Melinda Hurst Frye

Melinda Hurst Frye often using a flatbed scanner as her camera, photographs the ecology of the forest floor, witnessing the cyclical life found within the lush biome of the Pacific Northwest. Hurst Frye welcomes the slowness of the scanning process for observation, evidence of the passage of time, and connection to the protagonists and assemblages of the understory. Analogous to scenes from a natural history museum, flora takes center stage to illustrate that we are always tied to migration, evolution, and metamorphosis. 

Melinda’s practice was the subject of a recent documentary on Cascade PBS (Art X NW), and her images have been featured in both art and science publications, including WIRED and Orion Magazine, varied exhibitions, including at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the Museum of Northwest Art. Her work is held in the collections of the University of Oregon, the Summit/Seattle Convention Center, King County, and the Port of Seattle. She is a cofounder of Mothership Photography Collective, faculty at Photographic Center Northwest and Highline College, and holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Hurst Frye lives adjacent to an urban forest with her family in Kenmore, and is represented by J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle, Washington.