Artist Profile: Ashlyn Rudolph

Written by: Bird Collective

Published on May 11, 2026

Time to read 1 min

Ashlyn Rudolph is a pyrographer and printmaker based in Richmond, VA. Her work is distinguished by deeply textured wood pieces, and risograph prints in duplication that explore the intersection of the naive and the sacred.
Using a fine looped wire, she carves deep grooves with heat, allowing intricate linework to echo and flow across the surface. Seeking to introduce color to the monochromatic nature of woodburning, she incorporates risograph printing to create hand-printed versions of her woodblocks, continuously experimenting with the interplay of both mediums. Wood serves as both her canvas and grounding force—its tactile nature keeps her present, while the ritual of burning memory and emotion into its grain connects her to both the moment and the past.

Name

Ashlyn Rudolph

Where do you live?

Richmond, VA :)

What do you do for a living?

I like to explore the silliness and sacredness in nature. There’s a nostalgic thing to my work that I like viewing as reflection and encouragement - I think a lot of folks my age look back at nature as something that “once was”, because they viewed it with so much wonder as children. Bringing that sense of wonder and play back renews interest and relationship of what’s around you.

Colorful illustration print featuring a glowing blue dog standing in a landscape beneath a row of whimsical architectural drawings and orange horse figures. Along the bottom, a running pheasant stretches across the page. The artwork uses textured shades of blue, orange, cream, and green with a dreamlike, folk-art feel.

Black-and-white illustration of grim reaper figures, skeletons, and an angel riding a rhinoceros through clouds and gravestones, with a turntable in the foreground.

How has nature been a source of inspiration for y ou?

Nature inspires me to delve deeper. why is a bird’s call like that? where does that stream go? why does that fish look like that?

For my work, drawing from nature is so key to appreciating what lives around us. When I was a kid and didn’t know what to draw, my dad would tell me to draw trees because “they’re all unique on their own, they’re everywhere - you’ll never run out of material.” It’s an endless fountain of ideas.

Tell us about your most memorable bird experience.

The bird memory closest to my heart is hearing morning doves close to my childhood home in the spring and summer. I feel a lot of comfort hearing and seeing them today. It makes me think of walking barefoot on cool grass, hunting for honeysuckle.