AVL Black Lives Matter Mural

Artists

Lead Artist for the word Black

Joseph Pearson is a native Mississippian. He moved to  Asheville five years ago from New Orleans. He is a national and international award-winning painter specializing in portraits, murals, and figure drawing. Pearson’s work has social and political leanings and can be found throughout New Orleans, Hammond, and Alexandria in Louisiana. His work can also be found in several places around Asheville, including an installation at All Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village and in Benne on Eagle in downtown. Pearsons has been collected and exhibited regionally and nationally. He trained at the Art Student League in New York for five years under a full scholarship. Pearson also holds a B.S. in Art Education and a Master’s in Education.  

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Lead Artist for the word Lives

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. She has received several awards, and her work has been featured in newspapers, galleries, and festivals. Pickens also has several murals throughout the city, including her newest installation at LEAF Global Arts. Pickens says her paintings and crafts are related to cultural background, and that is something she never wants to lose. 

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Lead Artist for the word Matter

Marie T. Cochran is a native of the Northeast Georgia Mountains. She is the founding curator of the Affrilachian Artist Project, which celebrates the intersection of cultures in Appalachia and nurtures a network of individuals and organizations committed to the sustainability of a diverse region. As a visual artist, Cochran creates mixed media pieces that address community history and are often grounded in interdisciplinary dialogues focused on social justice. She has exhibited extensively throughout the Southeast and nationally. Cochran received degrees from the University of Georgia (BFA) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA). She has been an art faculty member at colleges in Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina. Cochran was recently named the 2020/2021 Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies at Duke University and American Studies and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.

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Additional Volunteer Artists

Michelle Acevedo, Manuela Acevedo, Jackie Barnard, Joseph Crimmins, Stephanie Flores, Nastassia Hearst, Ethan Hunt, Hasana Hunt, Kaleb Hunt, Trazon Mason, Sanii Thomas, Pamela Washington, and Arabelle Watters