ABOUT

Ashley Dawn Clarke was eventually expelled from the womb and raised in the small rural town of Stroud, Gloucestershire. Her childhood was spent climbing trees, digging holes in search of lost treasure, examining bugs under a microscope and writing short stories about being very small. Some years later, she left home to study a degree in illustration and roam the city of Bristol, where she is now based.

A mixed media sculptor and illustrator, Ashley is driven by a curiosity to explore our relationship with the past, the natural world and the impending apocalypse, as well as a love of literature and storytelling. She is a designer and maker of puppets and costume pieces, having worked on music videos, theatre productions and one full length feature film, on which she was given the task of turning actor Simon Pegg into a "cute and disturbing" stop-motion animated hedgehog.

Having run away with the circus in 2008, Ashley can also often be found performing at events and festivals across the UK, wearing the costume pieces she makes for her characters.