The Wortham Center is delighted to feature River Arts District Asheville artists in the facility’s lobby through the end of the 2024/2025 season.
This pop-up gallery is part of the Wortham’s ARTS RISING! initiative, created to uplift, support and bring the Asheville community together as our region recovers from Hurricane Helene.
Over the next several months, these RAD artists will be spotlighted in the lobby with varying works on rotation.
Current Featured RAD Asheville Artists
Kevin Andrew
As a Lifelong Creative, Kevin Andrew followed the right path for many years before questioning it. After obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees in Civil Engineering, years working in IT Corporate America, and a successful Entrepreneur Business Exit, he now paints abstract artwork full time with intention and a business mindset.
As he puts it, “Creating art is a journey to find my self.”
The simplicity of Proximity creates connections which forever change the trajectory of relationships or the composition of a painting. In the coworking space he created and operated, Kevin was driven to see how unrelated people, working in the same space, interacted, connected, and grew to produce something new together. Empowering people with opportunities and workspaces created unimaginable connections and success stories. His drive for community building remains but now is applied within the boundaries of his canvas. Connections between colors, textures, tools, and techniques in the right empowering environment produce new and unseen compositions together. Underlying Intentions ranging from life lessons to therapy sessions influence these connections.
Without the encumbrances and formalities put on students through formal art education, Kevin brings a unique skillset to his creative process from the mind of an engineer, creative, and entrepreneur. His artwork is an abstraction of sensations and emotions which connects with collectors on a visceral, relatable level. Being vulnerable and open about his work drives sales and helps him better understand his purpose. Kevin shares, “My hope is by finding my self, I will be able to better figure out how to make a positive difference in this world.” Kevin Andrew’s Website
Theresa Clower
Theresa is an artist and educator whose sculptures challenge the belief that purpose and direction are linear and singular. By fully engaging with the offerings of nature and “making it her own” Clower seeks to unveil surprising and innovative forms. Her sculptures are heavily influenced by the energy of modern jazz.
Born in 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland, she has lived in various regions across the United States. Clower holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Maryland Institute of Art and a Master’s in Public Administration. Currently residing in the mountains of Western North Carolina, she has founded and led several nonprofit organizations over a forty-year career while maintaining her artistic practice.
In response to the tragic loss of her son, Devin, to an accidental drug overdose, Clower founded the INTO LIGHT Project, a national initiative harnessing art and storytelling to reshape the discourse around drug addiction. Through this project, she has created and gifted over 350 graphite portraits of those lost to addiction, providing solace to families across the nation. Her work has been featured on PBS’s Growing Bolder show and her portraits and sculptures have been showcased in galleries and museums nationwide. Theresa Clower’s Website
Harper Leich
Harper is primarily an oil painter, although she enjoys art forms of all kinds. She often skips between painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, quilting, and embroidery. She finds great inspiration for her art in the beauty and wonder of nature.
Having lived and worked in Asheville for over 20 years, she originally hails from the midwest. Last year was her first time having a public studio in Riverview Station, which was destroyed in Helene. Luckily, her art survived with only one painting falling into the muddy water that reached 4’ high in her second-floor studio. She has rebuilt her materials and supplies through the support of her friends, family, strangers, grants, and the River Arts District Association. She currently shares a studio space in the Wedge Studios (Studio 1A-1). Harper Leich’s Website
Spencer Scanlon
Secret Portals
Secret Portals are the visual manifestations of the surrealist Asheville artist, Spencer Keasey Scanlon (b. 1983). A lifelong seeker, Scanlon grew up in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania, before decamping to Brooklyn, NY in 2006 to pursue a career in the music industry. Getting his start at Frank Zappa’s record label Rykodisc, Scanlon worked his way up through the ranks – ultimately becoming a Publicity Manager for Republic Records (Universal Music Group), before leaving the label to form his own inclusive boutique music publicity/consulting firm Transmission Publicity in 2017, shortly before relocating to Asheville, NC.
He named the series Secret Portals, ultimately coining the moniker that would wind up sticking – every piece of art that he has created since is a secret portal of sorts. After taking a job as one of the original staffers at Marquee, Scanlon immersed himself in the local art community, and found the medium he’d long been seeking to give Secret Portals an added element: resin. Secret Portals are surrealist mixed-media glimpses into otherworldly realms, cast in perpetuity in high-grade artist resin. Fusing natural, artificial and metaphysical elements and found objects from the ancient past, present and beyond, Secret Portals’ aim is to conjure and capture cryptic, thought-provoking vignettes from the recesses of the mind.
A finicky (and expensive!) medium, he began experimenting in his studio, finding that the translucent nature of resin was exactly what his output was missing. Immediately enamored, he began churning out new Secret Portals, now proudly on display here – these pieces are meant to hang in windows or be backlit, to reveal the dimension and layers within. Spencer Scanlon’s Instagram
Past Featured RAD Asheville Artists
Barbara Francois
Dr. Barbara Francois
Barbara Francois, an Ohio native, has woven a tapestry of experiences from her time in the United States and the Caribbean. Barbara has reinvented herself many times, embracing new passions and pursuits along the way. Her journey has included roles as a yoga instructor, massage therapist, college professor, and other endeavors that have nurtured her creative spirit.
As an artist, Barbara’s process is deeply intuitive, characterized by the use of wooden dowels of varying sizes to create intricate dot paintings. With a portfolio that includes solo exhibitions in Ohio and North Carolina, Barbara’s work has also been showcased in local and regional galleries, including Marquee, Trackside Gallery, Art Play Studio, Swannanoa Valley Art League, and Tryon Fine Arts Center. Currently residing in Black Mountain, Barbara finds inspiration in the balance of her studio work, yoga practice, walking, and hiking. Barbara Francois’ website
Anna Bryant
Anna Bryant is an Asheville, NC-based artist focusing primarily on relief printmaking. Her artistic journey is deeply rooted in the exploration of human connection. Drawing inspiration from the profound joy and fulfillment found in spiritual and physical synergy with others, Anna seeks to capture the essence of acceptance and inclusion through her work.
Printmaking is deeply meaningful to Anna for its lasting quality that transcends the fast-paced nature of the digital age where information is constant and fleeting. In this world of increasing digitalization, she has the urge to be more and more analogue.
Anna strives to inspire the same ties to our human collective in her audience as she experiences in the process of creation. Each piece is a testament to the beauty and complexity of relationships, inspiring change by inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences.
Anna is currently in the process of rebuilding after losing her studio to Hurricane Helene. She cannot wait to reopen her doors, get back to doing what she loves most and sharing it with her community. Anna Bryant’s website
Sarah Faulkner
Sarah Faulkner was raised on a farm in Virginia. It was during this time she lived with ultimate freedom, simplicity and imagination. These qualities are reflected in each of her creative endeavors. After a number of years on the farm, Sarah moved to Massachusetts, where she began to develop her talent as an artist. At this time, she began her studies in art history, architecture and visual arts. After school, she moved to San Francisco, where the west breathed life into her creative process. Abrupt landscapes, wide expanses and rich culture cast its spell. Sarah worked with several theater companies as principal set designer. These productions gave Sarah the opportunity to utilize her skills in sculpture, woodworking and painting.
In 2006, she and her husband moved to the Asheville area. It was at this time, she continued her artistic journey creating mixed media paintings. Her medium included acrylic, oil pastel and beeswax.
With this collection, Sarah worked as an illustrator, for Hallmark Greeting Cards, for over a decade. She was nominated for two prestigious Louie Awards, in connection, with the Greeting Card Association. Her original paintings are widely collected, by many, including former Governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue. Recently, Sarah was asked to create a collection to honor the US visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV, to Emory University in Atlanta. The collection was inspired by the teachings of Cognitively-Based Compassion Meditation Training. Sarah’s original work is represented by a number of galleries in and around Asheville, NC. Sarah Faulkner’s website
