ALEXANDRA COLLINS + ASHLEY MARIE
A Waking Dream
Opening Reception:
Friday, December 4th | 6 - 9 PM
Exhibition on view through January 2, 2027
ALEXANDRA COLLINS
Alexandra Collins (b. 2001) is a painter based in Metro-Detroit who constructs dense perceptual spaces through oil painting. She earned her BFA from the University of Michigan in 2024 and received her MFA in Painting at Cranbrook Academy of Art in May, 2026. In 2023 she was awarded a residency at Anderson Ranch Art Center by the Stamps School of Art and Design to continue to develop her complex oil painting technique, and in May of 2024 she was awarded the Integrative Project Award for painting thesis at the University of Michigan. Collins has been mentioned in World of FAD magazine during May 2025, and is featured in New American Paintings MFA Annual Issue #183. She is a Homiens Art Prize Winter 2026 Highly Commended Artist, and has exhibited in spaces and institutions across Michigan, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago such as; Viridian Artists, (New York City), Hard Return Art (Chicago, Illinois) Current State Gallery, (Los Angeles, California) Muskegon Art Museum (Muskegon, Michigan), VillageOneArt Gallery (New York City) Focus Art Fair (New York City) Frank Lloyd Wright Smith Home (Bloomfield Hills, Mi), Anton Art Center (Macomb, Michigan) Detroit Artists Market (Detroit, Michigan), College For Creative Studies (Detroit, Michigan) Eastern Michigan (Ypsilanti, Michigan) The Carr Center (Detroit, MI) Art Prize (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan). In 2026 she was selected as a Featured Artist at Detroit Artist Market, where she was given a corresponding solo exhibition and included in a group exhibition at BasBlue in collaboration with Wasserman Projects.
ASHLEY MARIE
Photo: CJ Benninger
Ashley Marie is a multidisciplinary artist in the Metro Detroit area. She attended one semester at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2011 for foundation courses and has been self taught since. In addition to exhibiting work throughout Detroit, Ashley’s work also appeared in the 55th Venice Biennale. Her work is derived from her life experiences. She hopes to inspire her audience thoughts on spirituality. She works in a variety of mediums such as oil paint, graphite, resin, and clay. These mediums allow her to achieve a simultaneously realistic and ethereal look, portraying the illusion between life and spirit.
Through my life experiences on navigating through grief and existentialism, my work explores the space between physical and spiritual realms. I work with a variety of mediums to allow for the creation of both realistic and ethereal qualities to portray this space between. I seek to inspire that we are eternal spiritual beings living a human experience.