Meet Ash Walsh of Ashtrashmagash in West Midtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ash Walsh.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ash. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well, abandoned as a pup, I was found by Murial…Iol. Anyway, I’ve been drawing most of my life, I made it my goal in kindergarten to be a really good artist all because I liked the way another kid in my class drew the world. I remember thinking it was perfect and looked just like a map in a book. I just wanted to be good. So I drew everyday for the next 22 years. I doodled so much that my teachers often sent me home with notes that told my mom I wouldn’t stop drawing on assignments. In High School, I got graded down for it but I ended up going to art school so poop on them.

I went to [INSERT FANCY ART COLLEGE] and overall it was a positive experience. I met a lot of interesting people and I made some life long friends who I wanna shout out: Natty Perez of Extra Ordinary Oracle in Nashville, TN, Helen Steinecke; my fither and friend in Baltimore, MD, and Logandria Spector-Watts of Logandria in Asheville, NC. And those are just some of the people that changed my life. My only regret is going to college right after high school. I wish I would have lived a little more before spending that much money at such a young age.

But life goes on and I like the way things have turned out so far. After school, I bounced around from day job to day job trying to live off my art. I got a job at a donut shop where I met Paege Turner, founder of Hussy and good friend. She introduced me to the queer scene in Atlanta and to pillars of the community like Taylor Alxandr and Naomi Monroe (Koochie-Koochie Ku). If not for her, I don’t know if I would have really jumped into the work I’m doing today.

Getting involved in the queer community of Atlanta really changed my life and the way I view myself and my art. Right now I’m working with four other artists and Living Walls Atlanta on a project called Start Talking, STOP HIV. It has a similar message to Act Up, Fight AIDs, but our specific message is towards queer, non-binary and transgendered members of our community who sometimes feel unseen and hidden. We’re painting a mural on the Beltline in August that will reflect things we learned in panels that Living Walls hosted to get the community involved and our own personal experiences. It’s the first time I’ve ever worked on such a huge project so I’m excited and I can’t wait to start painting!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have been plenty of bumps in the road. When I first moved to Atlanta, I was such a mess. I was fresh out of college and I had no idea what to do with myself. I bounced around from awful day job to awful day job. This was also very early in my transition, so I was experimenting with different looks. I got harassed at my job and threatened on multiple occasions but they were all learning experiences. It also gives power to my work. When I draw or write I’m expressing my emotions which I have waaay too many of being a Cancerian. I left those traumatizing experiences better than I was when I was in them and that’s what matters to me.

Getting work as a freelancer is such a wild ride. When I first started, it was nearly a famine every month. I would take any job that was posted online and spent months submitting resumes. I had to get on unemployment after I was “let go” from my graphic design day job for “working differences”. They’d told us finding something in our field would be challenging but it felt impossible. I didn’t start picking up steady freelance work until about two years in. You build a lot of resilience in freelance.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a comic artist and illustrator. I specialize in sequential bodies and horror comics. My style is distinctly graphic and raw. My subject matter tends to be an exploration of queer bodies and weird creatures. I do mostly 2D work, sometimes traditionally, but mostly digital. I occasionally dabble in .gifs and mostly draw original works. I’m a storyteller by trade and have been working on a webcomic for about a year, which I don’t have a name for yet but it involves a guy with a fish-head and his gang of weirdos trying to save their planet. It’s an eco-freak kind of thing cause I’m freaked out about climate change! Outside of comics I also have a shop on threadless which is linked in my insta bio. Pay local artists and wear good art!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I owe my amazing life to my partner @cremebruleeturner Kimberly Walsh, she is my muse and my biggest supporter.

@TaylorAlxndr and @SouthernFriedQueerPride, two pillars of the community, always coming through with the best projects and are all incredible human beings.

Maya Wiseman @glittergayz is my sounding board for ideas and skits, she has an amazing sense of humor and is a prop queen.

@taegepurner, I mean Paege Turner, my dear friend and stunning performance artist was the connector that brought me into this sweet queer world.

And shout out to @ssickchris for recommending me. You’re the best! <3

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashtrashmagash.threadless.com/
• Email: walsh.ash79@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtrashmagash/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtofAshWalsh/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashtrashmagash
• Other: https://www.artofashwalsh.com/

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