was active with the Tribal Arts Society at the Lowe Museum at the University of Miami and served as its president.

Ms. Tschumy’s artwork has been included in numerous solo exhibitions since 1974, as well as public commissions. She created the signature sculpture at the University of Miami Metrorail Station (the first to be commissioned when Metrorail was begun), the lobby sculpture in the new Melbourne, Florida, Main Library and the bronze “Cross and Flame” sculpture at South Miami First Methodist Church. She completed several exhibitions that traveled to venues such as the Key West Museum of Art and History; the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee; the Saginaw Art Museum in Michigan; the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina; and other locations from Texas to upstate New York and Massachusetts.

Ms. Tschumy earned a bachelor’s degree at Vassar College in 1961. She did postgraduate coursework at the Art Students’ League of New York in 1961 and 1962, and at the Accademia di Belli Arti in Rome in 1963. She was presented with an Award of Excellence from Sculptors of Florida in 1972. Subsequently she was recognized with a Fine Art Achievement Award from Binney and Smith, and an Award of Excellence from Art in the Downtown Development Authority of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She earned a grant from the Posey Foundation in 1989. A celebrated Marquis listee, Ms. Tschumy has been showcased in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, and Who’s Who of American Women.