The painter Ashton Wilson was born in the small village of Charleston in West Virginia. She studied at the Art Students League in New York under William Meritt Chase, then one of the most influential teachers of his generation, and under his assistant and student Charles Hawthorne. Both were beloved figure and portrait painters who were praised for their use of rich colors and a full, pasty brushstroke. The painter was a member of the National Association of Women Artists in New York City (founded in 1889). She has exhibited her work at the exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and of the avant-garde Society of Independent Artists in New York, which was founded in 1916, among others.