We recently connected with Ashley Barnett and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I’ve always been creative and had an entrepreneurial spirit. Even when I was little, while other kids were playing house I was pretending to run a business. I started off slow, listing things on eBay when I was about 18 while working normal 9-5 jobs into my 20s. Then as things like Etsy, Facebook and Instagram developed I started to see how I could turn my passions into real businesses. I combined my love of antique and vintage with my desire to create art and found that they complimented each other well. I started to grow my Miss Holly Hock brand and following, focusing on curated vintage and assemblage art and it become a full time business.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Ashley and I live in Michigan with my two pups, Fox & Chloe. I am a performance artist, mixed media artist and I have a shop called Miss Holly Hock Vintage.
I was always raised around antiques and vintage, I have collectors on both sides of the family. I remember going into antique stores as a child and being absolutely mesmerized. It was like time traveling to a cave of treasures. From a young age I felt drawn to old things, their stories and their beauty. As I got older I started to have a passion for saving these treasures and discovered I had quite a talent for finding them. I started incorporating damaged, discarded antique pieces and found objects into my art and discovered an entirely new way to create. My main inspiration comes from things from the Victorian to Deco eras but I often pull ideas from objects spanning centuries. I love things that are a bit on the odd, dark or macabre side all the way to the glitz and glam of Old Hollywood. My art also pulls a lot of inspiration from nature, particularly the forest.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Being born with and surviving cancer meant I was raised being acutely aware of the fragility of life. It made me really think about how I wanted to spend my life and made it incredibly difficult for me to work office jobs that felt purposeless. I always knew I wanted to do something creative for a living, something I could get excited about. Not only is creating art and curating the pieces exciting and something I am
really passionate about but the impact of the buyers is an added layer of that excitement. Even after selling my art and treasures for over a decade it still makes me get emotional when someone buys a piece of art that moves them or leaves a review about an antique piece that has brought them so much happiness. This is not only my job but something that feels incredibly fulfilling.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The pandemic affected my businesses much like many other small businesses. It was incredibly difficult and scary facing a lot of unknowns with very little support from state organizations. Within a very short period of time I had to figure out how to pivot from a brick and mortar business, in person events and shopping as well as earning part of my living as a performance artist to doing everything from a laptop in my livingroom. It was an unbelievably stressful time not knowing if everything I worked for years to create would come crumbling down in a moment. I definitely took a little bit of time to grieve the changes but then started putting that drive back into art. I created some of my best work while in lock down. And though it was very challenging and the after effects are still being felt I faced the fears and shifted focus and operations to fit changing times.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Etsy.com/shop/misshollyhockvintage
- Instagram: @miss_holly_hock
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misshollyhockvintage
Image Credits
Photos were all taken by me