2023 Award Recipient FST StudioProjects Fund

Frederieke Sanders Taylor created FST StudioProjects Fund in 2017 to encourage studio practice, a vital component of the arts in New York City. Frederieke was a gallerist, life-long art collector, and trusted advisor to numerous arts organizations in New York. In all of these capacities, she had an abiding commitment to new and emerging artists and to the arts. Shortly before her death, Frederieke created FST StudioProjects Fund to provide studio rent for artists working in New York City.

Frederieke Sanders Taylor was born in Schiedam, the Netherlands. She received a BA from Leiden University, and an MA from Yale University, both in Chinese literature and language.

Frederieke made her mark in New York City for innovative development work as the first Administrative and Development Director for the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (1976–80), then as Executive Director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (1980–­86), building both institutions through her vision for public accessibility to the arts. Later, she served as Director of the MacDowell Colony (1987–89) and as Director of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (1989­–91).

Frederieke served as a board member to a number of organizations as they sought to develop their structure and outreach, all with the goal of providing greater public access to the arts. She lent her organizational and fundraising expertise to Meredith Monk’s House Foundation from its inception, and served as Board President twice throughout the years. She was the President of Art Table, member of the Architecture and Design Committee at MoMA, member of the boards of Art in General and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Storefront for Art and Architecture and Franklin Furnace Archives.

An avid art collector since her teenage years, Frederieke had acquired a collection marked by conceptual, international, and often deeply-ironic works, not confined to schools or specific artists. In the 1990s, she turned to professional curatorial work, beginning by organizing numerous exhibitions for institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (Deconstructivist Architecture with Philip Johnson), the Sculpture Center and private galleries, as well as 55 Ferris Street exhibitions in Brooklyn.

In 1993, Frederieke opened her gallery, then called the TZ'ART Gallery, in Soho, which became the Frederieke Taylor Gallery when she moved it to Chelsea in 2000. The Gallery had a history of wide-ranging exhibits, covering contemporary conceptual painting and photography, design, architecture, and installation art. Artists represented by the gallery included Meredith Monk, Breaded Escalope, Long-Bin Chen, Mel Chin, Antenna Design, Jackie Ferrara, and Marcel Wanders. The gallery closed at her death in 2018.