Everybody, everybody, everybody! Cop a gander of my latest lens focus, Ashley!

Better known as Aset in the creative world, Ashley is actually the 2nd voice of reason that helped me launch onto the art scene. Alongside, Tiffney, Ashley was the person who put the prospect of me showing my work out into the universe. I know I've told the story a thousand times so I'll spare you the story now. For this week's Friends in High Places...
Everybody meet Ashley!


Prone to picking up the paint brush, Ashley is creative here in Jacksonville by way of painting.
Just like the rest of the world, last week sought me wondering wether or not we would ever get a summer this year. Thanks to global warming we now have no real expectation for weather forecasting. One day its raining, the next its 30 degrees and then within 12 hours the temperature drops again and its 90 degrees out. But just because you get too comfortable, you can top it off with windy rains the following day.
Who can plan for the weather these days?! Ugh!
But as I always like to say to myself... look for the positives in any situation. Originally, myself and Ashley would plan to shoot at Jacksonville Beach for our shoot. Mother nature, however, had a change of heart and didn't exactly give us an advance warning.

Luckily, friends in high places seem to be all around us. Ashley was able to get the keys to the wonderful Zsa Zsa Lapree Gallery over on east Bay st. from Giandra. Yay!! We didn't have to reschedule our shoot. All thanks to having friends in high places. So we changed our base of operations to downtown Jacksonville and its to Zsa Zsa Dupree we would eventually meet.

By day, Ashley is working the Arc of Jacksonville. She works with those of intellectual differences on self wellness, art therapy and self advocacy. If you are not as familiar with The Arc, their mission "...is to serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve their full potential to participate in community life."
This passion for helping others has also spilled over into her creative space and represents a mission for Ashley....
...I fight to bridge the gap between those with intellectual differences in the art world [also].
"There is a disconnect where they put the person's difference before themselves and their work. I want them to be seen as just themselves and their work, the difference only makes them unique."




When she mentioned that she binge watches anime, I heard the theme song from the Golden Girls play in my head. "Thank you for being a friennndd" LOL. It's so few and far between that you come across any people of color who are interested in anime. And she's a girl!! How dope is that?!
She also loves watching interviews of Jay-Z and is obsessed with the control that Beyoncè has over her brand.
Ill quit talking now, by all means, please, take a look at our shoot!





Everything is on the other side of fear.






Quick side note. We had Tiffney (who I introduced y'all to last week but click this link to jump to it if you haven't read it yet) on set for moral support and to help lend her creative energy. As you can imagine, we had a photoset filled with laughter and smiles. She kept us laughing and even gave suggestions with poses. And you guys already know my philosophy,
good energy = a good shoot.




All art pieces pictured above were created by Aset.
More of Aset's work awaits below.


It’s an artists duty to reflect the times in which we live.




Thank you so much, Ashley for agreeing to do our shoot. You're an amazing creative and I cant wait to see what you have in store for us next.
Aset is also featured artist at Black Magic 2. Come out and let her know how phenomenal she looks in our shoot. She will have painted canvases and other art pieces available for sale. Click HERE now so you can buy your tickets to the show in advance and then comment below so we know the love is real, LOL
I Can't wait to see you guys out!
Follow Ashley now and check out more of her work via Instagram and Facebook