Bio
Ashleigh Ellis is an award-winning eco artist based in Cork, Ireland. She works with many mediums across the visual arts, participatory arts and the arts and health space. Her practice explores life affirming reflection and creative processes to deepen the relationship between people and the more-than-human world. Plants, natural pigments, textiles, painting and music are her joy, and she brings a deep knowledge of environmentally conscious art and well-being practices. She has expert skills in natural dyeing and pigment making, has run different versions of The Natural dye Project over the years growing dye plants with communities, and teaches an online course Cyanotype and Natural Dyes at the Natural Dyers and Growers Academy. She works at Helium Arts with young people with life-long health conditions, is a member of Sample Studios artist collective in Cork and Visual Artists Ireland, and teaches as a guest lecturer on the Eco Art module, Masters in Arts & Engagement, at Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. Ashleigh studied ecoliteracy with Haumea Ecoversity (2022), earned a Masters in Education from the Open University (2017), and has been awarded a Participatory Arts Bursary (Arts Council Ireland, 2023), Artist in Context Award (Cork City Council, 2022), and Artist in the Community Award (Create, 2021).
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Some snaps capturing the celebration of my socially engaged work with Helium Arts.
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Statement:
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My process is rooted in materiality. I am drawn to the rhythmic, tactile meditation of creating by hand, and to the materials themselves—their origins, their stories, and the ways we relate to them. Working with materials becomes an active and vital relationship with What Is: with each other, our environment, and the inner landscapes we carry. Yet, as an artist, I am also confronted with the challenge of navigating the environmental impact of these materials. Much of my practice leans into this inquiry—learning, developing, and sharing skills with communities and artists around natural pigments and low-impact processes.
I am passionate about fostering positive relationships with nature through creative practice, so that we may value, protect, and flourish together. Researching and growing dye plants for community collaboration has been a central part of my work—inviting connection with nature, sharing creative skills and ethnobotany, and cultivating long-lasting relationships between people, plants, and place. I weave together disciplines such as drawing, sculpture, natural pigments, analogue photography, poetry, and music, in dialogue with the chemistries, histories, and folklore of plants. The outcomes often embody encounters, stories, and the residues of process. Lately, it is the relationships between people and plants that captivate me most and the search for ways to let plants express themselves and find a voice through art. My work seeks to nurture respectful and caring relationships within the more-than-human world we depend upon, while imagining the harmonious futures we might co-create. At its heart, this is a re-learning of our past animistic and ecocentric indigenous worldview —an endeavour of active hope. |
