Frye Art Museum Wallflowers & Priscilla Dobler Dzul

I enjoy art museums, but I admit, I am not any kind of expert. I enjoy visiting the Frye to find new-to-me artists.  Located in First Hill, the Frye focuses on contemporary and modern art, with a focus on living artists. There is a salon-style room in the back, where the (older) works of the Frye family are exhibited. Up front, there are usually one or two temporary exhibits. I’ve been to the Frye many times over the years and have seen all kinds of art there.

I was pleasantly surprised by two temporary exhibits there now. Wallflowers presents 19th and 20th century floral still-lifes from the Frye collection alongside newly commissioned wallpapers and contemporary works reinventing still-life.  I thought this was an interesting way to display and leverage art from the permanent collection while meeting the museum’s mission of amplifying contemporary artists. And I love a floral still life! Any actual plants in my care die a quick death. If I want flowers in my house, pictures are the way to go.

Many of the paintings on display were in my colors:  Pinks, purples, oranges. Styles varied, highlighting the different ways to execute a still-life: from dreamy and romantic to cleaner lines and Art Deco, Impressionism to Modernism. The commissioned wall-papers show how current artists can reinvent create something new in an artform that has been around forever.

Priscilla Dobler Dzul: Water Carries the Stories of our Stars was completely different. Priscilla Dobler Dzul from Mérida, Mexico calls both Mexico and Tacoma home, and works in textiles, clay and glass! Her varied works uses materials from her home to bring attention to ecological challenges, particularly with water. The large textiles were the centerpieces, and were reminiscent of large murals, with different scenes that both recreate Mayan creation stories but also tell modern stories of present day challenges with dispossession.

The Frye isn’t a huge museum and you can get through fairly quickly. Best of all, it’s free! You can see Wallflowers through May 17 and Water Carries the Stories of our Stars through April 19.