Carolyn Frazier, a New Jersey based artist, received her B.A from Rowan University in graphic design and her M.A. in painting from Kean University.  Carolyn has been a licensed art educator for 19 years in the Jersey City Arts H.S. program, a nationally recognized art conservatory program. Carolyn is also co-founder of Sol Studio, a high school pre-college summer art residency program for underserved students. She has received professional recognition for outstanding teaching from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and from the National Foundation for the Advancements of the Arts. In 2017, Carolyn and her National Art Honor Society students worked, in collaboration with the Books and Beyond USA literacy project, to create and publish a preschool ABC book, Under One Moon, Volume 2, distributed to hundreds of Rwandan school children. Currently, Carolyn is an Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation Resident creating a new series of acrylics focused around her struggle with Endometriosis.

In 2006, Carolyn received life saving surgery for Stage 4 Endometriosis, an often misdiagnosed and misunderstood disease that affects 1 in every 10 females yearly in the U.S and nearly 176 million females worldwide.  In her recent series titled “Facing My Life. Period” Carolyn confronts the physical and psychological factors associated with her chronic pain. These abstract acrylics reflect on a myriad of emotions associated with living with Endo - from fear and anger; insecurity and anxiety; and finally, determination and acceptance. Pulling inspiration from personal experiences as well as from those of her Endo sisters and using a build up of textures, colors and lines, Carolyn visually represents the intrusive beautiful roots that endometriosis has permanently left on her body’s landscape.  In this series of work she is on a journey to discover her artistic voice.

“ Providing my students with meaningful experiences helps them see how their efforts and talents can be shared to promote and inspire good in the world. For many of them, life is particularly challenging. Helping them find ways to overcome these challenges pushes them to continuously move forward, to find ways to make life’s lemonade out of life’s lemons. Guiding them in positive directions with positive goals to focus on and strive towards, they are given a means to cope and overcome. It is important to pause, look more closely and carefully at the world and be mindful.”- Carolyn Frazier