Anna Buckner is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose work navigates the limits of structure through painting, textiles, language, and new media. Rooted in material exploration and conceptual inquiry, her practice challenges conventional systems of making and learning. Buckner received her MFA from Indiana University and her BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work has been exhibited nationally at institutions including The Mint Museum (NC), Kathryn Markel Fine Arts (NY), Brandt Roberts Gallery (OH), Blue Spiral 1 (NC), and Bad Water (TN), and featured in publications such as Textiel Plus, New American Paintings, and New York Magazine. She has participated in residencies at Unlisted Projects (TX), Design Inquiry (ME), and Konstepedimen (Sweden), continuing to develop a practice that thrives on experimentation, collaboration, and the disruption of traditional hierarchies in art and education.

Andréa Keys Connell is an Associate Professor of Ceramics at Appalachian State University, known for her emotionally resonant figurative sculptures. Her work has been featured in Colossal, The New York Times, and exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Jane Hartsook Gallery in New York and the Gaya Culture and Art Center in Korea. Represented by Blue Spiral 1 (Asheville, NC) and J Mackey Gallery (East Hamptons), Andréa has completed over 20 solo exhibitions and numerous public art commissions. Her recent collaboration with Susan Alexandra was featured in Wirecutter. A sought-after educator and speaker, she has led workshops at Penland School of Craft (NC), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), and presented at conferences including the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts and Women Working in Clay. Like a storm that both unsettles and awakens, her practice embraces chaos, care, and the transformative force of motherhood each sculpture holding the tension between breaking and being held.

Jeana Eve Klein is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Boone, NC, where she is Professor of Fibers at Appalachian State University. Working at the intersection of textiles, digital media, and social practice, her studio practice explores themes of labor, memory, value, and the often-tenuous relationship between lived experience and its digital representation. From bead-woven recreations of family photographs to AI-generated weaving experiments, her recent projects examine the disconnect between physical reality and virtual perception. Klein’s work has been exhibited nationally, with solo shows at OZ Arts (Nashville) and ArtSpace (Raleigh), and group exhibitions at the Museum of Design (Atlanta) and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair (Miami Beach). She holds an MFA from Arizona State University and a BFA from North Carolina State University and is a recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Individual Craft Artist
Fellowship.

Jenny Pickens is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Asheville, NC, whose work spans over four decades and a wide range of media – from fiber arts and pottery to pen & ink, oils, and handcrafted dolls. Deeply rooted in the Black experience, her work reflects stories of resilience, culture, and identity, often gracing public spaces, galleries, and publications such as The New York Times, Mountain Xpress, The Laurel of Asheville, and more. Pickens has been featured on Blue Ridge Public Radio, Samantha Brown’s Places to Love, and The Story of Art in America, and is known locally for her celebrated murals, including her role as a lead artist for Asheville’s Black Lives Matter mural. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches art at Asheville PEAK Academy and leads workshops that empower youth and community through creativity. Whether through dolls, murals, or mixed media, Pickens continues to uplift and inspire, using her art as a bridge between generations and cultures.

Kenny Pieper is a master glass artist whose elegant vessels and sculptural works reflect the natural beauty of his home in the mountains of North Carolina. Raised in the region, he began his craft at the Penland School of Craft and went on to study at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit and earn his BFA from California College of the Arts. After 16 years working as a glassblower in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pieper returned to North Carolina, where he deepened his expertise in traditional Italian glass
techniques while managing the glass studios at Penland. His work, known for its refined form and technical brilliance, is held in the collections of the Corning Museum of Glass (NY), Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Asheville Art Museum, and others. Daniel Rich is a painter known for his precise, hard-edged depictions of architecture that explore the visual language of power, control, and memory. He received his MFA from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and has
exhibited widely, with solo shows at Miles McEnery Gallery (New York), StudioTrouble (Berlin), and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, among others. His work is held in public and private collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Collezione Maramotti (Italy), and the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art. Living and working between Blowing Rock, NC, and Berlin, Germany, Rich approaches painting with the focus of stillness in a storm – his compositions revealing the quiet, systemic forces that shape our built environment.

Jerrie Settles, known artistically as JEMS Creations Art, creates work deeply rooted in faith, family, and the enduring grace of God. Her creative journey began with the 2007 publication of her children’s book A Prayer for Wings – A Journey of Nipaerilla the Caterpillar, which she both authored and illustrated. Since then, her artistic expression has expanded to include tutoring, art therapy, and digital media, all united by a spiritual thread that runs through each piece. Jerrie signs her work “JEMS,” a name infused with personal meaning, honoring her family and faith: J for Jerrie, E for Essie (her grandmother and childhood hero), M for Mae (a name she chose on her adoption day), and S for Settles (her married name). To Jerrie, JEMS also carries a divine message Jesus Eternally Making Sketches – a reminder that God's creative work is ongoing in her life. As a "Trusted Art Seller" with The Art Storefronts Organization, Jerrie proudly stands behind the quality and heart of every piece she creates.

Margo Vaughn is an abstract painter whose layered, exploratory process blends expressive drawing with contemporary painting fundamentals including color, composition, texture, and balance. Working primarily in acrylic with elements of collage and mixed media, her pieces invite viewers into a deep, immersive space where surface and emotion intertwine. Each painting becomes a quiet excavation, encouraging close inspection and dialogue with what lies beneath. Rooted in the psychology of the shadow self, Vaughn’s work gives form to unspoken emotions, grief, memory, fear, and longing offering a visual language for the complex and often hidden corners of human experience.