Ashley Sullivan grew up on a farm in Grafton, Ohio and later studied at Miami University. Graduating with a master's in art education and a grand total of two painting courses to her name, it seemed unlikely that a career as a painter was around the bend. Years living in Chicago brought jobs teaching art and dabbling in various mediums. Screenprinted posters dried in hallways. Watercolors were done on kitchen tables. Canvases crowded spare rooms. Sullivan refined her practice and process through experimentation. The strokes grew surer. The canvases got larger.
Aiming to capture a place and time on canvas, Sullivan was drawn to the pure and immediate nature of acrylic paint. Whether abstract or landscape or cityscape (or dislodged somewhere between), the building blocks of flat planes of color carry throughout her work. At times the image dissolves and then refocuses. A blur of motion and yet perfectly clear, like staring out the window of a moving car. Pinning down a fleeting moment, place, or memory.
Her studio is in Cleveland Heights.
A portfolio of her work can be viewed at sullivash.com