Today we released a new Swoon print, entitled “Ashley.” The proceeds from the sales of this print are going to Transformazium, an organization in Braddock, PA developing relationships that generate generosity, resource sharing and expansive possibilities. Read more about Transformazium HERE.

From Swoon: “This print is an intimate portrait of a young woman who welcomed me into her life, her neighborhood, her ideas and her challenges. The style of drawing was a shift for me and reveals the mutual vulnerability we were both bringing to our new relationship. I met Ashley while working on Points of Interest in Braddock, PA with a collective I work with, Transformazium. Points of Interest was a project exploring the power of art to activate otherwise passive spaces within a neighborhhood. Participants of the Braddock Youth Project worked to identify spaces in their neighborhood where they felt that art could be a catalyst for movement, dialogue and energy.

Transformazium then selected 12 different artists to work with 12 different youth. Ashley and I were paired together. After placing work in our initial location, Ashley took me up the hill to an informal memorial for two youth who recently died due to gun violence. The memorial was made of names tagged with spray paint on an underpass between the two boroughs. Ashley wanted me to put work there. I wanted to fill the space with something that responded to the sacred space the youth had begun to create. So, watching Ashley fill the memorial with life. I decided to paint the living. This space could be a memorial and simultaneously a portrait gallery celebrating the lives of the living and the growing. The drawing that is the basis of this print comes from the painting I made of Ashley in the underpass. See the painting HERE.
I feel honored to share this print of Ashley with you.”

This is a screen print on hand painted paper. It is an edition of 75, although each one varies based on the way the gold is painted into the background.