Ashley Dreyfus’ love for art started at a young age, like most artists, but she came into the world of digital drawing on her own while working at an ice cream shop in lieu of college. She taught herself how to use digital drawing programs by watching Youtube videos and talking with other artists in her community. She has since created art for clients like Roku, Specialized Bicycles, Nascar, and, to our recent delight, DOMA Coffee Roasting Company.
Each season we work with an artist to create a Winter Wonderland label. The assignment is pretty open book, but each year the art must include a snowflake and a tree. With art influences like Keith Haring, Peter Max and Andy Warhol, Dreyfus created a playful, animate and perhaps the most colorful Winter Wonderland label yet for our seasonal winter coffee blend.
Dreyfus starts her day with a cup of coffee and a sketchbook, and believes you can never have enough color when you make art. She enjoys drawing variations of cat characters and adding smiley faces on inanimate objects to turn them into lively characters. Her human-esque art characters, she says, are “Alter Egos” of humans.
"The idea behind the characters [in my art] is that they exist in a world filled with love and acceptance. Everyone is the truest form of themself. My characters exist in a world where everyone is seen equally," says Dreyfus.
Aside from drawing, Dreyfus’ favorite medium is mural painting. She loves the community draw of this art form.
“It’s such a gratifying feeling being able to scale up a design on a wall and leave your permanent mark in the environment you are in,” she says. “Murals are so crucial for communities, because they provoke thought and beauty in an otherwise industrial or bland streetscape. I love that murals can start conversations and inspire.”
In that way, her art is a little like a great cup of coffee.
Dreyfus’ favorite DOMA coffee is the Ethiopia brewed as an espresso. Find more of her art at dreyfusart.com or @dreyfus.art.
Thank you, Ashley, for creating for us. Happy Winter.