Q: Do you do manuscript consultations?
A: Yes! Please email me at ryanashley@proton.me and include the following information:
- manuscript genre, premise, and current word count
- What sort of consultation you are interested in (conceptual vs. reading/specific structural and line-by-line feedback)
- Why you want to work with me, specifically
Do not reach out to me about manuscript consultations if you have used A.I. for concepting, outlining, or any other reason in the ideation or production of your manuscript.
Q: What kind of work do you do as a creative director and are you open to contracts?
A: I am very open to arts- and community-centered projects which align with my values and ethics. Past clients have ranged from large companies like Sony, Mattel, and the EPA, among others; individuals like musicians, filmmakers, and craftspeople; and organizations/events like trade show booth design and gallery popups, arts organization programming, and curation. Send me an email detailing your needs and availability so we can plan a time to chat in-depth. During these meetings, I share portfolio work, offer some starter ideas, and provide the opportunity for us both to determine whether the project seems like a ‘fit.’ If it does, the next step would be to discuss the budget so I can deliver a project pitch and scope. Before contracting my services, any additional meetings beyond an initial project chat and scope conversation would be considered a consultation and I am happy to share those rates if you are interested. ryanashley@proton.me
Q: You have taught artist workshops in the past: knitting, printmaking, visible mending, embroidery, and others. Would you be willing to do group workshops in the future?
A: I love teaching and am currently interested in producing workshops which value collaboration, with my role as facilitator more so than ‘instructor.’ Topics of interest at the moment are primarily process-based, workshops that improve people’s relationships to materials. For ex: a workshop that covers the entire textile process from spinning to dyeing to knitting or weaving with the material. I work with many materials and modalities, so just send your idea my way and we can plan a time to chat about it. ryanashley@proton.me
Q: Are you available for in-conversation events for author book-releases or artist exhibition launches?
A: Yes! Nothing makes me happier than researching/prepping for events that help artists and authors connect with an audience, make sales, talk meaningfully about their work, and expand their reach. I am not available for in-conversation events with people who identify as racists, fascists, TERFs, etc., or with people who use A.I. to produce their work.
Q: As the managing editor and nonfiction editor of Pool Party, what sorts of things do you look for in submissions?
A: First and foremost, I want thoughtfully edited and structured work that tells a story or offers a critique in a way that is unique to you—something that nobody else could write in exactly the way you have written it. I look for clarity of vision, purpose, voice, and strategy. It might help to know what I tend to avoid: generic interviews that ask the interviewee the same sorts of questions as every other interviewer–let’s really get at the heart of something; book reviews that are summaries–I prefer comparative analyses or a critical angle that connects the work to a personal experience or collective cultural experience; trauma porn–if the only thing the work is doing is telling us about a bad experience you had, although that telling has value, it’s not what I am interested in publishing; work that purports to be critical of bigotry but in fact just normalizes stereotypes; pieces that are un-edited or grammatically clumsy; pieces with no there there.
I love working with someone on a promising piece that needs some additional structural work or granular editing, but if the editing required is clearly a symptom of the writer just not editing themselves a few times first, then it’s not for me. In other words, I shouldn’t be spending more time editing the piece than the writer.
Q: Which A.I. use-cases are you for/against?
A: I understand that A.I. is a useful and necessary accessibility tool in certain cases. I support this use-case alone. I do not support its use in research (yes, I also mean using Gemini-assists in Gmail and Google), ‘brainstorming,’ editing, note-taking, record-keeping, document synthesis, outlining, organizing, planning, creative design assists (like photo editing and digital design work).
Q: Why are you against A.I.?
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Q: Where can I see your work?
A: If you are a curator interested in developing a show, feel free to send your concept or plan a time to chat via email (ryanashley@proton.me). Once I understand what you are looking for, I will send you relevant samples. Additionally, a list of publications and shows can be found in my CV. <hyperlink>
Q: Why don’t you just have work available on your website or showcase it using social media? Same with your writing: didn’t you also blog at some point?
A: I am not interested in my work being scraped (as is all of the internet now) to train A.I. I am also not interested in being curated into shows based on the false assurances of social media vanity metrics (which are proven not to correlate with things like sales and participants). If people have seen or heard about my work IRL and are interested in the work aesthetically or conceptually, then I would love to talk with them directly about projects.
Q: Would you allow your work to be curated into a show with other artists who use A.I.?
A: No, certainly not knowingly.
Q: Would you submit your writing to publications who publish A.I.-generated ‘literature’?
A: No, certainly not knowingly.
Q: Aren’t you afraid that by being so picky and elusive, you won’t get published, shown, or hired?
A: No.