Vena Ashley and Gretchen McDaniel, two local Houston artists, team up to bring you State of the Art Shows. They think outside of the box, and nothing is out of reach for them. If they can dream it, they can achieve it, and that is just what they are doing at State of the Art Shows. Their shows speak for themselves, and truly live up to their name, State of the Art!

Ashley also takes her photography to another level. Ashley loves photography, but for her, sometimes a print just will not do. She started using wood and mixed media with her photos and since all of her mixed media prints are done by hand, each piece is totally different and unique.This exploration of the overlooked helps her engage more deeply in her own life, space and time.

After graduating from Sam Houston State in 2006 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in advertising graphic design and photography, Ashley worked as a graphic designer until October 2013.

She then decided to finally take the first step at being a working artist and showed at her first work at the Art Crawl at the Atelier Jacquinet in November 2013. She has been showing and producing art ever since.

McDaniel grew up in a family of artists but didn’t embrace that identity for herself until much later in life. McDaniel was introduced to quilting when she married into a family that held many quilters and works with fabric. McDaniel says she is attracted to the tactile feel and colors of fabric and threads.