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 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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I am interested in processes, the materials which we use and how we relate to them. Creating is an active and vital relationship with What Is; with each other, our environment, and what is going on inside of us. It takes awareness and sensitivity to tune in to what a reciprocal relationship with the living beings around us may look like. I am passionate about fostering positive relationships with nature in communities through creative practices so that we value, protect and flourish together. Recently I have been researching and growing dye plants, native and traditional, for creative collaboration with communities (Create, Arts Council Ireland, 2021, Arts in Context, Cork City Council Arts Office, 2022), inviting dialogue, historical research, developing and sharing creative skills with these plants while forming long-lasting relationships between people, plants and place. I develop material techniques such as natural dying and different forms of printing, combined with research such as learning plants’ chemistry, historical uses and folklore. Outcomes often embody encounters, stories, and residue of the processes, and sometimes multidisciplinary responses such as music. My work investigates a more respectful relationship with the more-than-human world which we depend on, and what kind of world we want to live in and can generate together. At the heart of this work is an ecocentric worldview, an investigation of a more harmonious relationship with the more-than-human world which we depend on. In this time of the anthropocene, it is imperative that we ask; What kind of world do we want to live in and create together? How can we be aware of our birthright as ecological citizens rooted in the fabric of the Earth and respond accordingly?
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