The Wortham Center is proud to showcase local Asheville artists in the facility’s lobby through its rotating pop-up gallery series.
Presented as part of the ARTS RISING! initiative, this gallery uplifts and supports our creative community while fostering connection and healing through the arts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. New artists will be featured throughout the year, highlighting the diversity and resilience of Asheville’s artistic voices.
Current Featured Artists
Jenny Pickens
Jenny Pickens is a self-taught artist from Asheville, NC. At a very young age she had a love for drawing and crafting with her hands. Pickens’s work extends across several mediums—including pencil, pen and ink, pastels, oils, fiber arts, pottery, and jewelry—but her medium of choice is acrylics Her handcrafted dolls can be found at The Big Crafty events. Her work has been featured in local galleries, several newspapers, and magazines such as Readers Digest, Asheville Made, and The Laurel of Asheville.
She was also the T-shirt designer for the Goombay festivals in 2006-2007.
Pickens also has several murals throughout the city, including the Wortham Center as well as one of the lead artists for The Black Lives Matter Mural in downtown Asheville. She continues to work with children in after-school programs as well an Art Teacher for Asheville PEAK Academy. She was featured on Season 5 episode of Samantha Brown’s Places To Love which aired on PBS.org in January 2022. WRAL-TV The Tar Hill Traveler in June 2022. In January 2023, she appeared in The Story of Art in America (Season 2). In May of 2023, Jenny was recognized in the New York Times 36 Hours in Asheville, NC: Things to Do and See.
Pickens says her paintings and crafts are related to her cultural background, and that is something she never wants to lose. Jenny Pickens Website
