Announcing Melinda Hurst Frye’ exhibition, The Workers (of the Forest Floor)

(Seattle, WA) –April 4, 2022 – J. Rinehart Gallery announces The Workers (of the Forest Floor) the much-anticipated solo exhibition of new work by Seattle-based Photographer, Melinda Hurst Frye. Based on the unique ecology of the forest understory of the Pacific Northwest, The Workers references the found characters, fungal and other, and their partnerships within the forest floor.

The Workers (of the Forest Floor) will be on view online and in the gallery May 14 – June 18, 2022. An opening reception will be held in the gallery Saturday May 14, 2022, from 3-6pm. The Gallery will be hosting an artist Meet & Greet – tentative date to come.

Melinda Hurst Frye aims to slow the process of looking into an experience of discovery by way of observation, experimentation, and slow investigation of the forest floor and low-lying urban nature. The photographic imagery references the activity of forested ecosystems that are layered with a sense of place.

Her photographic practice centers on themes of ecology and place, through images made with both high-resolution flatbed scanner and camera to ignite wonder and stewardship in the viewer with the ecology of the Pacific Northwest region.

In conjunction with the exhibition, an exhibition catalog will be published with an essay written by arts writer and editor, Lauren Gallow.

Of her work, Hurst Frye says:

“Slime mold migrates, changes shape, and decomposes its host. The fungal hyphae in the forest floor exchanges nutrients and signals between the trees, while other fungi recycle the fallen wood and return the deadfall to earth. The minerals inside of us today once passed through lichen as a result of its primeval labor, and gradually breaks down rock. The Workers is about the slow churning that takes the forest apart, so it may become again.”

Melinda Hurst Frye holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, a BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art, and has been featured on Humble Arts Foundation, Lenscratch, WIRED Photo. Melinda may be found digging holes, collecting, and raising insects, while learning and making work about the biology of the northwest region and beyond.