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SOUP ARTICLES
WRITTEN ARTICLES ON SOUP EXPERIMENTAL.
ARTICLES ARCHIVE
"Ashton Bird’s artistic style is, in many ways, DIY. Philosophically, he’s observed art as a do-it-yourself kind of craft. This resourcefulness was certainly put to the test when he walked into the old apartment building in Railroad Square that has since been transformed into SOUP Experimental. Bird’s installation background gave him an eye to open the space up into a three-room gallery."
"We started off with five people and now we are at 18. SOUP experimental, including myself is a volunteer ran space that is exuberantly growing through people passionately believing in the idea of resourcefulness and experimental creativity. We’re scrappy. "
"Fantasy is the exercise of imagination, to make visible a vision separate from reality and free from limitation. These fanciful mental images entertain children and adults alike with magical thinking. Secret personal dreams is a place where sovereign control can create fulfillment of needs and wishes. They can also manifest as a stress-induced retreat from reality, divorced from the standing realities of the world that results in never truly living in the moment. From innocent make-believe to morbid desires, fantasy encompasses it all."
2016: His artwork has been exhibited in Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio, Florida, Washington D.C. and Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from Minnesota State University-Mankato with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Studio Art with concentrations in ceramics...
Currently, Bird is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Florida State University.
"Part social club, part networking hub and part gallery, SOUP has quickly becomea vibrant part of artistic life in Tallahassee. Already, the gallery has hosted nine exhibitions featuring 40+ artists sharing painting, sculpture, installation, photography, performance, dance, music, noise, rap, talk, poetry, and cooking. As you can imagine, in less than a year, SOUP has gained an enthusiastic and interactive audience."
"Food and collaboration often go hand in hand when it comes to the art world. Or at least that was the thought that inspired the creation of SOUP experimental, a gallery in Tallahassee that celebrates all forms of creativity from visual art to music and more. Now Metropolitan Gallery 250 brings the Florida gallery's experimental framework to Philadelphia, in an exhibition that defies distance, geography, and reality."
“Everything inside is completely DIY,” says Bird. “It was an old apartment and I took out the kitchen and the bathroom, put up all of the drywall, put the electric in—I had known how to do these things on little projects before, and I kind of wanted to see what I could do with this. I had never done anything like this before”
As founder and director of the gallery space, Ashton Bird has always been interested in curating spaces where students and other community artists could gather, network and gain valuable experiences. He wanted to create a space that was not just a venue, but also a networking solution. “It is more about a conversation and community while surrounding visitors in intriguing art of all forms,” says Bird. “The idea behind SOUP is to make up its own definition of a gallery and what a gallery can do. I want it to be all encompassing.”
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