We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Flynn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have always been an artist as long as I can remember. My aunt was a painter and would let me use her “good markers, only for artists”. I am not one of those artists who was discouraged from their creativity. I didn’t have the most stable upbringing but one thing that never faltered was the fostering of my creative self. I lived a life with a family that celebrated creativity & never tried to steer me away from having art and music as creative outlets. My creativity was always celebrated just as much as someone who made perfect grades. I never doubted that my role in this world was to bring beauty to it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hey! My name is Ashley Flynn. I am a NY native, and Savannah based Electroforming artist. I started making jewelry in 2014 when I was asked to pop up at a market a friend was throwing at their restaurant. At the time I had a local presence for my artwork on Surfboards and Skateboard’s, I wasn’t sure how I would translate those items into things people can pay cash and carry away: and it wasn’t a suitable environment to sell my fine art paintings. I decided to make some jewelry for the event, I practically sold out and honestly have never really looked back. I started my business with $200 worth of beads and supplies purchased from the craft store & started making at my kitchen table. Since those first few months I started to look a little more into the art of jewelry making and not just the crafting of combing prefabricated components. I really loved the organic style that electroforming allowed for and so I dove in. Moving from NY to Savannah I wanted to find a way to connect to my new city. I was able to meet one of the people in charge of a space here called Repurpose Savannah. They salvage usable lumbar & such from historic homes around town and I was able to being to acquire copper from them. I have since used it in all my electroformed work. I think what sets me apart is I try to create moments of nostalgia with my work. I use the historic copper to connect wearer to Savannah, but I combine that with crystals, seashells, shark teeth and beach pebbles I have picked up my travels. My favorite part of creating these pieces is when someone is drawn to a piece that holds a little bit of their home such as beach glass from Puerto Rico or Seashells from Long Island and pebbles from Chattanooga. Evoking those memories is the best part of what I do. I love creating & the goal of art is to make you feel something. I hope that everyone who wears my work has connected to it in a special way to evoke feelings of happiness and positivity.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Moving 850 miles was pretty hard. We left everything behind in NY. We blindly moved to Savannah with our 2 small children in 2018. It was a huge adjustment and culture shock. We had a plan that went sideways quickly. My husband was going to be the provider and I would be home with our then 2yr old & taking time to explore and build my business down here. A month after the move my husband quit his job & I needed to pivot and apply to any and all markets I could find. The art scene here isn’t always easy to access. SCAD being a major player in this city would make you think its super accessible but in 2018 it was not. I was a strange person in a strange place, and I needed to make moves quickly. I found local shops to carry my work my second week here. I made connections at markets with other makers and realized there was a need there for more markets. I hosted my first pop up 6 months after being here at Moon River Brewing. Fast forward to 2020 and the world stood still. I needed to pivot from in person to online. I was and still am so grateful for the way the community showed up virtually to support my little business. As 2021 became the present I was ecstatic. I was doing well with my social media and was ready to take on markets in a way I hadn’t prior. On July 11th, 2021, my little brother didn’t wake up. Luke was 27. My family was devastated. I had to fly to NY to help plan his funeral all while I still had a market here in Savannah. I was able to get help from one of my vendors and good friends to run it while I dealt with my worst nightmare. Coming out of that fog was difficult and creating in a place of sadness isn’t possible when you’re numb I spent a lot of studio days crying instead of creating. Three months after the passing of my little brother; my husband had a tonic colonic seizure that woke me up at 4am. He had never had one before & I knew it was going to be serious. 3 months after that he had 5 seizures: from what we knew at that point was a brain tumor. My then 40yr old husband and father to my 2 children had to have brain surgery. We traveled to Atlanta to Emory hospital and on January 31st, 2021, they removed what we later found out was an Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade 3. My husband went through a year of chemo plus 6.5 weeks of radiation and chemo combined. The surgery was successful, and he is no NED (No evidence of disease). Managing my business, my kids, homeschooling, his treatments, a band and a dog was extremely challenging. I am thankful for the people who showed up to support me in my lowest moments: and thankful for the ones who didn’t and are no longer in my life. The day he began treatment is the day I found out I needed to move my studio. I found a shop in a better location and went in on it with a friend and fellow creative. She worked with her partner Matt in life and business. On the year anniversary of my brother’s death, I was at the hospital with my studio mate Tara finding out that Matt had passed away due to an unknown heart condition. 2 months later I returned to NY on what was supposed to be a trip for pleasure, but my Uncle Brian passed away & I instead spent time helping to clean out his apartment. I have refused to stop working & living for them. I get another day to do what I love and for that I am lucky. I get to be here to create and share art with people. I get to share memories over pieces I have created and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I needed to unlearn that Jewelry is a craft, when it is in fact an art. I went to LIU Southampton College for Fine Art. Jewelry has always been, at least in the circles I have been in – referred to as a craft. A craft to a fine artist is a four-letter word. Craft is a way to almost mitigate any thought or creative talent that maker or artist may possess. I really was reluctant to push into jewelry making for fear that I would no longer be considered an artist by my peers. I fought it and told many people I would never be a jewelry artist. They say tell God your plan and he will laugh and laugh he did.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alchemyandthesea.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/alchemyandthesea
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/alchemyandthesea https://www.faire.com/brand/b_w9jugdbenq

Image Credits
Stephanie Forbes Mike Schalk Ashley Flynn