A Minnesota native, Ashley Mary is a multi-disciplinary artist, muralist, and designer who splits her time between Des Moines, Iowa and Minneapolis. Ashley’s work is defined by a signature whimsical shape and pattern 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, playful patterns, organic form, and the "perfectly imperfect."

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, delightful experiences.

Her studio in Minneapolis is at the Northrup King Building and in Des Moines, you can find her at Mainframe Studios. Sign up for her very rare newsletters to get more updates on her studio and commercial work happenings.

I make art to take care of myself. I love to work intuitively and without too much analyzing. I’m trying to give space to my inner child to run around in circles. There’s no end goal, it’s the spinning that’s the delight.

I create more abstractly as an act of discovery and play, pieces revealing themselves over time—a commitment to staying in relationship with the fragment and trusting that pieces will eventually find their whole.

In the studio, I prioritize play over rigidity, experimenting with different mediums and keeping things in motion, I dance in this space.  I’m more grounded when I’m making things with my hands. Heavily influenced by the raw, instinctive quality of naive art, my work is deliberately pared back yet deeply layered. My visual language is colorful and stuffed with familiar and organic form. I delight in the spontaneous, the unrefined, and the wildness. I value hand-made, wabi sabi, human-touch in a digital world where everything else seems static and void.

I believe art, whether made or consumed, is an act towards wellness and creates a sense of belonging. I think about color, pattern, and form as vessels for memory and a way to connect to self and others. Creating things tends to my spirit and in turn, I hope my artwork gives breath to others tending theirs. Maybe a nudge to also play. And maybe there’s some healing in that. My intention is lightness, connectedness, whimsy, and the breath of humanness.

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