Artist of the Week: Abstract Ashley

When she is not drawing graphic art on her Wacom tablet or designing the layout for Matter, Exeter’s science magazine, senior Ashley Keem can be found in the art studio working on her latest art project.Although many are familiar with Keem’s Art 444 exhibit paintings last year, Keem’s artistic aspirations began with doodling and graphic art. “Drawing was really just a hobby for me. I would doodle things in my free time but never really considered doing it seriously at first,” Keem said.It was only until Keem came to Exeter that she decided to pursue art more seriously by taking Drawing and Ceramics her prep year. “I really learned a lot my first year here, and realized it was something that I wanted to continue to do,” Keem said.She proceeded to take Art 444 the spring of her upper year, where her final project was a showcase of various acrylic portraits she painted with palette knives in bright, contrasting colors.“I matched unexpected colors with each other, such as blue, orange and green, while also trying to show the face by using different hues,” she said.Keem spent up to four hours on each painting, and said that the course was a positive experience that helped foster her growth as an artist. “Art 444 gave me a lot of freedom to explore what I wanted to do and I was able to spend time outside of class working on my project,” Keem said.Her efforts paid off; Keem was awarded a Gold Key, Silver Key and an Honorable mention by the New Hampshire Scholastic Art Awards for the paintings she created in Art 444.Carla Collins, an instructor in art, praised Keem for her diligence and dedication to the study of art at all levels.“Ashley is an extremely hard worker and she has been very committed and ambitious in Art 444. She has done research and exploration on how to go about manipulating color and texture to form human faces and has a strong sense of color and where to leave negative space,” said Collins. “Her finished project was presented with care and spatial awareness in how it was hung. Ashley was also an active member during art critiques and discussions.”Senior Linh Tran, Keem’s close friend, echoed Collins’ sentiments about Keem’s natural talent and strong work ethic.“Ashley has always been a great inspiration and motivation for me and others around her,” Tran said. “She’s very motivated to work hard and she has the ability to see color harmonization and mix them with a good sense of color theory in her mind, so her pictures portray her personality: spunky, daring, and bold.”Keem also lends her artistic talents to school publications, including the science magazine Matter, and The Exonian. She is the Chief Layout Editor for Matter and Head Graphic Artist for The Exonian Online. “I did the layout for almost the entire magazine, which took me a good two weeks to get done,” Keem recalled.“It was a really good experience,” Keem said, “because I was able to see my work in action.”Over the summer, Keem had the opportunity to study at the Savannah College of Art and Design on a full scholarship where she was able to expose herself to more types of art, as well as take college level art courses. Among these new artistic pursuits was photography, which Keem described as “something I’d never done before, but showed me a new way to look at things, and was also enjoyable.”Keem sees art as an important component of her everyday life that goes beyond the canvas or the studio. “Art is a big stress reliever for me, so a lot of times I’ll just doodle for myself for fun because it’s just something I like doing,” Keem said.“I also enjoy art because I can see myself improving through my art. I can also see and approach the world with a different kind of mindset,” Keem said.She said that taking art initially at Exeter taught her to look at her surroundings through an artist’s eyes.“I would start paying attention to the way that the light shined on something and remember where the shadows were so that I could replicate it later,” Keem said, “Now it’s second nature to look at things from an artistic standpoint, and it’s funny because sometimes need to tell myself to stop looking at things that way.”Keem developed an interest in digital art after seeing Tran use a tablet to produce drawings on her computer. Both decided to invest their interest into a digital art club, which they started Keem’s lower year. The club was created to introduce people to digital art and teach them how to use programs like Photoshop. Although club membership has dwindled, Keem continues to create digital art.Tran feels that Keem’s success in both art and academics comes from her genuine passion for everything she dedicates herself to.“She’s in constant motion, but she makes time to do what she loves to do. On top of a heavy senior fall schedule, she manages to do lots of different clubs. It feels like she would get too bored if she didn’t get engaged in different activities, and art has always been a large portion of her extracurricular time here,” Tran said.Keem has also incorporated her artwork into her academics, particularly with a Latin assignment last spring, in which she programmed and drew out all the scenes to a “choose your own adventure” game based on Virgil’s Aeneid.Keem said, “I definitely see myself continuing with art into the future because it’s been so important for me up to this point in my life.”