ABOUT
Becky Frehse is a mixed-media painter and assemblage artist. Her recent work explores musical themes and memory in site-specific installations, mixed-media paintings, and found-object handmade books. Her deep engagement with materials in eclectic bodies of work reveals a juicy exploration of color through her interactions with musical sound, the natural world, and experiences as a traveler. Becky's work is filled with painterly beauty and playfulness that she hopes will resonate with her audience.
Becky holds an M.F.A. in painting from Central Washington University and a B.F.A. in painting and drawing from Arizona State University. She lives and works in Tacoma, Washington.
Coming Up in 2022
June 17 - July 31; group show at Childhood's End Gallery, Olympia, Washington
Recent Happenings
2022 Gallery 110 Annual Juried Show, Seattle, Washington
2022 Soaring and Col Legno, site-specific installations for Spaceworks Tacoma and Tacoma Light Trail
2021 Tone Poems, a solo show at Helen S. Smith Gallery at Green River College, Auburn, Washington
2020 Fiddle Woods and The 9th Street Reconciliation Orchestra, site-specific installations at the Pantages Theater Windows, Tacoma, Washington
2019-20 Fiddle Woods, Art On Main-- Public Art Installation, Auburn, Washington
Bio
I was born and raised in Illinois and spent my summers roaming freely at my father’s Boy Scout camp in the north woods of Wisconsin.
After graduating with a B.F.A. from Arizona State University in 1980, I went to New York and worked as a picture framer at A.I. Friedman while also painting in my tiny studio on the lower east side. In 1981, I continued my art education by working as a studio assistant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where I also learned to repair and restore wall murals in the colonial houses there.
In 1982 I headed to the Pacific Northwest to earn an M.F.A. in painting at Central Washington University where my principal professors were Cynthia Krieble and William Dunning. After graduating, I traveled throughout central and eastern Washington teaching and exhibiting my work as an Artist in Residence with the Washington State Arts Commission.
After returning to the US from my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia, I taught drawing and painting at Pacific Lutheran University where I also directed their University Gallery and the first Women’s Center on campus. My first show in Tacoma was called My Tunisia at the University Gallery at PLU. Since then, I've had a very fulfilling career juggling my studio practice with teaching, parenting, and a lot of international travels. In 2019, I retired from teaching in the Art Department at the University of Puget Sound and now work in my studio full time.
Currently, my studio practice involves a deep engagement with materials as I create site specific installations with repurposed musical instruments, mixed media paintings that explore memories of places where the natural world gets entangled with humans, and personal narratives as handmade "books" created with found objects. I serve on the Board of Puget Sound Book Artists where I assist in promoting and educating about artists' books in the Pacific Northwest.
My work is in public and private collections and I have exhibited in a variety of group and solo exhibitions. I remain inspired by the process of discovery through creative inquiry and consistent in my commitment to my studio practice.
CV
Becky Frehse
M.F.A. Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington. 1984
B.F.A. Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. 1980 Magna cum Laude, Painting and Drawing
One Person Shows and Installations
2022 Soaring and Col Legno, site-specific installations for Spaceworks Tacoma and Tacoma Light Trail
2021 Tone Poems, Helen S. Smith Gallery at Green River College, Auburn, Washington
2020 Fiddle Woods and The 9th Street Reconciliation Orchestra, Pantages Theater Windows, Tacoma, WA
2019-20 Fiddle Woods, Art On Main-- Public Art Installation, Auburn, Washington
2018 Ensemble I and II, Window Installations for Shunpike at Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, Washington
2014 Music Box, a SpaceWorks installation in public display windows, Tacoma, Washington
2012 Making Music, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington
2010 Learning to Read Music, Gallery 110, Seattle, Washington
Two-person and Group Shows
2021 Puget Sound Book Artists Annual Members Exhibit, Collins Library, University of Puget Sound
2019 Foremothers, two-person collaboration with Jane Kelsey-Mapel, Practical Art Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017 Pursuit of Happiness, Two-person Collaboration with Jane Kelsey-Mapel, Practical Art Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015 Mélange, Two-person show with Jane Kelsey-Mapel, Practical Art Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2014 2014 Foundation of Art Award Exhibit, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Tacoma, Washington
2013 Global Perspectives, Tacoma Community College Gallery, Tacoma, Washington
2013 ReConfigured, collaboration with Jane Kelsey-Mapel, Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
2012 ReConfigured; collaboration with Jane Kelsey-Mapel at Gallery 110, Seattle, Washington
2011 Women with Passports, Gallery 110, Seattle, Washington
2010 Mighty Tacoma, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
2010 Crossroads and Connections, Central Washington University Alumni Exhibit, at Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA
2009 Feminist Art Exhibit, Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Washington. (Juried)
2006 Larson Gallery 34th Annual Juried Photo Exhibition, Yakima Valley College, Yakima, WA
*Award-Honorable Mention Juried by Alan Berner, Seattle, Washington
2004 Northwest Biennial: BuildingWise, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Juried by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov.
2003 O Human Child, installation with Louise Williams for Window Dressing in F.W. Woolworth Windows,
Tacoma, WA. Sponsored by the Tacoma Arts Commission.
2003 Collected Stories, collaboration with Louise Williams, The Sandpiper Gallery,Tacoma, Washington
2001 Larson Gallery 29th Annual Photo Exhibition, Yakima Valley Community College,Yakima, Washington
Juried by Herb Blissard and Drex Brooks.
*Award of Excellence.
1998 Five Landscape Artists, The University Gallery, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington
1996-97 Beijing and Beyond, National Touring Exhibit with Women’s Caucus for Art-United States
1995 Tell Me a Story, Women’s Caucus for Art Exhibit at the 4thUnited Nations NGO Forum on Women,
Huairou, People’s Republic of China
1993 Going Far and Returning; a 2-person exhibit with Elizabeth C. Otto at The Larson Gallery, Yakima Valley College,
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
- Adjunct Prof. of Art- University of Puget Sound
- Artist in Residence and Lecturer-Pacific Lutheran University
- Art Educator and Teaching Artist-Mentor-Arts Impact in Education
- Art Educator-Charles Wright Academy
- Artist in Residence and Arts Educator- Washington State Arts Commission
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, Central Washington University
Awards and Honors
- Nominee for Annual Art Award by the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Tacoma, Washington, 2014
- Grant Recipient, Tacoma Artists Initiative Project (TAIP Award), 2009/2010
- The Annual KAthe Kollwitz Award – Th Northwest Women’s Caucus for Art, 2004
- Artist Trust GAP Grant, 1995
