From Alison’s website:
Alison Bachmann Webster, designer & founder of Ally Bling: Avant-Garde Couture Designs, was originally nicknamed “Ally Bling” at the beginning of her career by other artists at local bar shows and coffee shop art events, who recognized her as the only artist at the time selling urban-style artwork and ‘bling’ …that is, jewelry. And so of course, the name stuck.
In my early twenties, my family suffered great hardship to where I had nowhere to settle down and paint. When living out of a suitcase, you’re forced to find creative outlets to fit your circumstances, so Autumn of 2009, I purchased some string and beads, remembering a few weaving patterns I had learned in my adolescent years. I began to weave beadwork around seashells that I’d found on the local beach and would make jewelry in my spare time, while working towards reestablishing my life. My first festival show earnings allowed me to pay the down payment on an apartment, and it was then that I realized that other people enjoyed my jewelry as much as I enjoyed making it. Not long after this festival, my jewelry was sought after by a museum curator and showcased in the Taubman Museum, Summer 2010. I had a wonderful intuition that I had a true knack for the jewelry design culture.
When I was 3-years old, my mother sat me on her lap and took both my hands and prompted me, “Do you see these hands?” In that moment, I remember taking her words so sincerely to heart. She then spoke, “These little hands are going to do beautiful things someday.” …and I believed her words. My lifelong passion for the arts proves that she was right; there is power in childlike faith.
My career as an artist launched after having worked for Trader Joe’s for a handful of years, perfecting my handwriting and concise doodles of tacos, pineapples, pizza, bacon… so now, if anyone ever has need of a food illustration, I’m your girl! Small businesses began to contact me outside of Trader Joe’s for murals, sign art, and restaurant menu boards, allowing me to leave the grocery store art life for a full plate of new projects! Today I am considered a professional designer. I draw fun illustrations, paint public art murals and whenever time allows, I design high-end couture jewelry.
In all of my work, I emphasize the importance of creativity without comparison and how sacred and limitless our little hands are, from childhood even into adulthood, and how art can be a powerful way to encourage and inspire and keep us going when ‘the going gets tough’… simply because I’ve lived it. Every season in life has a purpose, and even hardship can stir our hearts to find beauty in places that would otherwise be overlooked if everything was ‘perfect’…
Climbing higher, Alison
