Julie Frye’s voice is velvety with a touch of smokiness around the edges, just right for reading poetry. Her colorful paintings are bright, bold and yet gentle, an expression of herself.
Frye’s art is more than a creative outlet. It declares how she feels and says what she hears.
Frye, 23, bright and hip, lives with undifferentiated schizophrenia, a mental illness that causes her to suffer from delusions and hear voices in her head. Her artwork is a vehicle that allows Frye to step bravely back from a world where sideways looks and misunderstandings are commonplace.
"It calms me down and helps me grow as a person," Frye said.
Frye’s is a world where friends are few, but celebrity voices visit from time to time. She says she feels as if voices are controlling her head. If she takes a shower they might yell at her. Voices from the TV tell her what to do.
A frequent voice is actress Courtney Love, lead singer of the band Hole and widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
"I really like her strong independence," Frye said.
When Frye began her artwork in 1998 after being diagnosed with schizophrenia she posted pictures of Love on her walls and computer. She made sketches of the star and drew her in pencil and ink. Gradually Frye began painting with watercolors.
In 2002 Frye took an art class at Compass Health in Everett, a nonprofit organization that provides a range of behavioral health programs for people of all ages throughout Snohomish County. The class was funded by a federal arts student grant and was taught by Yu-Ming Zhu, artist and director of Compass Health Multicultural Services.
It was Frye’s first time working with oils.
"Julie’s paintings are from the inside," Zhu said.
He was impressed with her expressiveness, her adeptness at handling color, and her natural talent. Zhu saw how painting made Frye grow as a person.
"Outside traditional treatment this helps with potential and with self-esteem," Zhu said.
The art classes gave Frye the spark she needed to rejoin life. She began expressing herself through her paintings, drawings and poetry.
For the second year, some of her paintings are in Compass Health’s fifth annual "Diversity of Talents" art show being held through May 23. Almost all of the artwork, including photographs, paintings, sculpture and a quilt, is for sale and will benefit clients in Compass Health programs.
Painting and poetry have become the friends that stay with Frye. Like many others suffering from mental illness Frye is all too familiar with the social stigma, of having close friends push away and disappear.
Before her diagnosis in the late ’90s, Frye lived a mundane life, she said. She went to concerts but didn’t do much else. But painting has brought a light back into her life.
"I feel a lot better now," Frye said.
Frye lives in transitional housing, where she can stay from six months to two years, learning independent living skills. She has become more alert and sociable and is managing her illness.
"It was rough at first," Frye said.
Before taking up the paintbrush and pen Frye would attend Mariners games and only be able to focus on the atmosphere in the stadium. Now she goes to Safeco Field and finds it easier to focus on the game. She has lost 30 pounds and hopes to secure a local volunteer position teaching and showing art. She would like to work on a series of cards or stationery that she can sell.
Frye has matched a poem with one of her paintings included in the show at Compass Health. Her poetry is about her experiences, she said. She can listen to Incubus, one of her favorite bands, and then write back to lead singer Brandon Boyd’s voice in her head. She writes poetry instead of beating herself up.
"I can crank out a poem really fast," Frye said. "It’s helped me a lot."
Art classes like the ones held at Compass Health can help those with mental health issues get their emotions out, said Terry Clark, director of development and quality improvement services at Compass Health.
At times young people may be expressing their feelings on paper or canvas. It might be about what happened to them before they could talk. Their work as artists helps bring out what’s inside.
Clark calls Frye funny, enthusiastic, bright. "Julie is many things …. one of them happens to be that she has a mental illness."
Reporter Christina Harper: 425-339-3491 or harper@heraldnet.com.
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