Frame of Mind 2026 Artist Bios

Here Now gave me a greater appreciation for how art connects people, shares stories, and encourages us to be creative no matter where we are in life.

Hoda Awil and Laura Bales, Rush Hour, 2025

Oil pastel, paint marker on paper

Here Now Fall II Session

Laura was first inspired by art in high school when she attended Annie Wright in Tacoma and took art history from Bev Brown. Since then, art has been a constant in her life, both personally and professionally. Art highlights include getting her Master's Degree in Arts Administration from the Art Institute of Chicago.

She has worked in Development for both the Seattle Art Museum and the Museum of Glass. Additionally, while living in Singapore, she served as Managing Editor of the membership magazine for Friends of the Museums and as lead docent for the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. She is known to say she is not an artist herself, but she has always supported the arts. Her art legacy includes inspiring her two boys to love art and requiring them to each take at least one art class in college. 

Laura Bales, Great Tree, 2025

Watercolor on paper

Paired with Hoda Awil

Here Now Fall II Session

I used to quickly skim over the paintings I saw in museums, but the beauty of this opportunity to really take time to see and hear from other people was fantastic.  I have not been a person that does visual art, and I’m so grateful for being able to do this, even as I was learning from all the people in the cohort. I learned so much from my friends.

The Frye has opened my eyes to the world of art, and I find myself looking for opportunities to do art when I definitely wouldn’t have before. For me, the best part of Here and Now was the silence to have time to understand the work and the comments from the other points of view. I wish that the program continues and that I get the chance to do it again!

Jim Bromley, Stormy Sea, 2025

Tissue paper on cardstock

Paired with Joan Hsiao

Here Now Fall II Session

Jim and I immensely enjoyed our time at Here and Now. The opportunity to shut out the outside world, sink into the pure pleasure of concentrated time pondering a few pieces of art, engaging in stimulating conversation and, best of all, having time in the beautiful art studio to create art sent our spirits soaring freely each session. We made friends who we continue to see, and both of us notice art, nature, and visual beauty of all kinds in new ways ever since.

Joan Hsiao, How I Want to Feel All the Time, 2025

Tissue paper on cardstock

Paired with Jim Bromley

Here Now Fall II Session

Margaret is honored to have been chosen for this important exhibit, and is proud to be showing with her son, Bradley. She's always had a creative eye for detail and is inspired by birds, flowers and nature in many of her art pieces, having both shown, and sold her work. Margaret is a gifted watercolorist, and is primarily self-taught. She holds a degree in Interior Design and is proud to have been a Dean's List scholar. Margaret has made and designed her own dresses and shoes. She's also dabbled in both modeling and acting, winning acclaim as Miss Tall Seattle runner-up. Margaret is forever grateful to God, for her creative abilities.

Margaret Chapman, O Happy Day, 2026

Printing ink on paper

Paired with Brad Reed

Here Now Spring I Session

Bradley is pleased to be included in this exhibit, and thanks his talented mother for his creative genes. He has shown his work at several galleries in the Seattle area and combined his love of the theatre and visual arts to create a career for nearly 20 years, as a director, designer, actor, choreographer, and teacher, working for venues such as: The 5th Avenue, Seattle Children's Theater, Village Theatre, Teatro ZinZanni, Seattle Opera, the Deaf Youth Drama program, and many more.

"Creating through visual expression is therapeutic and my essential coping mechanism, bringing peace and hope to my heart, in a world of uncertainty. I am blessed to be connected to several generations of creative spirits in human form! Namaste to all!”

Brad Reed, Lush Monstrosity, 2026

Printing ink on paper

Paired with Margaret Chapman

Here Now Spring I Session

(Born in Oakland, California, February, 1944)

I have always been an artist, though life has not always allowed me the time to practice my artistry. I began college as an art major, imagining a future as a medical illustrator. Over time, however, my path shifted from art to a career in scientific research. In 1981, I left science to devote myself to community service. I retired after 30 years in that field, grateful for the opportunity to serve others and contribute to my community.

I met Susan in college and quickly discovered that we shared the same values: a desire to build a family, a love of science, and an appreciation for the arts. We married after only one year of dating. Susan supported me in my work and was a devoted mother, wife, and community member. For many years, she cared for our family and for others around her. Now that she has developed cognitive impairment, it is my privilege to care for her. Today, we spend meaningful time together and enjoy participating in classes designed for people with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. We especially enjoy the art classes at the Frye Museum, where we both have the chance to let our artist selves shine while sharing a joyful experience together.

Ed Medeiros, Regal Balance, 2025

Tissue paper, marker on cardstock

Paired with Susan Medeiros

Here Now Fall I Session

(Born in San Francisco, California, March of 1946) 

I’m an only child. I’m part of a large extended family. I am my father’s daughter and my mother’s child. I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a student, a teacher, and a friend. I am many things to many people, but presently I am often confused about who I am. In 1968, I took on my wife persona. Ed and I married, had two boys, and then they had 9 children between them. After 58 years together, we have shared memories of a good life. But now my memories are fading, and new memories are difficult to retain. I feel I’ve lost control over my life and mourn the loss of the person I once was. But when I attend the Creative Aging Programs at the Frye Museum, I feel like my old self. I can contribute my opinions and create art knowing that anything I say or do is okay. I am relaxed, meet new people and enjoy the freedom of the moment. So, I guess I can say I am an artist too! The process of creating brings joy back into my life.

Susan Medeiros, Untitled, 2025

Foil, oil pastel, marker, watercolor on paper

Paired with Ed Medeiros

Here Now Fall I Session

I recently turned 84 and just expected to be old, physically stiff, and set in my ways.  Being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was unsettling, but my husband, who is my caregiver, and I are making the most of it.  We decided early on to have as many outings, beyond doctor appointments, as we could muster.  We have always been museum tourists whenever we traveled, and now even more so in NW Washington museums. Joining the Here and Now program brought a new dimension to the way we see art. We were asked to sit in front of one piece each week, encouraged to ask what I thought to be the most trivial questions, and listen to what others saw and imagined.  Then we created our own art. I have always dabbled, but trying different mediums with trained instructors is something I wish I could do each week.

John Medlin, Looking For What’s Not Lost, 2026

Paint marker on paper

Paired with Jeff Hedgepeth

Here Now Spring II Session

Over the last 50 years, my husband and I have lived in NYC, Key West, Portland (Oregon), and Seattle. In all these places we have had artist friends, collected art, and gotten to know the art museums well. For the last 23 years the Frye has been our neighborhood museum, and we are especially fond of it.

We had paid no attention to their programs in memory care until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about two years ago. With a little trepidation, we signed on to the Here Now program, for people diagnosed and their caregivers. From day one, we relished the camaraderie, the chance to really observe pieces of art and listen to what others thought of them, and then to create art using different mediums. I am glad I didn’t know I might be asked to show a piece I was working on since it would have made me self-conscious. I preferred just enjoying the experience with a great group of people. 

Jeff Hedgepeth, Cerinthe Crown Breaks Away, 2026

Paint marker, colored pencil on paper

Paired with John Medlin

Here Now Spring II Session

Lucretia was born and grew up in a small farming community in Albany, Oregon, where she was surrounded by family and community members who excelled in arts such as quilting and crochet. Her mother regularly won awards at the state fair for her flower arrangements. She graduated from Oregon State University with a Home Economics degree, which she utilized for teaching and creative homemaking.

Lucretia inherited an unerring eye for color, proportion and good design, which she applied to her hobbies of gardening, sewing and collecting pottery. She was also a lifelong learner of plants and garden design. More recently, she has found joy creating art with her dear friend and care partner Ellen Wanless.

Lucretia Postlewaite, Untitled, 2026

Foil, paper on cardstock

Paired with Ellen Wanless

Here Now Spring I Session

Ellen earned her BA in Art from Grinnell College. She used her artistic skills while working as a gardener, maintaining and developing beautiful gardens that became places of joy and respite for her clients. Now she works with older people, creating arts activities that inspire joy and fun. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to attend two Here Now sessions with her friend Lucretia. The group dynamic, being in the museum, and the wide variety of arts activities expanded her understanding of the value of arts activities in the midst of everyday life.

Ellen Wanless, Untitled, 2026

Tissue paper on cardstock

Paired with Lucretia Postlewaite

Here Now Spring I Session

"Elder care can be challenging, but the Frye’s Here Now program was a fun and meaningful way to spend time with my mother. We were able to share our common love of art – looking at art, talking about art, and making art – in a contemplative and explorative social environment. We revisited memories and materials while discovering new techniques and perspectives. Perhaps most importantly, as a care partner, I had a chance to refill my toolbox with reminders of how to reframe challenges and focus on creating new memories, without dwelling on loss.”

Kasumi is a second-generation Japanese American residing in Seattle. She studied art at New York University and works as an interpreter and global studies educator. She finds ways to weave art back into her life and serves as a docent in art museums in and around Seattle. Always happy to get her hands inky again, she is moved by the power of art to inspire, connect, and transform.

Kasumi Yamashita, Autumnal Me, 2025

Tissue paper on cardstock

Paired with Kazuyo Yamashita

Here Now Fall II Session

“I’ve always loved the bold prints of Munakata Shiko and remember making woodblock prints when I was a schoolgirl in Japan. (His prints were very inexpensive back then!) I like the colors used by artists like Vermeer and Odilon Redon, and in Tiffany glass, but I also find myself drawn to paintings by Pieter Bruegel. My late husband, Noboru Yamashita, was an abstract artist who painted large landscape oil paintings that hung in our home in New York. It had been a very long time since I sat down to make art myself, but I enjoyed doing so at the Frye Museum, with my daughter.”

Kazuyo’s hometown is in mountainous Gunma, Japan. She grew up loving the great outdoors and spent her youth as a Girl Scout. She left Japan to work at the Japanese Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. She ended up staying, continuing her work as an accountant in the city. She has always loved nature and gardening, which may be why she feels at home in the Pacific Northwest.

Kazuyo Yamashita, Untitled, 2025

Oil pastel, marker on paper

Paired with Kasumi Yamashita

Here Now Fall II Session