Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Jonas.
Ashley, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My spouse and I are artists, curators and educators. Our life, careers and community engagement have all been built around these creative practices. Dayton is an amazing place for creative people. Folks are always cooking up new projects and there are supportive resources to make things happen here.
I moved to Dayton, OH, in 2014, right after receiving my MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. My spouse is from Dayton, so the place was familiar, and I’d only experienced a warm welcome from the community. Our friend had just purchased a house in North West Dayton, right around the corner from where my spouse grew up, and wanted to do something arts-related with it, so we came up with the idea to move in and turn what would be the living room into an art gallery. In 2015 we opened the Blue House, an alternative and experimental gallery space that’s located in our home. Since opening the gallery, we’ve had more than 50 exhibitions showing more than 400 different artists. The Blue House is an artist-run space. Artist-run spaces are operated and directed by artists in alternative spaces, not bound by the structure or hierarchy of established institutions, and generally not concerned with sales as a means to keep the doors open. Being artist-run really means that we lead with our values. There are actually a ton of artist-run spaces in Ohio. In the last several years, the Blue House has been awarded grants from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District to pay the artists that show with us an honorarium that is in accordance with WAGE’s fair compensation for artists. It is very important to us that we compensate artists fairly for their work, no matter if it is sellable or not.
While my spouse and I run the Blue House, we also make and show our own artwork regionally and nationally. I teach Art and Design at the University of Dayton, where my spouse, Nicholaus Arnold, is the Galleries Director.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the first few years of moving to Dayton I was looking for opportunities in other places, applying to jobs and residencies outside of Ohio mostly. Sending out a lot of applications means you also get a lot of rejection letters. There was a point when I asked myself why was I banging on all these closed doors in other places when there were so many open ones where I was. Place is such an important concept in my artwork, it also seemed silly to not see and appreciate the present place I was in. After realizing that, I was so grateful to Dayton and started making deeper connections within the community. Getting a full-time teaching position at UD helped, too lol.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I make intimate formalist sculptures and installations by combining and composing elegant ceramic components with functional, often domestic, found objects. I make drawings by combining and collaging photographic, found, and handmade imagery that contextualizes place and politics. My practice is driven by intuition, play, and a deeply rooted commitment to finding wonder, especially in the familiar or routine. My work reflects the immediate and personal environment while also mirroring shared experiences and the longings of others. The work offers refuge in the beauty of things we often overlook through a heightened awareness of the natural and domestic spaces that surrounds us. Through delicate shapes and the quiet manipulations of materials, both traditional and new, I challenge the hierarchy of those materials through their juxtaposition. My work asks that the viewer walk with and through each piece, each pinch, each point of evident and humble connection in order to practice accepting what is in front of us, rather than what we wish were present.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
You can contact me and see my artwork through my personal website and get information about the Blue House’s exhibitions on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Contact Info:
- Website: ashleyjudejonas.com and thebluehousearts.org
- Instagram: thebluehousearts
