ashley trabue (b. 1989) is a Southern-born American writer, Montessori-trained educator, and visual artist working across abstract and figurative forms.
Best known for their community-based work around body acceptance for women and queer folks, trabue’s art is a practice of un-shaming — our bodies, our emotions, our experiences — and returning ourselves to a greater sense of wholeness and belonging.
trabue’s work is shaped by contrast, tensions and extremes. Their visual aesthetic oscillates between bold, expressive, highly saturated paintings that explore their own emotional intensity and sense of “muchness” and more minimalistic, color-blocked or black and white works that invite the viewer’s own interiority to emerge.
Their process is often diaristic and centers a willingness to work collaboratively with the unknown through experimentation, curiosity and play. Their art is held in private collections around the world. They currently reside in Portland, Maine.
image by Kyle Warnock
“I create as a way of knowing and loving all parts of myself, especially those that I’ve historically shamed or struggled to accept like my intensity, neurodivergence, and emotional “muchness.” I am fascinated with the ways our environments, both internal and external, shape us as humans.
My creative practice offers me a concrete way of tending to my own inner- and outer-environments by both grounding into the present moment, helping me to connect back with myself, my body, my senses, my feelings, and also opening me up to move beyond myself, into broader perspectives and possibilities.
Playfulness is central to my process, and I often use my hands as much as my brushes and tools, and work with fast-drying materials like acrylic paint, collage scraps, and pastels. This helps tether me to the present moment and allows for intuitive layering, as well as spontaneous dialogue between myself and the media.
My process is anchored in my body, fueled by curiosity, and attuned to delight.”
image by Jenna Henderson
PRESS
Creativity from a Liberatory mindset | interview with Ashley Trabue, Mood Milk Substack, 2026
On the Shitty Art Challenge with ashley trabue, artist and educator, On Topic Substack, 2025
Conjuring Shameless Self-Confidence, Mind Witchery Podcast, 2024
Channel Your Inner, “Bad Girl,” for Success in Art and Business, She Who Paints Podcast, 2024
Make Art A Lifestyle with Ashley Trabue, Dangerous Creatives Podcast, 2023
Atlanta Shoutout: Meet Ashley, 2021
Artist Check-in with Ashley Trabue, Museum 21c, 2020
A Moment with Ashley Trabue, Love Local, 2020
Finding Joy in Art with Ashley Trabue, 100% Creative Podcast, 2020
Embracing Your Inner Artist with Ashley Trabue, Money Confident Podcast, 2020
Coffee date: Disney Princesses + Deprogramming Beliefs, Pretty, Please podcast, 2020
Purity Culture, Josh Harris, & Now What // Curiocity Podcast 2019
She Is Balanced, interview, 2019
PUBLICATIONS
Make Your Art! self-published, 2023
Dancing Girl Press, Vertebrae, poetry chapbook, 2019
Versify #31: Before Bukowski, 2019
Rebelle Society, Blueprint of a Buried Voice, 2018
Hobart, Murmuration 2017
Rockvale Review, three poems 2017
Ekphrastic Poetry Project, What if the Children are Not Spoiled 2017
Nashville Review, two poems, 2015
EDUCATION
2014, American Montessori Society, 3-6 Certification
2014, Montessori Educational Institute of North America, Creative Curriculum Development, Jackson, TN
2012, B.A. in English, Elementary Education and Painting from Belmont University, Nashville, TN
SOLO
2025, For the Love of the Process, Second Rodeo, Portland, ME
2019-2020, Body as Landscape, 21c Museum Hotel, Nashville, TN
2018, Cognitive Landscapes, Franklin, TN
GROUP
2026, Art is Life! Caitlin Shirock Gallery, Nashville, TN
2026, Collect! Maine Collect of Art & Design, Portland, ME
2025, Resist & Persist, ECC Gallery, Portland, ME
2023, Daybreak, 82 Parris, Portland, ME
2022, Holiday Salon, Galerie Tangerine, Nashville, TN
2021, She is, Art for the Home, Nashville, TN
2019, Skyn, Hotel Preston, Nashville, TN
2019, Art Comes Alive, Art Design Company, Cincinnati, OH
2018, Essence of Form, St. Lous Artist’s Guild, St. Louis, MO
2018, Horizon: Contemporary Landscapes, Arts Center for the Bluegrass, Danville, KY
2016, Art Comes Alive, purchase award, Art Design Company, Cincinnati, OH
2016, Horizon: Contemporary Landscapes, Arts Center for the Bluegrass, Danville, KY
RESIDENCIES
2020, Stay Home Gallery, Paris, TN
2019, Rockvale Writers’ Colony, Rockvale, TN
EDUCATION
2014, American Montessori Society, 3-6 Certification
2014, Montessori Educational Institute of North America, Creative Curriculum Development, Jackson, TN
2012, B.A. in English, Elementary Education and Painting from Belmont University, Nashville, TN