Learn more about Fredia “The Cheetah” Gibbs and Washington Kneeling in Prayer
Jennifer Frudakis-Petry has been an active participant in the world of sculpture since the 1970s. Since the age of 12 she was inspired by her father and great American sculptor, EvAngelos Frudakis, who included her in his adult sculpture classes in her hometown of Ventnor N.J.
Jennifer received a four year certificate of completion from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and studied with her father EvAngelos at the Frudakis Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia from 1980-84, the focus of her training was portrait and figurative sculpture and human anatomy. She also attended the University of the Arts from 1984-85, and attended Montgomery County Community College, Women-Owned Business Course, Certificate Program, Certified, 2006.
She has received numerous awards throughout the Mid-Atlantic region:
• Allied Artists Juried National Exhibition, Gold Medal of Honor, NYC, 1984
• Helen Foster Barnett Youth Award, Best in Show, National Academy of Design, NYC, 1986
• Women Artists of Atlantic County, First Prize Sculpture, Atlantic Community College, 1993
• Great Norristown Arts League, Juried Sculpture Show, Best in Show, Norristown PA, 2006
• Cheltenham Township Main Street Award, for contributing time and talent to develop public art in town, Glenside PA, 2007
• 41st Annual Bucks County Sculpture Show. 1st Place; Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce, 2018
In 2018 she completed the 7-foot-tall bronze monument of Radnor’s own Emlen Tunnell for the Radnor Pa. Township Building, Emlen Tunnell was the first African American to be inducted into the NFL football Hall of Fame and a WW2 hero, saving two lives in combat. Her other noted personal works include a life size bas-relief of Anthony Bourdain for the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park N.Y class of ‘78. The bronze relief was unveiled at the CIA in October 2019 and a 6 foot by 8-foot bas-relief of the History of Negro League Baseball at the entrance of the athletic department at the Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ; 2014. She competed and won a state-wide competition for the commission of a life size bronze bust of NJ state commissioner the honorable Horace J. Bryant for the Carnegie Library in Atlantic City, NJ. 2005. In 2010 she was asked to sculpt a life size bronze portrait bust of
Reverend Sean M. Sullivan, founder of Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Permanent Collection.
Jennifer was commissioned by the Philadelphia Flyers pro-hockey team to sculpt eight Hall of Fame inductees for the Wells Fargo Centers Hall of Fame from 2004-2022.
She sculpted half life-size portraits and 8-inch uniformed figures in bronze of: Dave Poulin, Ron Hextal, Dave Schultz, Eric Lindros, Eric DesJardin, Dave LeClaire, Rick Tocchet and Paul Holmgren for the Wells Fargo Center Hall of Fame and each Flyer honored got their own personal copy.
Jennifer recently completed in September 2022 the first named female athlete statue in Pennsylvania, 6-foot bronze monument of the World Champion Woman Kickboxer from Chester PA. Fredia ”The Cheetah” Gibbs for Cabrini University. In October 2022 Billy “White Shoes” Johnson 7-foot monument of the NFL wide receiver who played for the Houston Oilers and the Atlanta Falcons was unveiled in Marcus Hook Pa. May of 2023 a 10-foot monument of George Washington kneeling in prayer will be permanently installed at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown, Pa.
Jennifer resides in Doylestown PA. with her husband Paul Petry. She has taught adult sculpture classes at the Wayne Art Center for the past 18 years. Born in Atlantic City N.J. in 1961.
