As a child growing up in Toronto, Frise didn’t go to kindergarten. Instead, she was a dog for a year. She taught herself how to jump up on the bed, drink water from a saucer and go down the stairs on four paws, which she says is hard to do. Her mother gave her dog biscuits for treats. Her aunt was worried she couldn’t talk and her mother said not to worry, she has various barks. Later on, walking home from school she saw bored dogs in backyards and so took them home and taught them tricks.
Frise explores the sensuality of nature through sculpture, drawing, painting, performance, and video. Her work depicts the blurred borders between bodies, our immersion in the animal menagerie, and the physical transformations that are only made possible through art. Lusts, fears, and all the colours come from the body to the surface through material surprises when combining ink, acrylic, liquids, watercolour and found objects. Her work creates a free space; a connection between personal and universal, secret and joke, surreal and real.
Like her grandfather the cartoonist, Jimmy Frise, Frise describes herself as a self-taught artist.
Selected Exhibitions, Collections and Awards
Frise has an upcoming solo show at PMC Wychwood Barns Gallery in Toronto, opening May 23rd. Her work was shown at Art Toronto, October 26 – 29 , 2023, Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Most recently in the Spring of 2023, Frise has had two solo shows at PMG Artscape Wychwood Barns Gallery and Drey Gallery. Other exhibitions include Show Gallery. Parentheses Gallery, Fran Hill Gallery, Toronto Outdoor Art Show, Paul Petro Multiples, TAFFI, Toronto Alternative Art Fair, and Lonsdale Gallery. She has done an artist residency at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC), Dawson City, Yukon. She has received Ontario and Toronto Arts Council Grants and has won awards for drawing and watercolor in the TOAS. Frise’s work is in collections including the Osler, Hoskin, Harcourt, and George Hartman Collection.