Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Gierke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
One of the most meaningful project I’ve worked on is the collection of 300+ drawings I made over a span of 3 years (2015 – 2018). It wasn’t something I planned to do nor had as a goal, but rather it came about organically as I was healing from my experience with breast cancer. The five surgeries I had as part of my treatment temporarily limited me from making the highly repetitive paper artwork I had been creating previously. With a desire to use my hands again, and a need to process the emotional breadth of the experience, I started drawing. Most of the pieces are figurative and relate to my feelings about coming to terms with my changed body and new perspective.
The collection is meaningful to me because the practice was hugely therapeutic and healing. It also became a connection point with others when I was selling prints and exhibiting them at shows. Now, 5+ years later, I’m actually revisiting the drawings and have started transforming some of them into larger scale paper-cut pieces. It’s been a lot of fun infusing my current ideas and aesthetic into something that was such a profound part of my healing journey and growth as a person.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Ashley Gierke, and I’m a visual artist working predominantly with paper in Clearwater, Florida. Art has been a long thread woven throughout my personal and professional life. I like to say that art is my first love and first language. Whether working in a creative role for someone else, or making art independently, I strive to make things that are beautiful and well-made.
Through highly precise and repetitive actions such as cutting the shape of a circle hundreds of times, my process feeds my personal desire for control in the often unpredictable experience of living. I aim to create wonder and beauty by manipulating and composing materials in unique and unexpected ways.
Lately, I’ve been really excited about working with holographic paper and producing foiled papers. Many of my pieces change in coloring as the light and/or the viewer’s vantage point changes; giving the artwork a living quality.
People have told me that they haven’t seen art like mine before and I take that to be a huge compliment. I feel pride in how hard I’ve worked over the years at developing my craftsmanship and the cohesiveness of my full body of work thus far.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I’m a fan! Their potential to provide ongoing royalties to artists is exciting and long overdue. I haven’t made any yet, but I hope to at some point. My partner, Cedric Guerin, is actually the Creative Director for an NFT company. Shout out to Kanpai Pandas!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I want the things I put into the world to be meaningful for both myself and others. I make art out of a hunger for the pleasure that a creative practice can bring, as well as a desire to share beauty, emotion, and inspiration with my audience.
I’m an avid collector of vintage Letterman paintings, they’re large-scale and a neat mix of geometric and natural imagery. I’m always on the lookout for them online and at estate sales… the hunt is so thrilling! I often fantasize about my artwork inspiring this kind of experience in someone else and how wonderful it would be if this happened within and well beyond my lifetime. That’s a legacy I’d be very pleased with.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashleygierke.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashley_gierke
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/akgierke
- TikTok: @ashleygierke