Ashley Bella returns to the elementary school where her talent was first recognized
Ashley Bella built a career on a single piece of advice from a teacher who pulled her out of class when she was just a kid. Now a public artist behind large-scale murals across Atlanta, she runs two companies and recently returned to A. Philip Randolph Elementary School in South Fulton as the lead muralist for the launch of Zion’s Closet, a school-based resource hub by Love Beyond Walls. What started as a TAG test drawing turned into a professional life focused on healing, community and the belief that betting on yourself is always worth it.
Do you remember that moment when you were first discovered?
When they first pulled me out of class, I thought I was in trouble. I couldn’t figure out what I had probably done. I went to the principal’s office scared, thinking they were gonna call my mom. But my art teacher and the principal were both there. They showed me my TAG test. Part of the TAG test is drawing, where they want to see your creativity and your artistic talent capability.
My art teacher saw my drawings and said he felt he needed to come tell the principal how good my artwork was, because I had real talent. He had an understanding that in the schools we were from, creative kids don’t always have the infrastructure and the environment to support them. He felt this was one of his opportunities to pour into a student he felt had real talent and could do something with it later.
The thing that I took away the most was he said, “along the journey, people are going to tell you that you won’t make money doing this, it should just be a hobby, just something to do in your free time, but I want you to not listen to them and see how far you can take a career as an artist, because you definitely could have one.”
One motivational conversation can really change the shape of a person’s life, and maybe not in that moment. His words stayed with me for 10, 20, 30 years later, where I had moments where I had to make a decision. Do I become an artist full time or do I not? And that seed would take root and come back to my mind and help sway my decision in the way it should go.
Now you’re returning as the lead muralist for Zion’s Closet. How are you feeling?
I feel emotional, appreciative, I feel really full, I feel validated. A risk I took in 2016 of quitting my corporate career in mental health and finally deciding to stop doing the 9-to-5 and go full fledged into being creative. It feels like I made the right choice. Starting as an artist, and putting business around myself as an artist, with no money.
Everybody thought I lost my darn mind, which I expected, of course, but it made everything I’ve went through over the years, giving up so many things, it made it all worth it. When you bet on yourself, no matter how ugly it looks or how long it takes, sometimes the dreams we set as children, we can really bring to life. And that is what this moment has reminded me of.
What is the story behind this mural?
I just remember being an elementary school student at A. Philip Randolph, and as a very young artist, always noticing the creative things around the school. There were murals and paintings. When I went up there to do this mural, some of the stuff is still there. I remember seeing those pieces and it motivating me, like, another human did that, someone created that, and it was good enough to be on these walls.
The artwork we would walk around and experience day to day became part of our memories as students there. The number one goal I had is to create a piece that these kids will remember when they’re adults one day, and it will bring back fond memories of that time they spent in elementary school, just like it has done for me even today.
My partnership with Dr. Lester, who I grew up with, and his wife, and their daughter, Zion, was very special to me. I always wanted to do a mural at my school. I think lately I’ve just been in God’s will, because things have been syncing up and working out seamlessly.
When I got the email about this school, I said, “this is right up God’s alley.” He’s giving me these opportunities to have full circle moments, to continue telling the story of what he’s doing in my life, and allowing me to operate in my gift, full time as my full time job, and inspire younger people and create representation, especially for Black girls and young Black people in general, that you can be an artist full time and one day come back and paint your school. And then just really embody what A. Philip Randolph and that mascot of the dolphin represents to them.
Can you tell us about Zion’s Closet and how they help the community?
I knew Dr. Lester when he was a 16-year-old kid in high school. And so, 20-something years later, to see what he and his wife have built, and how Zion is now walking in their footsteps with her heart to serve and lead and create solutions in our community, it’s very emotional to see. What Zion’s Closet is, is the renovation of resource rooms in schools.
They take resource rooms that were existing, or an empty room in a school, and create a room where parents and kids, families that are in need of additional resources, have a safe, confidential space where they can come and get what they need. Coming from a mental health and teaching background, I understand how those factors can really impede a child’s ability to perform academically when they’re worrying about things like food, clean clothes, and having basic school supplies.
They also have computer labs where kids can do homework and parents can use the internet. Just being that third space that schools need to further care for families. I come from an environment where a lot of families didn’t have resources, and it impedes on them right in the moment, but it can also impact them as those kids become adults one day. The goal is for the families who use the room to feel welcomed and supported and not judged.
Being able to contribute art there helps further their mission of creating this environment where these families feel just like everybody else, and the resources they need to support their kids are there for them if they need it.
Where can people find the mural and how can we support Zion’s Closet?
You can find this mural at A. Philip Randolph Elementary School on Campbellton Road in the city of South Fulton. If you Google it, it’s there.
Ways that you can support Zion’s Closet is donations, because as long as there are families in need, they will always need things. What I have seen in the resource rooms is everything from feminine products, basic hygiene, school supplies, clothes, shoes, book bags, anything a child would need to thrive in an academic setting.
Think about all the things a young person needs to just feel whole and feel happy so they can stay motivated to come back and perform their best, and donate that. Give with a cheerful heart, and if you can, give what you would want to receive. Think about the brands and the products and the quality of the things you would like your children and yourself to have, and if and when it is in your means to do that, just take it a step further and think about those things, too.
Where can we find you and what’s next?
Right now I run two companies. Artzy Bella, we offer clinical art therapy and creative wellness through an app that people get a subscription to. Through your subscription, you get to try out therapeutic art activities at home using pre-recorded tutorials, and you get all the supplies in the mail every month. We’re getting ready to launch that app worldwide on May 1st.
My other company, Ashley Bella Studios, we do commercial art and design. We do a lot of murals, especially on the South side where I’m from. I’ve become part of the Aerotropolis region, which is a regional development of the 15 cities on the South side. I decided, as a native and as an artist, how can I be a part of the development that’s happening in my neighborhood before people who don’t care about the neighborhood come in and take it over.
I have about three or four more projects coming up. I’m doing a project with Microsoft, and I just wrapped one with Georgia State. We’re gonna do some massive hiring, bringing in young artists so they can learn that you can make money and a livable wage as an artist. You can find me on all social media platforms as theashleybella or you can find my companies, Artzy Bella and absATL, on all social media platforms and our website.
To learn more about Zion’s Closet, visit lovebeyondwalls.org and follow Love Beyond Walls on social media.
