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Who Is Normal?

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Ashley Normal is an artist, educator, and community builder.

As an artist she works under the pseudonym Ashley Normal. Making observations in the everyday, she illuminates the bizarre and absurd in the familiar. Through drawing, painting, mixed-media, altered materials, and performance she creates works where nothing is as it seems, and which communicate issues around: womanhood, gender, mental illness, family, and social taboos. She connects with the Japanese ceramic method and philosophy Kintsugi, which treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object.  Rather than something to disguise, the imperfections of an object adds to its allure, making it more beautiful for having been broken. She is drawn to the relationship of attraction and repulsion, dark humor, and the surreal.  

Her work has been exhibited at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; 3S Artspace Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; Lamont Gallery, Exeter, NH; Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA; Bardo Gallery, Cambridge, MA; and the MAKE8ELIEVE Magazine, Chicago, IL & Geneva, Switzerland. She was a finalist for the Walter Feldman Fellowship in 2015, as well as awarded Best in Show at the Rochester Biennial, Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, Rochester, NH, 2015. Her work is represented by Chases Garage Gallery, York, ME and Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth, NH.

She currently resides in Southern New Hampshire with her partner and son.

ART EXPERTISE
drawing, painting, mixed-media, collage, assemblage, painting, photography, fibers, installation, performance, color theory, collaborative art, art history, and curation.

EDUCATION EXPERTISE
Social engagement, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, choice-based art education, curriculum development, visual arts assessment, Studio Habits of Mind, community development, online community development & management, social media, website creation tools, technology integration, sustainable art practices, sketchbook practices, process-driven art, fostering a growth mindset, yoga, and mindfulness practices.

ACADEMIC DEGREES

  • MFA, Interdisciplinary Art, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
  • BFA, Art Education, Massachusetts College of Art and Design