I’m thrilled to announce I have a new body of work available as NFTs. Please visit my project page on Foundation to view and purchase a piece.

NFTs are a thing. No really, they are. My original position on NFTs up until the end of last year was, “Why would anyone want to do that?” I’ve had a few months to come around to the idea of creating and selling my artwork as NFTs, and I am super excited by the possibilities.

My partner, Boris Mann, is a technologist and entrepreneur, and he is always on the leading edge of where things are heading in the long-term trends and growth of the internet. He’s experimented lots with crypto, and has been a collector of NFTs for some time. Despite my initial reluctance, I now find myself fully invested in learning more and growing my art practice in the web3 and NFT space because of his advice and guidance.

Last week I took the leap into minting my first collection on Foundation, called Phosphate Font in Paper. The pieces are the 26 letters of the latin alphabet, utilizing the phosphate typeface, and created from multiple layers of cut paper.

Here’s what I wrote in my portfolio description for the original work, which are the letter portion of the series I created for 36 Days of Type in March and April 2022.

I worked with the Phosphate Solid font to create my letter and number forms. I chose a palette of four main colours for the letter layers, and a larger range of colours for the pattern layers. The elements are a mix of hand-cut, and machine cut patterns made with Canson Mi-Tientes papers. Each letter was composed and assembled from four layers of paper with foam core spacers in between each, photographed, and then disassembled for further use in the series.

While each letter was assembled from real physical paper elements as I described, these are ephemeral pieces: the “originals” only existed until they were photographed. The digital artifact represents the final version of the work.  They seemed like the perfect body of work to turn into an NFT art series.

What am I hoping to accomplish with this exploration of NFT art? Make money (of course), expand my audience, and connect with new collectors outside of the very limited space of selling physical pieces of art in the small market of Vancouver. There is a lot of ridiculously overhyped and overpriced art in the NFT space, and I don’t want that for myself. I’m just hoping to create a new income stream that is sustainable, and engage with collectors who have a long-term interest in supporting my work. 

I also want to start collecting NFTs myself. Because I am so new to the space, I haven’t yet started to do that. I’ve been buying art a few times a year for many years, and these pieces fill the home I share with Boris. What will it mean to collect NFTs?  I want to continue to support other artists with my dollars, as well as help mentor more artists entering the web3 and NFT space. 

If you’re NFT savvy already, you can follow me on Foundation @rachaelashe. I’ll be sharing more about my explorations and learnings in the space. If you’re a curious artist, you can check out some of the resources from a recent NFT artist workshop that I helped organize in Vancouver.