Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

FREDERICK H CARLSON

Illustrator

118 Monticello Drive  Monroeville   PA  15146-4837

412-856-0982 (tel)  412-389-3289 (cell)  fred@carlsonstudio.com

Illustration Career Milestones

Fred drew his first paying free-lance commissions for The Carnegie magazine while still a student 52 years ago. Fred has been a self-employed free-lancer for 45 years. He is one of the most well-known artist/illustrators in the mid-Atlantic market having completed works as large as room-sized murals and as small as one of his 400 music packaging covers.

His awards have included two acceptances into the NY Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition. Recent nationally recognized assignments have included a DVD cover series for Guitar Workshop of famous blues guitarists Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Son House, Bukka White, Lead Belly, Blind Willie Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and Charley Patton. Other nationally recognized clients have included: Elsevier Publishing, NY Times, SONY Music, BMG/RCA/County, Koppers Corp, Westinghouse, WQED, Saturday Evening Post, Cable in the Classroom, Shanachie Recordings, Yankee, PNC Bank, Home Depot, National Science Foundation, Boy Scouts, AMERICA Magazine, Phillips-Exeter Academy, Dartmouth, Mel Bay Publications, and Carnegie Mellon.

Fred’s nature illustration is permanently installed at the Smithsonian/National Zoo in Washington DC, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Moraine State Park Jennings Education Center near Butler, PA. A retrospective exhibition including 85 works of his scientific illustration was shown in 2009 at the Moench Hall Gallery on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana. In 2013, he chaired the large PSI exhibition “Art for a Hire Purpose” at the AIP Gallery in downtown Pittsburgh. He has completed two children’s book projects, “The Christmas Book of Hope” and “The Little Book of Hope.”

Fred exhibited his Bill Monroe American Traveler CD cover along with 8 other works for two years at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY. His CD cover Stop & Listen for the Mississippi Sheiks was purchased for permanent display since May, 2015 at the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis, TN. 

Fred recently presented “Portraits and Places: An Illustrated Retrospective” solo show at the CCAC/Boyce Campus Entrance Gallery in Monroeville, PA. Fred has shown in three massive group shows at the Senator John Heinz History Museum in Pittsburgh PA: 2007 “Pittsburgh Recast,” 2017 “Art of Facts,” and 2025-2026 “My America: An Illustrated Experience.”

His images are now available online through his internet store and posters have been purchased by buyers in Australia, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Brazil, the UK, and Switzerland along with other new commissions from international markets.

In 2021, Fred illustrated AMERICA AND THE HOLOCAUST, a 32-page fully illustrated educational book written by Barbara Stern Burstin, University of Pittsburgh faculty. This book has been reviewed favorably world-wide including the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post and is available in Holocaust museums worldwide.

Examples of Fred’s work can be seen at the websites:

www.carlsonstudio.com   

https://frederick-h-carlson.square.site  

https://www.facebook.com/frederick.carlson.1

pittsburghillustrators.org

americaandtheholocaust.com

Teaching Experience

September 1981-May 1994  Adjunct Instructor in Illustration Program, Art Department, Carnegie Mellon University, taught Senior Illustration Level III

Summer Programs and School Year Programs 1998-2000 Manchester Craftsmans Guild, Pittsburgh PA  Taught one-week intensive programs in illustration and watercolor to gifted Pittsburgh Public Schools art students at the invitation of James Shipman/President Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors

Mentorship Program-Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, Artists image Resource, North Side, Pittsburgh PA 2000-2008 Served in a group of experienced PSI professionals giving professional mentorship guidance to working illustrators and illustrators seeking a new direction in their artwork

Service to the Graphic Arts Industry

1987-1993 First President, Graphic Artists Guild At-Large Chapter, representing artists across the US

1991-1993 President, National Graphic Artists Guild, first non-NYC artist to be elected to this position after the GAG moved to NYC from Detroit in the late 1960s

1986-1994 Graphic Artists Guild, Affiliation Study Committee

1986-2022 Graphic Artists Guild, editions #8-#16, contributor to editorial content including Corporate, Packaging, Editorial Illustration sections

1998-1999, 2014-present Treasurer, Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

2003 Pre-program speaker at ICON 3 in Philadelphia “Starting and Growing a Regional Illustration Society”

2000-2004 President, Pittsburgh Society of illustrators

2008-present New Member Contact, Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

2017 20 Years of Service Award from the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

Personal

b. 7-26-1955 Rockville Centre NY

June 1973 Graduated Simsbury High School, Simsbury CT 06070 Top 10 in class of 420

September 1973-May 1977 Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts, Design Department, Pittsburgh PA 15213

May 1977 Graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with University Honors, BFA Design

May 1977-January 1981 Pitt Studios, staff illustrator

May 1979 Illustrator’s Workshop, Tarrytown NY (one-week intensive)

Fred is married to Nancy Flury Carlson since 1983. Children Ellen and Rick. Grandchildren Audrey, Madeline, Henry. Hobbies and avocation: guitar and mandolin, distance running, world and US history, serving various ministries in my church.