Ashley Mayel painting of oils, acrylics, and ink on canvas. The strong vertical shape of the piece is very eye-catching. About the artist: Ashley Mayel has called Texas home for 48 years. A graduate from University of Houston’s Art & Design program, Ashely is an accomplished artist and designer, making a name for herself worldwide. Her dreams came to fruition when she started her own company, American Designers, in 1974, in Houston, Texas. She executed the interiors of several commercial buildings and residential homes as well as designing, creating, painting and sculpting for a myriad of clients. Ashley was a resident in many local galleries in Houston from 1975 to 1997. Even the renowned print company, Picture Source, chose some pieces of hers to put into print production. In 1997, she and her family moved to Austin, Texas for her husband to join the Samsung Austin campus. In Austin, she continued a flourishing career in commissioning custom art pieces, interior design projects, and commercial and model home design. Her husband’s career then took them abroad for 10 years where she got to surround herself with various cultures and history of design and art spanning from Europe to East Asia. Ashely successfully showed at various galleries in Manchester, England and Singapore. Passionate for philanthropy, she kept that fire alive even abroad by donating many pieces to local charities close to her heart. Ashley and her family returned to the U.S. in 2009. They chose to settle in the picturesque city of Laguna Beach, CA. Ashley quickly acclimated herself into another new community by joining the Laguna Beach Women’s Club where her talents gained exposure. She commissioned many pieces for private clients and was very active in the arts community which is vast in Laguna Beach. Eventually, Texas was always her first home, so they returned to Austin to join her kids and grandkids. Ashley currently lives in the Austin area and focuses on painting art pieces – both commercial and residential as well as commissioned custom pieces and is equally comfortable with traditionalist and modern design and art. She works collaboratively with everyone from designers to individuals that are new to the art world to create an affordable and easy transaction for all her clients. Ashley is zealous about creating pieces that her clients can completely customize from size, to color, to genre. The following quote is the summation of Ashley Mayel’s character and passion in the human race –“I belong to the world and cherish love and the special people in my life. I work through the vitality and strength that I give to and gain from abstract art. Each time I create, simple shapes free my imagination to travel depths previously unknown to me…simple shapes that are esthetically satisfying yet leave many questions unanswered. I like the loose motions, the flowing together and joining of different colors, the lost boundaries; all fascinate me. When finished, I am momentarily content. If my art does not touch someone, it is nothing. When it works, some shared feeling bonds me with my chance viewer, forever.” – Ashley Mayel Ashley is very involved with the community and is a member of the Design Trade Associates, the Creative Art Society, and the Visual Art League for the Gallery at Dell JCC.