A LIFE FULL OF ART
Scott Ashley is a doctor in a family of artists
— but he’s dabbled in many mediums himself
A child grows up among a family of artists in
Mississippi, a place — Ocean Springs — where
in 1918 his great-grandparents bought 24 acres
and his great-grandmother established a commu-
nity of artists that thrives to this day. His grand-
mother studied art and absorbed the ideals of
the Arts and Crafts movement, and often paint-
ed with her friend, Impressionist Mary Cassatt.
The boy’s grandfather and two great-uncles were
artists; the family home was full of art; author
Eudora Welty was a family friend.
Yet the boy, Scott Ashley, became a doctor and
found his way to Astoria, Oregon. It seems a long
way from where he grew up, but Ashley doesn’t
see it that way. “Ocean Springs is the Astoria of
the South,” he says, “a very artistic community,
but a lot hotter.”
Ashley’s great-uncle Walter Anderson is per-
haps the best known of the family artists. Ashley
says he was, “an elusive naturalist whose family
lovingly supported his talent and also recognized
his eccentric temperament.” His paintings and
the ceramics he designed for the family’s Shear-
water Pottery company have gained a measure of
fame.
Shearwater Pottery was established by Ash-
ley’s grandfather, Peter Anderson, whose brother,
James McConnell “Mac” Anderson soon joined
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duce both art and utilitarian ceramics today. Mac
Anderson was also an architect, sculptor, painter
and printmaker, and one of Scott Ashley’s great-
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man. He loved New Orleans, and he was one of
my inspirations to go to Tulane (University).”
Another source of inspiration for Ashley was
his father, whom he calls, “a blue-collar, simple
guy who married the non-artistic daughter of an
artistic family.” He spent his working years in a
shipyard and is, “the source of my sensibility and
work ethic.”
When Ashley was in elementary school his
family moved in with his grandfather, to nurse
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became interested in medicine as he watched the
physical therapist work with his grandfather. A
friend’s father suggested he pursue the interest.
Before entering medical school he taught En-
glish for a year in Mexico, and later received a
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documenting the genocide of the Mayan people
by the government, in which some 200,000 peo-
ple died. He stayed on to work with forensic an-
thropologists, living in a Mayan village where he
could see the effects of PTSD on children.
Along the way, Ashley also spent some time
A
8 | June 25, 2015 | coastweekend.com
in Mozambique, and the cumulative effect of his
experiences was an interest in refugee health. He
also met his wife, Christy (“A medical anthro-
pologist who had been with the Peace Corps in
the Dominican Republic. We hit it off immedi-
ately.”), and they moved to Denver, Colorado,
where he did his residency at a hospital where a
third of his patients were political refugees.
“Being from the South,” Ashley says, “rac-
ism is a part of the vocabulary.” But the South
is where he also learned the importance of diver-
sity. “I’ve been in New Orleans, enjoying mu-
sic with the rich and the poor, the black and the
white, and it’s art that holds the scene together.”
After his residency, Dr. Ashley and his wife
decided that they had been away from large bod-
ies of water for too long, and took a road trip to
the Northwest. They passed through Astoria and
decided they’d like to live here for four years.
It’s been twice that now, and there are no plans
to move. Ashley works at Wimahl Family Clinic
in Astoria.
Art is still an important part of his life. In the
house he shares with Christy and their children,
George and Ada, the cupboards hold Shearwater
ceramics and the walls display works by fami-
ly and friends. He’s had little training, he says,
“but a lot of exposure to different mediums.”
He attended the recent Maori pottery workshop
at Clatsop Community College, “and I dabble
in printmaking, charcoal and watercolor.” He’s
worked on murals and taught himself to sew in
order to make costumes, “and I’d like to hook
a rug.”
If he had the time, “mixed-media sculpture
would be my greatest interest,” Ashley says. The
doctor has a talent for writing as well, to judge
by a story he wrote for the 2014 RAIN Magazine
about the loss of the family home and much of
the family art in Hurricane Katrina.
Time is a problem though. There are two kids
to raise, and, “being a doctor is a pretty ex-
hausting thing, dealing with both physical
and emotional suffering. At the end of the day
there’s not a whole lot left,” he says.
You might think that a doctor who has
been exposed to the misery of genocide and
the loss of much that has been important to
him and his family would have a dour take
on life. You’d be wrong. “I’ve heard a lot of
people talking about how bad the world is,”
he says. “My take on it is that we are a coun-
try hooked on instantly available informa-
tion, information that says the world is a bad
place. We need to be a lot more optimistic
for our kids.”
Ceramics from the family’s fi rm, Shearwater Pottery, line a cupboard at Scott Ashley’s home in Astoria.
‘I’ve been in New Orleans,
enjoying music with the
rich and the poor, the
black and the white, and
it’s art that holds the
scene together.’
Scott Ashley, right, and his son, George, with hold a pot by made by
Ashley’s grandfather, Peter Anderson.
A detail of a pot by Walter Anderson, Scott Ashely’s
great-uncle.
the arts
VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE
Story and photos by DWIGHT CASWELL