Ashley Showalter – Abstract Art Demo

I call myself an accidental abstract artist because my art ability emerged unintentionally when I was seeking mental health treatment for the first time. Most of my art is intuitive and without plan. I embrace this method of creation to counterbalance my perfectionist nature. To me, art is meditative and a way to clear my mind. I have a love for creating art with funky designs, bright colors and intricate patterns. I also enjoy sharing my mental health journey through my art. When viewing my work, I hope you are inspired to view freely without the constraints of how things are “supposed to look”.

When I was a senior in college, I had my first mental health crisis. I hadn’t slept in days when I was taken to the university’s counseling center for a mental health evaluation. There, I was told that I needed to seek emergency inpatient treatment at a crisis center to began getting stabilized on medication.

Upon arrival at the hospital, another patient noticed me in distress and asked if I wanted to draw. I insisted that I could not draw and make art look realistic. She insisted that anyone could draw, and preceded to ask me to draw her a giraffe. I then took what I could from the limited selection of art supplies that were available at the hospital (crayons and a ballpoint pen) and created a giraffe the only way I knew how: using colorful shapes that built off one another to form the shape of an abstract giraffe.

In that moment, I discovered that things don’t always have to look as they appear. I spent the entirety of my stay at the hospital doodling artwork for the fellow patients and staff. Since then, art became a huge coping skill for me and has helped me through some of the darkest moments of my mental health recovery journey.

Watch the livestream with us from ACOKC’s Facebook page!