Ashley B. Holmes

Grief has stages like the life cycle of a frog; gelatinous, submerged, air breathing, carnivorous and finally dry.

‘Counting the Days’ presents a series of paintings by Ashely B. Holmes, made in recent years in response to the death of the artist’s mother. The works, titled according to the number of days since she passed away form a timeline. They all represent the pond on the family’s farm where her ashes were scattered. The image recurs in all the works, but the qualities of the scene change to subtly convey the process of mourning.

06 Jun 2024

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27 Jun 2024

QSS Gallery 1

2nd Floor, The Arches Centre, 11-13 Bloomfield Ave, Belfast, BT5 5AA

Holmes depicted the same pond focusing on colours, painting techniques and collage, to mirror her grief, its transformation and how it altered the world around her. Bright or subdued colours, light or dark hues, bold or delicate brushstrokes, playful or disconcerting collaged pieces alter the pond. It can look ecstatically bright, or become forbidding, obscured, dull, dark, realistic, romantic, sentimental, worn and threadbare, and finally turns into a mysterious portal. Drawing upon the mystical properties of Platonic solids and algorithmic models for physical phenomena, the artist believes that through the process of painting it, the pond can become a door through which one can pass in or out of existence.

This series invites the viewers to immerse themselves in this visual journey of mourning. Grief is a unique experience that everyone processes in their own way. The artist hopes by sharing her process and seeing the transition through time others may take comfort in the ever-changing world.

‘Counting the Days’ is curated by Francesca Biondi.

After my mother died, I was alone in the family home in Boston. I had nine days to clear it out and return to Belfast. My mother had a plastic, orange frog with pink gemstones. Stressed as I was, I talked to the frog. On my last day I sat by the pond. This same pond where as a child I spent long afternoons hunting frogs. They would float near the surface at the water’s edge. Their tiny marble eyes could be spied just above the sheet of green duckweed. It took a keen eye to spot them and shadow-stealth to capture them but I was good at it. On this day however I was sitting on the bank spotting frogs and reminiscing. I noticed I had company. Sitting still, about an arm’s length away, was an orange, wood frog. In all my years by the pond I’d never seen a wood frog. I certainly have never known a frog not to jump away from me. We sat together for over an hour, and I talked to the frog, “Mother…”

– Ashley B. Holmes

Artist Statements

Ashley B. Holmes is originally from Boston, USA and she is living and working in Belfast for over

twenty years now. She obtained a BFA degree in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, and she holds a Master of Fine Art in Painting from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a Master of Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. She has exhibited widely in Northern Ireland and abroad, including at Royal Ulster Academy, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland, Irish Contemporaries, Los Angeles and Danforth Museum, Massachusetts, USA, Birth of a Nation, Ning Space, Beijing, Identity,

Emerging Arts Research Centre Beijing, China Her artworks are in numerous private, corporate

and public collections, among them those of Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast, the Bank of Ireland in Dublin and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Francesca Biondi

Francesca Biondi is an art consultant based in Belfast working as a curator, art manager and art

advisor with artists, arts and other organisations in Northern Ireland and beyond. She is also the

founder and director of Gallery 545, an online and pop-up gallery showcasing and supporting local Artists.