Founded in 2023, Àse Gallery grew out of an interest in how art exists in everyday life: in the objects we use, the stories we tell and the ways we care for ourselves and one another. Our name comes from àṣẹ, a Yoruba word for the power to make things happen, the life force that gives words, intentions and creative acts the ability to come into being. It is often spoken as an affirmation, meaning “so be it.” We believe art holds that same power. Today Àse is a home for learning, built on the belief that art and wellness are interdependent. Through research, we look closely at how art carries stories, fills the spaces language leaves behind and speaks a language understood across cultures. Through archiving, we gather and preserve the work and words of artists past, present and future, especially the women who have built, and continue to build, the world of art. Through in-person workshops, we bring that learning off the page and into the room, with spaces to make, look, read, reflect and share together. Àse is a gallery of thought and ideas, open to every form of expression, where wellness and free expression come first and curiosity is always welcome.