Centering Art Around Positivity

By Ashley Clements

Witch, 2019, Paper and Sharpie

I create my work using digital media, paper, photography, and I dapple in pottery; my favorite, though, is digital and paper. I am inspired by the works of Rebecca Sugar, Trenton Dole Handcock, and Hayao Miyazaki. I have always been literally drawn to the “female” form; I applaud those who can draw masculine features.

Deep Dive, 2019, Photoshop

My art has changed over the years; I originally thought that I must make realistic or politically charged art, to be taken seriously. I thought that if I made art with an “agenda” that I would be more “professional,”; but why should I care? Art is for everyone. Someone once told me that I cannot just draw “pretty pictures,” so I made it my mission to do so.

With the world today focusing on the negative, I like to center my art around in the positivity, the beauty of the world, and our imaginations. How we can use our imagination to create things that can potentially made people happy. Post-graduation, I would like to work with people who have disabilities and mental illnesses in the field of art therapy. Also, I would like to write illustrate comics or children’s books in the future.

Untitled, MASS MoCA Teen Conventional 2018, Photoshop

Ashley Clements currently lives in North Adams. She is a sophomore, expected to graduate in 2022, and she is a psychology major with an arts management minor. She has been drawing since she was a little kid and considers herself just a small-time artist. She just recently made an Instagram and has been trying to reach out and take commissions from people.

Visit her Instagram page at: https://www.instagram.com/Ashimiroll/