Ashley Fries
artist · designer · maker · educator
An artist and educator specializing in portraiture, working in oil, watercolor, graphite and other dry media, with a maker's eye for metalsmithing, jewelry and design.
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Color, built
in layers.
Beyond graphite, Ashley's portraits move into vivid, built-up color: colored pencil and mixed media that find light in unexpected places.
See all work
In the studio
Ashley Fries is an artist and educator based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, specializing in portraiture. Her practice spans oil paint, watercolor, graphite and other dry media, reaching into small-scale metalsmithing, jewelry, and digital art and design.
Growth threads through everything: a belief that craft is learned by making, looking closely, and making again.