Ashley Hale is a Seattle based printmaker and mixed media artist working predominantly in relief linoleum block printing, and experimental approaches while reaming amorphous. Her process can be layered, using a reductive carving approach, or focus solely on a one layer block. She enjoys added elements of watercolor to her prints, along with gold leaf or metallic ink. The dichotomy of the soft flowing watercolor, shine of metallic ink, and hard dark line of linoleum block printing creates a compelling contrast in textures while offering a parallel to the soft, hard and shiny elements around us.
Ashley’s imagery spans the living inhabitants of earth. She creates to pair the visual details and soul of our natural world. Hand carving extra fine details into linoleum while metaphorically representing the under appreciated or self realized spiritual presence and strength of animals, plants, fungi, and humans. This is paired visually with seen and unseen elements of spirt through soul, aura, and natural forces. Elevating the physical and spiritually overlooked to a platform of greater importance. She often use halo shapes inspired by the renaissance to emphasize this. Ashley’s work encourages the viewer to stop for a moment and focus on the natural beauty, and spiritual depth that humbly surrounds us daily.
