Frances Ashforth
Scenic Route: Unstoppable Beauty
Hemmings Gallery presents Scenic Route: Unstoppable Beauty, a new solo exhibition by Frances Ashforth, an internationally exhibited artist whose work has been shown in the UK, Denmark, Ireland, and Canada. Ashforth creates spare yet evocative paintings and drawings inspired by the geography, geology, and interconnected habitats of the places she explores. For decades, she has immersed herself in the mountains, rivers, and expansive landscapes of the American West.
For this latest body of work, Ashforth turns her attention to the Wood River Valley, the Snake River Plain, and the Salmon River. As an avid hiker, cyclist, and angler, she begins each series with careful research and countless hours spent walking trails, studying maps, and experiencing the land firsthand. Rather than documenting a specific location, her work transforms these encounters into layered memories, where shifting light, changing weather, and distant horizons merge into compositions that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.
Scenic Route: Unstoppable Beauty celebrates the rewards of taking the long way—of lingering, observing, and connecting with the natural world. “I’m grateful that the outdoor spaces I’ve experienced continue to haunt me in the very best way, reminding me to tread lightly and be an intentional steward of the land,” she says. Her work offers a quiet invitation to slow down and recognize that our deepest connections to the landscape often inspire our greatest responsibility to protect it.
Prairie 3
by Frances Ashforth
oil on paper
19.5″ x 19″
Hemmings Gallery
340 Walnut Ave. | Ketchum
208.254.1097
hemmingsgallery.com
