About the Artist

Hi, I'm Ashley.

I'm an artist based in Pierre, South Dakota; the path here has been anything but direct.

I choose not to be defined by my experiences, but shaped by them. Extensive world travel informed my decision to devote three years to full time service work in rural West Virginia, where as an AmeriCorps volunteer I cared for chickens, led service groups, and provided hospitality for families of incarcerated women. A continued desire to positively impact our world led to my career in education.

My formal education includes undergraduate degrees in communication and education from John Carroll University and a Master's from Goddard College, where my thesis explored educators being practitioners of the content they teach. I spent a decade teaching high school English, including two years at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where I learned as much as I taught. I've also coached competitive theater, directed plays, and served on a community theater board.

I'm a two time cancer survivor: leukemia at eleven and breast cancer in 2021. Those second chances at life have propelled many of my choices: a desire to give back, to connect, and to not waste the time I've been given.

I'm also a writer, a hand letterer, and someone who finds beauty in overlooked places. I've explored small town South Dakota with the same curiosity I bring to travel abroad, discovering that a town with one intersection can hold just as many stories as a city with a million people. I believe creativity isn't easy because it comes and goes, and when we're feeling really brave we share it with others.

Along with my art, I'm the innkeeper at The Farr House, a 1904 Georgian Revival home on the National Register of Historic Places. Built by Civil War veteran Colonel E.P. Farr and his wife Dr. Mary Noyes Farr, one of Pierre's first female physicians and an artist herself, the house later served as home to two South Dakota governors. Today it offers lodging, tours, and event hosting. I live here with my husband Kevin, my mother Sherry, our friend (and renter) Hilary, and our five cats; caring for this piece of South Dakota history has deepened my appreciation for the stories these places hold.

These postcards are my way of sharing what I see: the wide open landscapes, the quiet landmarks, and the moments worth noticing in this place I now call home.

Thank you for being part of this journey by viewing, purchasing, or sharing my art. Embracing my desire to be creative and actually putting it out into the world has been one of the hardest journeys, and one of the most rewarding.

If you have ideas or paper ephemera you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you at ashley@bolerocreative.com.

To learn more about staying or hosting an event at The Farr House visit: https://www.thefarrhouse.com/home