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Originally from Paducah, Kentucky, Jean attended Vanderbilt, where she double-majored in Philosophy and Fine Arts. She then moved to Boston, MA, where she worked for a financial institution. While on the business path she studied for an MBA, but ultimately decided she’d rather help people. This led her to pursue a medical career. She earned both a Master’s in Health Sciences and Physician Assistant certification from Duke. After 16 years in General Surgery and Neurosurgery in Asheville, she took a few years off, during which she began painting again. This led to a career in framing in 2017, then to a happy commitment when she became BlackBird’s new owner in 2022. Jean’s art tends toward dreamy landscape paintings, but she’s been known to sketch crazy birds and vexed animals, too. Of course, being a Kentucky girl, she loves to ride horses.
Nelson (so called, to avoid confusion with the previous owner, also named John) was born in Cleveland, OH, but moved to Sarasota, FL as a child. He was a professional musician for over two decades, playing guitar for rhythm and blues bands on tour. While his passion for music has never faded, he gradually transitioned his energy toward visual artistic pursuits. His painted creations tend to be geometric and rhythmic, perhaps musically influenced. He also produces lyrical line drawings reminiscent of sigils. He started his framing career in FL in 1987, and moved to Asheville in 1996. Nelson is very socially engaged, frequently entertaining on his front porch. He also loves tending his flower and vegetable garden.
Georgia grew up in rural CT, the eldest of six siblings, who she remains very close with. Having been raised by artistic parents, she has been busy making art her whole life. After living a number of years in Wisconsin, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at University of WI-Madison, she spent five years in Boston, MA, moving to the Asheville area with her husband in 2016. Having worked in frame shops in every state she’s lived in, she has a long history of framing experience dating from 2000. Her current artistic pursuits are focused on surrealistic collages. When not in her studio creating mysterious visual stories, she’s likely to be feeding family and friends, reading, or weeding her garden.
Elizabeth is from Wilmington, NC, but she grew up visiting her grandparents farm and camping in the mountains over the summer. She has lived in the region since 2021, and has worked in the framing industry since 2017. She is a person of science, having double majored in Biology and Anthropology with a minor in Forensics at UNC-Wilmington. While growing up, she was surrounded by creative family members, including carpenters and metalworkers, but it was the women creating textile art that influenced her the most. Her textiles—primarily felting—have a glowing, magical quality that is difficult to describe. Elizabeth also enjoys hiking, gardening, and restoring vintage trucks, and hopes to broaden her horizons by traveling more in the future.
Josh is from the Midwest. He was born and spent his childhood in Dixon, IL, but spent the bulk of his life in Wichita, KS until moving to Asheville in 2021. He attended Northeast Magnet with a four year concentration on Art and has since apprenticed under artist Steve Munillo for studio and public art. He also holds a Medical Assistant- Associate of Applied Science degree from Vatterott College. An accomplished muralist, Josh also paints abstract, figurative, and commercial art. He has been framing since 2016. His interests span a huge range: travel (he will tell you interesting stories of Nepal!), film, music, nature, advancements in science, and spirituality. He and his wife go on many adventures in Western Carolina and beyond, which he regularly shares on social media.
Julie comes from Baltimore, MD, by way of Savannah, GA, where she attended SCAD University for Creative Careers and earned a BFA in Painting. This painting degree covered just about every medium possible, and Julie is a self-described “medieval pigment nerd.” Her framing experience began in 2014. She enjoys long (really long) hikes in the woods and rides bikes absolutely all over. She has a few unusual accomplishments: she has jumped off the Pont du Gard, bikepacked across Sweden, nearly fallen off several mountains, and survived poisonous mushrooms twice.
Jesse was born in Kentucky, and recounts fond memories of visiting Secretariat in his pasture and feeding him carrots. After reaching adulthood in Virginia, he spent eighteen years in Colorado Springs. He earned an Associate Degree in Accounting, a practical decision that nonetheless never became his primary focus, as he prefers to be creative and use his hands. Jesse moved to the Asheville area in 2000, where he simultaneously started his framing career and his signature artistic style, constructing frames and wall sculptures from ceiling tins and other metals. One of his sculptures is titled “Fish Scales”, an aptly named piece since his favorite hobby is fishing.
Will is a rare Asheville native. He attended NC State, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design. Among his interests are games and comic books, strong influences for his paintings, sculptures, and illustrations, which tend toward fantasy. He began his framing career in 2018, building upon his carpentry skills. When Will isn’t at work he’s living the dream, inside an Eyvind Earle painting, with the love of his life, two delightful yet rascally children, three perfect cats, and one giant dog.
3/4 mile north of downtown Asheville
Free parking in front and back
