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An 1851 farmhouse stands where it always has, squarely facing a country road in Trinity. Even though it is minutes from I-85, it feels pretty much like it always has -- out in the country. It's here that Joel and Ashley Selby moved a few months ago, on a whim, and here where they spend their days running This Paper Ship design studio in an upstairs room with red beadboard walls.

"We found the place on Craigslist," Ashley Selby says with a smile. A military kid, she is accustomed to moving, but this move, even for a newlywed couple, was an adventurous one, a move to this rambling farmhouse in a town close to a city where a job for Joel Selby soon fell through. Still, the couple decided to stay and build a life and a budding business, while focusing on their art and raising chickens.

First the art, then the chickens.

Boy loves art, girl loves art, boy and girl love each other

Joel and Ashley Selby met in a drawing class in college when they discovered they liked each other's jokes better than others in the class.

"We had the same sense of humor and talked in class," Ashley Selby says. "One day, we went to a coffeehouse, and it was all over after that."

The couple became inseparable. They soon decided they wanted a more challenging artistic education, so they decided to transfer from Harding University in Searcy, Ark., to Shepherd University, a liberal-arts institution one hour from Washington in Shepherdstown, W.Va. That decision meant they essentially had to begin their college careers again because most classes would not transfer. Once in the new university, they immersed themselves in intensive training with instructors who often pitted them against each other.

"Some of our best professors there were adjuncts, and we were inspired by them," Ashley Selby says.

"But we were competing against each other," Joel Selby says. "We used to fight a lot more. We're competitive."

Both of them declared graphic design as their majors, although Ashley Selby's love for photography and Joel Selby's love for writing and books has not diminished. Both see themselves in broad terms as artists, extending that into all activities and using creativity in daily life.

"Graphic design was a way to funnel all our passions and improve upon them," Joel Selby says. "And it wasn't the plan just to go from college to freelance full time together."

The plan was to get married and decide where to go from there. (Oh, and Ashley Selby wanted to design their wedding invitations.)

And once again, as Ashley Selby says, "It was all over after that." Before jetting off to their honeymoon in Florence, Italy, the couple started an Etsy shop (www.etsy.com), where artists sell handmade items, and showed their invitations there as an example of their work. When they returned, they had inquiries about custom orders. That was the beginning of their design partnership, which has blossomed into a freelance business.

The art

The art of Joel and Ashley Selby is not traditional, yet it is at once familiar and inviting. Instead of trying to get large paintings into galleries, they choose to focus on function and elevation of the utilitarian into something more: postcards become little works of art, designed to brighten the days of mail handlers' as well as those who receive them; advertising posters become frameable instead of just recyclable; T-shirts, journals and invitations become cherished pieces.

The Selbys are part of a tradition in art that mixes commercial and fine art, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the 20th century, in which artists made functional pieces, such as lamps or windows, into pieces of art. A more modern example of this is Andy Warhol, who originally worked as a commercial artist, designing illustrations for magazines, book jackets and greeting cards. However, the Selbys' work is not an "in-your-face" explosion of over-the-top images, but a warm, childlike sense of humor that whispers in your ear, "Can't everything be art?"

"We're inspired by the most ridiculous things," Ashley Selby says, gesturing toward a pile of children's instructional books from classrooms a generation or two ago. "We have a project, 'Spring to Spring,' where we try to make art every day and post it. Joel writes, and I take a photo, and we post them together on a blog, not showing them to each other during the process."

The Selbys also work collaboratively.

"We trade off constantly," Ashley Selby says. "We like playing off each other, and one person might get stuck on a project, and the next person will pick it right up. We keep a unified approach to the piece, even though our styles are drastically different."

And although those styles differ, they do blend to be something decidedly cute. For a lot of artists, uttering that word would be cause for outrage. But for the Selbys, the word is something they embrace.

"We are OK with cute," Ashley Selby says. "We try to make everything visually appealing with bright colors and pleasing shapes. But even though they are simple images, they have layers of meaning."

They recently completed their first wholesale order for a shop in Annapolis, Md., a step that gets them a little closer to purchasing an old letterpress machine, something the two used in college but cannot yet afford. The self-proclaimed typography geeks will gain even more control over their pieces, which often start in a sketch pad before moving to computer, with the press.

Their newlywed love nest (pun)

This artistic couple produces two blogs, one Web site, one Web store and custom designs from a small room in their Trinity farmhouse. The house does not have central heat, and the stairs are creaky, but Joel and Ashley Selby and their four cats and four chickens make a life here, fueled by ambition and a love of the simple homesteading life ---- that is, if it comes with an Apple computer and iTunes.

"We lived five years in a tiny college town where most everything was in walking distance," Joel Selby says. "We have a passion for gardening, the outdoors and cooking, so we wanted to be more out."

The chickens were whimsical purchases. At first, Ashley Selby was afraid to pick up a hen. But now the couple easily tends to them and enjoys the bonus of fresh eggs for all of Joel Selby's baking experiments.

Their landlord has been teaching them gardening and farming skills, and they grew some great sunflowers and yellow pear tomatoes this summer. The farm adventure keeps them busy, but they stay focused on making art each day and conveying their unique "perception of the world.

"I can get locked in viewing myself a certain way and being creative helps me stay out of a box," Joel Selby says.

Ashley Selby agrees. "Since high school when I got into designing, I have been aware that art is communication," she says. "In such a big world, it is the way to get my word out in a small way."

Even if that voice is coming from a little, red-painted room in a farmhouse.

 

Contact Stephanie Burt at charlotteghost@gmail.com

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