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After finding solace and accomplishment in art, an artist seeks to give back.
The talent of Jenny Pickens weaves through Asheville’s buildings and its history—her latest expression found in a Black Lives Matter mural on the pavement around the Vance Monument in downtown. She served as a lead artist and worked to bring the word “Lives” into focus with vivid paints: “red for bloodshed, black for us, and green for the earth,” she explains.
The art teams, chosen through an application process, created the mural in July 2020. The project came amid controversy about the Vance Monument and whether to remove it, as well as the growing protests across the country following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Pickens learned from an early age to turn to art for healing and solace. The youngest of four children, she was raised by her paternal grandparents while her parents were in prison. School, and art class in particular, filled her with hope and inspiration.
She joyfully recalls the encouragement of her kindergarten art teacher. “She’s the one who recognized my art talent,” she says.
Her murals cover walls and spaces at such places as the Wortham Center for Performing Arts, LEAF Global Arts Center, Stephens-Lee Center, Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium, The Flying Bike on Coxe Avenue and one at a Peace Garden in West Asheville.
She loves working with acrylics, but she’s also an expert seamstress, quilter and creator of hand-built pottery. “When I’m stressed I will go from one medium to the next,” she says. “Art is a good way to release tension. It’s therapy. It helps with healing.”
Her newest endeavor involves serving as an artist curator and artist mentor at Noir Collective on Market Street. “This place is designed for people of color,” she says. “I can tell younger people what to do to make their art better, to help them feel more confident. Art doesn’t have to be painting or drawing. It can go into music or spoken word. You have to have someone who believes in you and shows you there’s another way.”
The story above first appeared in our September / October 2021 issue.
