May Featured Artist - Ashley Walter of Old Soul Creative
I first came across this amazing creatrix on Instagram and was blown away by her work. This alchemista takes the most beautiful furniture and reinvigorates life force into them with her amazing art!
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF!
Hi! I’m Ashley! (That was actually my pick-up line in college. Authentic if not charismatic J) I became a Walter in 2011 when I married the stoic man who helps me in all things. Namely corralling our two wonderfully crazy children; a sensitive kindergarten boy and tough little princess in pre-school! I grew up in sunny San Diego but pause before you picture a tan blonde in the surf—I am pale as all get out and prefer the woods! Now we call the foothills of Northern California home. Though fine art has always been my true calling I majored in architecture with intent to hit the housing boom that crashed as I graduated, I have been using what the universe endowed ever since.
WHAT INSPIRES YOUR WORK AND CREATIVE PROCESS // WHAT MOVES YOU THE MOST? // WHAT DOES CREATING DO FOR YOU?
I am most inspired by other artists! There is nothing more inspiring in my opinion that watching a fellow human embody his purest form in artistic expression-whatever that may be! I love color, mixed media and history. Creating art that is functional, pieces that should be ordinary and yet surprise you with expression, color, balance and grace is such a fun challenge! As a history buff, I seek out antiques and attempt to honor their stories with art that mirrors their origin in design history.
Art, in any form, is for me- as it is for so many others; a release. More times than I would like to admit the mundane tasks of running a creative business become overwhelming to me and I urgently close only to reopen a few months later reinvigorated and with a new passion! You see, art is a compulsion. To deny is like shaking a bottle of coke and keeping the cap on hah! If we do not embrace all of our gifts, our pitfalls light and dark how can we ever honor the universe as a piece of its truest expression?
DO YOU EVER FEEL VULNERABLE PUTTING YOUR WORK OUT THERE? HOW DO YOU OVERCOME IT?
Heck yes, I get nervous to show my creations every time I debut what feels like a child! And you guys I’m making whimsical furniture here, it’s not like there is some deep thought-provoking ulterior motive to what I do. Regardless, with each endeavor I pour out my heart with abandon and as such it takes a healthy does of guts to be so unabashedly vulnerable with whomever cares to take a look. And I am a wicked shy, introverted gal folks-- How do I overcome said fear? I suppose the answer is I don’t really have a choice, the same way artists are driven to create, I feel compelled to share the fruits of my labor.
DO HAVE ANY ADVICE OR WORDS OF WISDOM FOR OTHER CREATIVES?
My advice to other creatives would be to be fearless in trying new things! I can’t tell you how many times I have to fail before I make something that begins to match the image I have built up in my mind’s eye. Good heavens is it ever frustrating, but stick with it. Practice try new mediums, new expressions and styles and I guarantee you will surprise yourself—both in your ability and in what sets your soul alite!
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR ART TO UNLOCK IN PEOPLE?
I hope when people come across something, I have altered they smile at the unexpected splash of art on an ordinary dresser or chair! I hope they begin to consider the beauty and intentional design that can be found in all things rudimentary, functional and otherwise, especially those created by the truest artist of us all; nature!
Honestly the main goal of what I have chosen to focus on artistically is to guide people toward creating a home or space wherein everything brings them comfort, inspiration or just a happy place to rest their eyes.It can be so easy for us to become overstimulated, always consuming and acquiring.I challenge my patrons to reassess their surroundings; eliminate what no longer serves them and fill their homes with things and people that bring them joy! There is beauty and expression in the mundane if you only open your heart to feel it!