Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Glazier.
Ashley, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My way into painting was a little unorthodox. I’ve been interested in creating things my whole life. I would draw characters in my sketchbook, I’d decorate cakes, I’d make clay miniatures, and I’d even make my own toys. I wouldn’t say Boise, Idaho was flush with creative resources back then. There was one general art class from Jr. High through High School, so really this one art class was my only exposure to the arts. Luckily, I had two amazing art teachers that recognized my interests and abilities, and they both encouraged me to pursue art as a career. I owe a lot to those two teachers. I chose not to pursue art right out of High School and went on to spend the next 4 years changing majors, not sure what I wanted my career to be. I ended up at BYU in Provo, accepted into the Medical Laboratory Program set to begin the Fall of 2014. During these 4 years, I got married, and was selling and decorating cakes on the side while doing my boring homework. I wasn’t making any art really. When I started the Medical Laboratory Science program that fall, all at once I realized how much I hated everything I was studying and how much I did NOT want to become a Lab Tech. It was like a big slap in the face! In a pretty dramatic whirlwind of events (all in one day) I dropped out of the Medical Lab Program, switched to Visual Art, and barely got into all the needed prerequisite classes right before the add/drop deadline. From that point on, I was quite literally in my own heaven. I was excited for every single class, and I couldn’t believe I got to spend my time studying art! I was eager to absorb everything I could. I ended up getting accepted into the Illustration program, and later went on to graduate with a BFA in Illustration from BYU. Those formative, creative years were some of the best years of my life. It was where I was introduced to fine art, oil painting, and the illustration world. I made some of my best friends from those years. Following graduation, I went through a couple of design jobs while continuing to learn and paint on the side. Those years were really hard! In between jobs, I had a 7-month stint where I painted full-time. I was at my last company for 3 years until I left it last year, and have been painting full-time ever since.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely NOT been a smooth road! It’s been a wild ride. The years following graduation until now have been pretty challenging for me in different ways. I think the years I was working full-time and simultaneously trying to advance my painting career on the side were some of the hardest. During that time, I found I had some time to paint, but I lacked the motivation and energy to do it most times. I’d come home from my demanding job and just feel absolutely braindead. I was not “grinding it out” during that time in the sense that I was painting every moment I had. I chose to take care of myself and give myself time to unwind a lot more than I chose to paint. When I did want to paint, my painting periods were sporadic, intensive and exhausting. I simultaneously went through a transition period with my paintings where I hated everything I made! This happened so often that I started to dread painting time, and I got too good at avoiding it. I’d force myself to push out paintings for the gallery, or for local art shows and markets. I’d sign up for them months in advance so that I’d be motivated to make new work for them. This backfired a couple of times. I just remember feeling frustrated most of the time, intermixed with moments or short periods of contentment (some strokes of old-fashioned good luck I think) where I’d make one painting or a part of a painting I didn’t hate so much. These moments kept me going. I was also taking workshops, which always reinvigorated me. In all honesty, those years were necessary for my life, but also extremely messy and emotional. I cried so often, haha. Like I said, definitely a wild ride! If someone is reading this and going through a similar time in their art career, know that I see you and I get it. Mentally, it can get so dang taxing. If you can figure out how to take baby steps and keep going one day at a time, then you put luck on your side. You never know when things will change for you.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Sure, so I’m a contemporary realist painter who paints mostly still life and interiors. But really, I love to paint everything. I have a couple of figurative paintings in my head that I need to get out. Still life is my jam though. There’s something about inanimate objects that I really connect to and return to regularly. I love to explore composition and abstract shape and form with my still life paintings. I’ve discovered I value variety in my work though! I like to bounce back and forth between different subjects. It’s like each one cleanses my palette for the next.
I think people know my work for its brushwork, color, and cakes! I used to paint cakes a lot. I kinda lost interest in them when I was working full-time. (Interestingly, that design job involved cake products and food crafting products. I suspect that may be part of the reason I lost interest in painting them.) But! Recently I’ve been craving to try my hand at them again. We’ll see where that goes.
To be completely honest, I don’t really have a lot of paintings I’m proud of yet. I’m hopeful that 10 years from now, I’ll start feeling proud of the work I make. I’m definitely still an art baby, and I’m painfully aware of it. If there’s one thing I’m proud of though, it’s my recent two-person show at Meyer Gallery. It’s the largest collection of paintings I’ve done to date, and it was months of work. Some of the paintings didn’t come out how I’d hoped, but I’m choosing to be proud of all the work that went into making those pieces.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk is so interesting. Something that I consider a risk may not be a risk to someone else, and vice versa.
I’m not sure if I consider myself an avid risk-taker, but I do believe my painting career has shaped my tolerance for risk, and continues to. My entire painting career is one massive risk, and will probably always be one! Not only is the choice to do this full-time a financial risk, but the actual art making itself is risky because you don’t know how it’ll turn out, if anyone will like it, if you’ll like it, if you’ll sell, etc. There’s a lot of pressure! I crumble from that pressure pretty regularly, and have learned some resiliency and how to keep my nerve.
At one point, I realized it was more risky for me to stay at a day job than it was to ditch the paycheck and paint. I realized how the years were slipping by, and I was getting comfortable and reliant on that paycheck. The real risk was me rationalizing away my dream of being a professional painter. So once I had things in order and I could provide for my art for a few months, I jumped ship. (I have to add that my husband and I cut other expenses down so that we didn’t need my income stream anymore.)
Did I have immediate success and make tons of money? Nope. Not even close. But I’m farther along now than I would be if I was still spending my days working a day job, and to me, that’s worth the risk. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without my husband, who is also working on his own goals and aspirations. We’ve bounced back and forth over the years being breadwinners, helping each other get closer to our goals. It’s a real team effort. We’re willing to sacrifice material comforts for the time to invest in ourselves and what we both really want out of life.
I’ve found that each time I bet on myself, I end up growing, whether I lose out or win. Falling on your face is tough because your ego takes a huge hit. I take failure really hard. I’m not sure it will get easier. Once I’m through feeling cruddy, I like to think that even when I fail, I learn something from it, and I can use that knowledge to grow and become stronger if I choose to.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashleyglazier.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyglazierart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyglazierart
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleyglazierart
