Melinda Hurst Frye is a Seattle-based exhibiting artist, working in themes of implied environments and shared experiences within the still life aesthetic. Her current work illustrates the mystery and activity of Northwest subterranean and residential Seattle ecosystems, including her front yard. Hurst Frye has been featured on Humble Arts Foundation, Lenscratch, WIRED Photo, and in various solo and group exhibitions. She was recently selected for a year-long commission with the Regional Trails System through 4Culture in King County, Washington to create imagery based on the trails in Seattle and the surrounding areas.
Melinda Hurst Frye holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is a dedicated member of the Society for Photographic Education. Hurst Frye teaches photography at the Art Institute of Seattle, holds occasional workshops, and is an artist member of Core gallery in Seattle, Washington. Melinda may be found digging holes, collecting and raising insects, while learning and making work about the biology of the northwest region.
Underneath
When my son was four, he and I followed a beetle through the strawberry plants of our front yard, watching it navigate over the pebbles, leaves, and soil until it disappeared into the earth. My child shrugged and went back to digging in his dirt box. I, however, sat and stared at the little hole that the beetle dropped into wondering where that tiny tunnel went and what was happening just under my feet and around me.
‘Underneath’ aims to be a reminder of nature’s presence and cycles in our immediate spaces; the garden, the park, the bus stop and the forest. Our backyards and green spaces are homes, nurseries, highways, and graveyards for the other occupants of our region. The sometimes constructed scenes and sometimes straight images present the elements of typical inhabitants of the Seattle/Northwest landscape. The work operates at times as depictions of cycles and inhabitants, and other times, as impressions of an experience, metaphor, or lore. In this era of environmental flux, acceptance of climate change, rising temperatures and loss of species, our cycles and habitats within reach (including our own) are threatened. Analogous to scenes from natural history museums, flora and fauna take center stage to illustrate that we are always tied to migration, evolution and metamorphosis.
To view more of Melinda Hurst Frye’s work please visit her website.