The Frye Art Museum announced today a new video documentary available on YouTube that explores the four-month collaborative process that resulted in the Frye’s current youth-curated exhibition and soundscape i wish i knew who i was before i was me.

Initiated by the Frye Art Museum in collaboration with ArtsCorps, i wish i knew who i was before i was me utilized a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach incorporating poetry, music and the visual arts. The Frye’s video documentary records the creative progress of the Arts Corps students—from their first visit to the Frye to view the museum’s collection, through the intense working sessions and to the resulting exhibition. It illustrates how the students worked with Frye staff and Arts Corps teaching artists Roberto Ascalon and Amos Miller to conceive the project, select artworks from the Frye Collection, develop the exhibition theme and gallery space layout, and create the exceptional poetry and music that became the exhibition soundscape.

In October 2009 the Frye Art Museum met with Arts Corps to invite a group of students to curate an exhibition drawing on the Frye’s collections. The students—Meagan James, Andrew Melnyk, Rob Melnyk, Lynda Morales, Vivi Perez, Paris Randall, Khatsini Simani, and Max Stockstill—began by working behind-the-scenes at the Frye Art Museum and at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center with Arts Corps teaching artist Roberto Ascalon (poet) and Arts Corps’ MusicianCorps teaching artist Amos Miller (musician/producer).

Over the next several months the students viewed and discussed hundreds of artworks from the Frye’s Permanent Collection, working closely with members of the staff of the Frye including Director Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, Senior Deputy Director Jill Rullkoetter, Art Educator Laura O’Quin, Manager of Student and Teacher Programs Deborah Sepulveda, Collections Manager Donna Kovalenko, and Exhibition Designer Shane Montgomery. The number of possible artworks to be included in the exhibition was narrowed to the final five paintings in the exhibition and the theme and title of the exhibition were determined.

The Arts Corps students then created powerful personal responses to the artworks in music and lyrics, spoken and written word.  For many of the students the project marked the first time they had written lyrics and music or performed. The end result was i wish i knew who i was before i was me, an exhibition and soundscape offering unique insights into the Frye collection as interpreted by Seattle youth.

A highlight of the process was the live performance of the soundscape at the opening of the Frye exhibition on Friday, January 22, 2010. As a result of the project and opening performance, and with financial support from the Frye Foundation, the students were invited to and attended an historic concert and education event at the White House on February 10th entitled “A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement.”

The video documentation explores the creative process of i wish i knew who i was before i was me in five chapters: The Project and the Process; Behind the Scenes at the Frye Art Museum; Creating the Narrative; Planning the Exhibition; and Reflecting on the Project.  The video can be viewed through a live link on the Frye Art Museum website and by going directly to the Frye’s YouTube page at youtube.com/FryeArtMuseum.

The i wish i knew who i was before i was me soundscape is available on cd in the Frye Art Museum Store for $11.95.

i wish i knew who i was before i was me is one of the Frye Art Museum’s three initiatives titled The Seattle Project which also includes the exhibition Public Belongings (with Path with Art) and the collaborative project The Center School Connection. These initiatives are presented through May 31 in conjunction with the exhibition Tim Rollins and K.O.S.: A History.

The exhibition i wish i knew who i was before i was me was funded by the Frye Foundation and the Grousemont Foundation with support from Arts Corps and a City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund.  The video documentary was filmed by Jonathan Houser and Tony Tibbetts with editing by Holly Houser.

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