I'm a master dabbler and curiosity keeps me ticking.
My through line and my heartbeat is color.
I strive for spontaneity, the unexpected, and texture from both my life and my work.
I believe color is a universal love language. From our very first memories to our day dreams, palettes inform our lives and transform our moods, energies, and spaces. Color is my favorite tool in the box.
I’m interested in our emotional story. I work to explore compositions that inspire inner movement and outer delight, often organizing my own emotions into shape puzzles. My process starts often with organic shapes, cut from paper or scribbled in pencil - distilling complex feelings and ideas down to their simplest forms. In this, I strive to balance imperfection. To perfect a pathway to surprise.
I’m inspired by childhood and childlike expression- spontaneous, textured, playful. I feel most connected to my process when surprises happen: the best parts being unplanned, an outcome of holding loosely and controlling less. In turn, my art becomes a visual mantra for the kind of life I hope to practice.
Creating is my act of defiance towards a tangled brain. My rememberance of play. Most of us live in spinning heads of overanalysis. I'm no different. My practice allows me space to work from intuition and feel. It allows me to unstuck myself from my own head and engage with instinct. The best playtime I have found.
It is my sincere hope, through color and form, that I can offer a space for others to lead with feeling, curiosity, play, and lightness.
The Studio
Ashley Mary is a multi-disciplinary artist, muralist, and designer whose work is defined by a signature, highly recognizable shape language. Whether she is composing an intimate collage or a large-scale environmental mural, her work maintains a consistent visual through-line that celebrates color, organic form, and the "beautiful accident."
This distinct aesthetic has allowed Ashley to move fluidly between her studio and the commercial world. Her distinct visual language has translated into self-branded collections for major national retailers, as well as collaborative projects across brands nationwide. By translating tactile studio "scraps" into sophisticated brand stories, Ashley transforms public and private spaces into immersive, joyful experiences.
Holding an MA in Design from MCAD, Ashley balances a "perfectly imperfect" intuition with technical precision. Currently based between Minneapolis and Des Moines, she remains a "master dabbler" dedicated to the exploration of art as a tool for connection.
Recognition
Clients
Starbucks
Apple
Láncome
Figma
Warby Parker
Minuty Vineyard
Domestika
Sweet Green
NBCSports
Evereve
Warby Parker
Paramount
West Elm
Anthropologie