Work samples
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Chaetura pelagica (chimney swift) Habitat Destruction 2022CHAETURA PELEGICA (CHIMNEY SWIFT) HABITAT DESTRUCTION (2022). This installation (at my studio in the Mill center in Baltimore) features a mock wake for the impending destruction of the Book Bindery chimney (Elm St., Hampdon), which is a biomimicry habitat for the migrating swifts in spring and fall. The "coffin" used was found on the banks of the Stony Run stream which flows nearby.
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BEE HOUSE (2019)BEE HOUSE; Mixed media, 23" by 23"(2021). This box construction consists of bee tubes as used in solitary bee houses along with paintings, drawings and polaroids of work associated with solitary bees, specifically mason and leaf cutter bees.
The box was shown at the Peale Center as part of the Baker Off the Web show and is now in a private collection.
About ashley
Baltimore City

Ashley Kidner is a Baltimore based environmental artist. Kidner works with native plants, wood, water and stone, in addition to watercolors and “box construction”. Kidner’s work reflects issues such as climate change, habitat lose and the decline of pollinators, directly responding to the natural world and the changes man has forced upon it.
Kidner was born in Norfolk, England and grew up on a farm in the hamlet of Thwaite St. Mary. Kidner studied and worked in Geology while living in… more
Kidner was born in Norfolk, England and grew up on a farm in the hamlet of Thwaite St. Mary. Kidner studied and worked in Geology while living in… more
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Chaetura pelagica (chimney swift) Habitat Destruction (2022)
This project has involved fighting against the demolition of the Book Bindery building On Elm St., Hampden, Baltimore with it's iconic chimney, serving as a nightly resting place for thousands of Chimney swifts during their spring and summer migration to South America. My protest tool in this fight is a coffin from the banks of Stony Run.
Please listen to Aaron Henkin's The Curiosity Bureau episode on the Stoney Run Coffin.
https://www.wypr.org/2022-11-14/whats-with-the-abandoned-coffin-of-mathilda-lorenz
Please listen to Aaron Henkin's The Curiosity Bureau episode on the Stoney Run Coffin.
https://www.wypr.org/2022-11-14/whats-with-the-abandoned-coffin-of-mathilda-lorenz
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Chaetura pelagica (chimney swift) Habitat Destruction 2022CHAETURA PELEGICA (CHIMNEY SWIFT) HABITAT DESTRUCTION (2022). This installation (at my studio in the Mill center in Baltimore) features a mock wake for the impending destruction of the Book Bindery chimney (Elm St., Hampdon), which is a biomimicry habitat for the migrating swifts in spring and fall. The "coffin" used was found on the banks of the Stony Run stream which flows nearby.
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Charter pelagica (chimney swift) Habitat Destruction 2022Movie of installation
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Swift descent (2022) slow-moThis video shot from beneath the Book Bindery Chimney shows Chaetura pelegrica descending into the chimney in their thousands just before sunset in late september of 2022
Watercolors
The watercolors presented in this project are all recent ( 2019-2022) with some inspired by my interest in mutation. My recent work, as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic, has produced a series of works inspired by nature but often featuring strange twists or mutations. Some of these drawings and paintings were started after I had a medical procedure to insert a small tube in my body where a large aneurysm had developed.
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The colors of the soul (2019)This watercolor (18" by 18") is from a series I've been working on drawing influence from a book about the soul, which was acquired by the Dutch art collector George Loudon. The book was on display at an exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 2019 but viewers only able to read 1 page. At the time I was awaiting an operation to remove a large aneurysm in my left iliac and became fascinated with the notes in the book describing different soul colors, there supposedly being only red, blue, yellow and brown.
Pollinator Preservation Work
This project shows some of my work in helping create and preserve pollinator habitats and specifically work sustaining the native solitary bee population. The current decline of insects and pollinators in particular is very disturbing. With reduced pollination comes reduced food production and we are currently on a downward spiral where pollinators are concerned.
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Leafcutter bees emerging from tubes in spring (2022)This video shows 2 Leafcutter bees (megachile species) emerging from cardboard tubes in one of my solitary bee houses. The eggs were laid in april/may.
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Megachile Species (leafcutter bees) cleaning 2022Leafcutter Bees cleaning right after hatching in springtime
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Art on the Farm Workshop for Baltimore County Public School Chidren, Construction of solitary Bee-houses (April 2018)This was a workshop set up for Baltimore County Public School children from primary to high school. 70 children were schooled by myself in constructing solitary Bee houses that also had art built into their design. The workshop was held at the Maryland County Agriculture Center in Hunt Valley, MD. 2018.
Mail Art
These are a selection of mail art cards (mainly pencil and watercolor) that in some cases have travelled great distances. I sometimes used mail art as a form of protest, as dealing with a physical card is more work than dealing with emails and I believe more effective. I have always been facinated with mail art and have been sending small sketches and drawings to friends and fellow artists throughout the years. Sometimes the postal stamps add an official feel to the artwork (as in the case of mailing cards from the Postal Museum in DC), thus changing the piece dramatically.
Birdland and the Anthropocene exhibition at the Peale Center (2017)
This project shows work from the 2017 exhibition Birdland and the Anthropocene, a show curated by avid bird lover and artist Lynn Parkes that exhibited at the Peale Center in downtown Baltimore. The show highlighted the negative influence that man has inflicted on the bird population of planet Earth. As part of the group exhibition, I installed 5 replica nests of endangered MD groundnesting birds in the garden of the Peale Center.
https://www.thepealecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/finalbirdland.pdf
https://www.thepealecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/finalbirdland.pdf
Earth Works installed in Reykjavik, Iceland and the UK
These photographs document 4 projects installed on the beach near Reykjavik airport, Reykjavik, Iceland, all involving the stone basalt. My fascination with Basalt goes back to my Studies and work in geology. Basalt for me represents the movement and creation of possible land masses through plate tectonics, an important part of Earth's geological history. Interestingly Reykjavic has imported yellow sand from the US to replace the black basalt sand native to Iceland, for use on one of it's recreational beeches.
2009 Basaltic Hexagon project; Basalt stones were collected and placed in a hexagonal pattern, each hexagon approx. 3ft in width. The pattern reflects the nature of basalt when emerging from the earth, it often forms large hexagonal layers. The installation was started at low tide, I then worked until high tide started to lap on to the completed hexagons.
2010 Basalt high tide markers; In this project I guessed at the position of high tide on the shoreline. Then basalt was collected and placed to mark high tide. The next day when I visited the installation and found that I had marked the high tide mark accurately; below the basalt stones on the ocean side the beach was frozen, above the stones on the landward side the basalt remained unfrozen.
2012 Basalt circle; Basalt was collected and placed in a 12ft diameter circle with a hexagonal shape in the middle, this was installed at low tide. At high tide the circle was slowly flooded out and destroyed.
2014 The worship of Basalt I and II; Location directly at the end of runway for Reykjavik airport. A large basalt boulder (approx. 3ft long) lying secluded from the surrounding rocks was selected for the installation. Small basalt stones with kelp attached were selected then dragged across the sand and placed with the stones facing the boulder. The action of dragging the stones across the sand (which had a light dusting of snow on it) left interesting lines on the beach. The installation was performed 2 times on consecutive days (high tide washing away the stones overnight); in part 1 a hexagon was formed around the boulder, in part 2 the shape was an outline of the boulder.
The remaining pictures are a selection on projects installed in the UK.
2009 Basaltic Hexagon project; Basalt stones were collected and placed in a hexagonal pattern, each hexagon approx. 3ft in width. The pattern reflects the nature of basalt when emerging from the earth, it often forms large hexagonal layers. The installation was started at low tide, I then worked until high tide started to lap on to the completed hexagons.
2010 Basalt high tide markers; In this project I guessed at the position of high tide on the shoreline. Then basalt was collected and placed to mark high tide. The next day when I visited the installation and found that I had marked the high tide mark accurately; below the basalt stones on the ocean side the beach was frozen, above the stones on the landward side the basalt remained unfrozen.
2012 Basalt circle; Basalt was collected and placed in a 12ft diameter circle with a hexagonal shape in the middle, this was installed at low tide. At high tide the circle was slowly flooded out and destroyed.
2014 The worship of Basalt I and II; Location directly at the end of runway for Reykjavik airport. A large basalt boulder (approx. 3ft long) lying secluded from the surrounding rocks was selected for the installation. Small basalt stones with kelp attached were selected then dragged across the sand and placed with the stones facing the boulder. The action of dragging the stones across the sand (which had a light dusting of snow on it) left interesting lines on the beach. The installation was performed 2 times on consecutive days (high tide washing away the stones overnight); in part 1 a hexagon was formed around the boulder, in part 2 the shape was an outline of the boulder.
The remaining pictures are a selection on projects installed in the UK.
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The worship of Basalt (pt. 1)THE WORSHIP OF BASALT (Pt. 1) 2014 Installed on the Beach near Reykjavik airport, Reykjavik, Iceland. Basalt boulder surrounded by small basalt stones with kelp attached. The hexagonal shape reflects the form basalt takes when deposited in large layers on the sea floor.
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Basalt High Tide Marker 2010In this installation I walked along the beach at low tide and tried to guess at the location where high tide would come up to on the beach. Basalt stones were collected and placed to mark the positions. On return the next day I found my guesses to be correct, the atlantic ocean side of the stones were frozen while the landward side remained unfrozen. The effect was as if the stones had stopped the high tide at this point.
Blakeney Point Flint Project #5 (cairn with fire and henge) Norfolk, England, 2007. Including the Blakeney Point Flint Project cabinet for the Artscape 2017 Fieldwork exhibition.
Installed on Blakeney Point, Norfolk, England, December 28th-31st 2007.
Exhibited as part of Artscape 2017 fieldwork group show.
Circle diameter 20ft, height of cairn 3ft
Blakeney Point Flint Project #5 was the culmination of 4 previous installations (or sketches) in exactly the same location on the western side of a large sand dune just above normal high tide. Flint was collected from the surrounding area and sorted into 6 colors; white, blue, light blue, black, tan, red. The position of the cairn and henge were marked, sand was excavated from the henge to form the mound for the cairn. The different colored flints were then placed to form the outer circle (white), henge (blue) and cairn (light blue, black, tan and red). Washed up vegetation (jetsam and flotsam) were placed in the henge.
Dry driftwood was collected and used to build a fire on the top of the cairn. The installation was a homage to the Neolithic stone circles found throughout the British Iles.
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Blakeney Point Flint project cabinet installed for Artscape 2017 Fieldwork Exhibtion.This cabinet installation was exhibited as part of the Fieldwork exhibition for Artscape 2017. It contained photographs, sketches, samples of flint, box constructions and reference books all related to the Blakeney Point flint projects installed in Norfolk, England between 2003-2008.
Nature Art in the Park (Leakin Park), Art on the Trail (Lake Roland Park) and other installations installed in US
These works are part of the Art on the Trail series of installations at Lake Roland Park, Baltimore and Nature Art in the Park work in Leakin Park, Baltimore (2014 to Present). They include my Pollinator Hexagon series of installations. In addition to other work installed in the US.
https://chesapeakebaymagazine.com/art-on-the-waterfront-brings-inspired-outdoor-art-to-south-baltimore/
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Swalevine 2016, Adkins Arboretum,MDThis installation was part of the "Artists in dialogue with nature" outdoor invitational at Adkins Arboretum, installed in late spring/early summer 2016. The installation was constructed using mainly non-native grape vines cut from the surrounding forest. The vines were twisted together to form a long (approx 85'), snaking sculpture which followed the course of a swale which may have been a road at some point in time. In the construction of the installation, dead branches were blown off and dropped into the swale, these branches were dug into the ground and used to support the heavy mass of vines. The sculpture was deemed finished when the vines became too heavy to manipulate. The native vine passionflower (passiflora incarnata), was planted at the beginning of the swalevine. The installation brings up the subject of native and non-native species and their battle for dominance in the american ecosystem.
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Pollinator Hexagon IVPollinator Hexagon IV (2018); Installed for the Art on the Waterfront show in Middle branch Park.
The stone was delaware river gravel.
Central zone; Rudbeckia maxima (giant coneflower)
Middle zones; Echinacea purpurea "magnus" (purple coneflower)
Outer zones Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) -
Pollinator Hexagon VPollinator Hexagon V (2018); Installed for the Artists in Dialogue with Nature show at Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely MD. The dead wood was collected from around the Arboretum and was a mixture of loblolly pine, red maple and other native trees.
Central zone; Rudbeckia maxima (giant cone flower),
Middle zones Echinacea purpurea "rubinstern" (purple coneflower)
outer zones; Solidago hybrida "little lemon" (Little lomon goldenrod)
Hampden elementary and middle school (HEMS) outdoor classroom and Druid Heights Nature Playspace
The HEMS project involved designing and installing an outdoor classroom and educational playspace featuring a native pollinator and wildlife garden, installed by my company International Landscaping and Design.
The Druid Heights Nature Playspace project involved transforming 2 empty lots on McCulloh St in the Druid Heights area into a community nature playspace with an emphasis on sustainability and native pollinator plants. The design was drawn up by myself with help and advice from The Druid Heights Development Corporation, National Wildlife Federation, The Univesity of MD Medical Center and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The installation was completed by my company International Landscaping and Design over a period of approximately 8 months in 2019.
https://blog.nwf.org/2019/08/bringing-nature-play-to-west-baltimore/?_ga=2.243302278.2098123358.1576712363-1506711329.1576529155
The Druid Heights Nature Playspace project involved transforming 2 empty lots on McCulloh St in the Druid Heights area into a community nature playspace with an emphasis on sustainability and native pollinator plants. The design was drawn up by myself with help and advice from The Druid Heights Development Corporation, National Wildlife Federation, The Univesity of MD Medical Center and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The installation was completed by my company International Landscaping and Design over a period of approximately 8 months in 2019.
https://blog.nwf.org/2019/08/bringing-nature-play-to-west-baltimore/?_ga=2.243302278.2098123358.1576712363-1506711329.1576529155
Box Constructions
Assemblages: Wood, stone, oil paint, sand, photographs, natural and manmade objects.
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BEE HOUSE (2019)BEE HOUSE; Mixed media, 23" by 23"(2021). This box construction consists of bee tubes as used in solitary bee houses along with paintings, drawings and polaroids of work associated with solitary bees, specifically mason and leaf cutter bees.
The box was shown at the Peale Center as part of the Baker Off the Web show and is now in a private collection. -
Box sketches 2014A series of 4" by 4" box sketches, containing stone, geology maps, photographs, water sample bottles.
This series was inspired by the anti-fracking campaign in MD and talks about the relationship between man and water pollution. This Piece won first prize in the bridges in science exhibition (2014) put on by Towson Arts Collective.