Marshall Fredericks’s Son Continues Father’s Legacy at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University presents a new exhibition, “The Carl & Christina Fredericks Collection: Advancing Dad’s Legacy” now open to the public through August 27, 2022. 

Carl M. Fredericks, named after Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, was known as a local business leader in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, where he resided, and a long supporter of the arts. Carl acquired a collection of his father’s art, including works by Carl Milles, following the death of his parents.  After Carl passed away in June of 2021 he bequest this collection to the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum to help fill out the Museum’s collection. The Museum curated an exhibition of these artworks to share this recent donation of artworks in memory of Carl and his wife Christina Fredericks.  

The exhibition of 34 sculptures and 7 figure drawings are complimented with an additional fifteen of Marshall Fredericks’s figurative drawings, recently conserved at the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis. Carl’s oral history conducted in 2009 with interviewer, Janet Rentsch will be available for viewing within the gallery and along with the rest of the exhibition is available for viewing through the virtual exhibition on the “Museum Musings” portal of the Museum’s website. 

Born in Michigan, Carl earned an MBA in 1968, taught finance in college and worked tirelessly in a banking career. By the 1980s he founded his own investment banking firm in San Diego, named Fredericks and Associates. He became a prominent businessman in the community and served on various boards. His obituary stated, “he was often referred to as the most networked person in San Diego, generous with his time and advice.” 

Carl and Christina married in 1985 and they enjoyed traveling and spent time each year in Hawaii and Palm Dessert. 

Carl was a strong supporter of the arts including his father’s. He was raised in an environment in which he experienced what it was like to have an artist father who produced commissioned sculptures, located in a regional, national and international settings and successfully raise a family. He and Christina held Marshall and his sculptures in high regard, displaying them prominently in their home. 

Carl served for many years as a Trustee for the Oceanside Museum of Art in California and from 1996 to 2021 on the Board of Advisors for the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Saginaw, Michigan. From the time of his father’s passing, he helped oversee the expansion of the Museum in the early 2000s and many other Museum milestones. 

“The Carl & Christina Fredericks Collection: Advancing Dad’s Legacy” will be on view at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum from May 14 through August 27, 2022. An online version of the exhibition is also available at: marshallfredericks.net/carl-fredericks. 

Exhibition Credits 

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum is located on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Road, Saginaw, MI. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call (989) 964-7125 or visit the Museum’s website at www.marshallfredericks.org.