On March 11th, Christie’s sold an NFT by the artist known as Beeple for 69 million dollars. The sale garnered big headlines in art publications and beyond. According to the auction house, the deal made Beeple among the “top three most valuable living artists.” Many people were left scratching their heads, wondering who is Beeple? What is an NFT?  69 million?…WTF (Beeples real name is Mike Winkelmann BTW). Since March, artists, collectors, and gallerists have rushed to learn about NFTs and what they are and how they work. We sat down with Ashley Zelinskie to find out more about NFTs and talk with her about her work with digital art and the release of her first NFT. Zelinskie is a Brooklyn-based artist and a founding member of the Lady Tech Guild. The Lady Tech Guild is “a collective of professional women who are 3D artists, designers, biohackers, educators, and entrepreneurs in the 3D industry who support like-minded girls and women to become resourceful, inspired creative professionals.” 

NFT is an acronym for Non-Fungible Token. The purchaser of the NFT owns a unique digital object which, in Ashley’s case, comes with a physical object. The NFT may be part of a series or can be an individual entity. The artist retains the copyright of the NFT and receives a royalty if the NFT is resold. That feature makes NFTs attractive to artists. It gets complicated so take a few minutes to watch Ashely explain NFTs.