Speak with Flint artist Ashante Abernathy (also known artistically as Taye DéAsia) for a few minutes and it’s clear the name of her business — TayeDreaming — perfectly captures her style.
Abernathy’s work is inspired by the many things that catch her attention or fascinate her. It includes everything from paintings to writing to homemade self-care products. That’s a testament to both her talent working in multiple mediums and, more generally, just the way she thinks.
“My art business is called TayeDreaming, I play on words with daydreaming,” Abernathy said. “I’ve always had a really active imagination and just different visualizations that come to my mind. Most of my art is very intuitive. Like, it just starts off with no plan and it ends up being something. It becomes really immersive and I try to convey that in my work for others to feel it as they look at it.”
She works in traditional visual arts, like acrylic painting or graphite drawing. She also does graphic design and tattoo designs, edits media, makes jewelry, and even has experimented with sculpting.
“I’ve always been drawing and doodling on paper since I was a kid, taking notes, drawing off the side and it always stuck with me,” Abernathy said. “I’ve always been very passionate about it and then just events happen (in life) to where I always would end up back with my art and it just guided me to follow my heart and be an artist, to try selling my art and get serious with it.”
Most impressively, she’s self-taught in all of the avenues she explores artistically.
“Everything is self-taught. I’ve always just been doing all different kinds of creative stuff like drawing, writing stories, writing poems, just different creative avenues,” she said. “I’ve always stuck with visual art the most. People have always said that I should do stuff about my work, publish it, really sell prints and all that. And I’d always been, at first, hesitant about it, but as I grew older and experienced some things, it’s like, why not?”
Abernathy grew up off of Home Avenue on Flint’s northside. Since she was young, art has been a big part of her life. She says she always drew, read fiction, and would “perform” for her family. A recent event she participated in – Civic Park’s Arts & and Music Festival on August 9 – was a perfect platform for an artist with styles as varied as Abernathy’s. The festival brought together musicians and artists to expose families to different genres of art and get kids using their imaginations actively in the way Abernathy did as a child and has continued as an adult working in the arts.
“This year was my first summer vending period, selling my artwork and self-care products,” Abernathy said. “I’ve been joining a lot of different events and I really felt passionate about this one (the Civic Park event) because it’s art and music. It’s local artists, musicians, poets, local food vendors and all that, so I really appreciate a family-oriented event.”
Although she’s just started out participating in shows as a vendor and selling her work, she’s already had success. One of her paintings, “Cosmic Goddess,” is currently on display at Queens’ Provisions in Flint’s Carriage Town neighborhood. More information about TayeDreaming, her work, and her commission rates are available on her website, Instagram, and Facebook pages.
“I’m glad that I did it (started selling her art),” Abernathy said. “At least I tried instead of not trying at all and never seeing the result, and I’m just glad that I did, because there’s so many different avenues waiting for me.”
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