Look to the West
On view May 1, 2025–August 10, 2025
Main Gallery
Open to the public Thurs–Sat: 10am-5pm; Sun: 11am-5pm
Daniel Rich, Piedmont Plaza, W-S, NC, 2021. Acrylic on dibond. 22 x 16 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Look to the West brings together the voices and visions of artists from Western North Carolina whose lives and landscapes were forever changed by Hurricane Helene. This vibrant, multi-medium exhibition—featuring painting, sculpture, ceramics, glass, textiles, collage, mixed media, digital work, and more—offers a stirring glimpse into the ways art can process, protest, and prevail in the aftermath of disruption.
The exhibition features works by Anna Buckner, Andréa Keys Connell, Jeana Eve Klein, Jenny Pickens, Kenny Pieper, Daniel Rich, Jerrie Settles, and Margo Vaughn. Together, their work tells a collective story – one of resilience, community, and the healing force of creativity. Look to the West is both a celebration of creative endurance and a call to engage. Visitors are invited to experience the diverse works on view, connect with the stories they carry, and support the artists through the acquisition of these original works. Join CAM Raleigh in honoring the strength of a region.
Donate to Hurricane Relief
Recovery efforts in Western NC are still ongoing. Please give to the NC Disaster Relief Fund to help these communities heal and repair. https://nccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=16903
About the Artists
All artworks in the exhibition are available for purchase, with 100 percent of proceeds going directly to the artists. If you are interested in purchasing a piece, please contact our Assistant Curator, Reagan Bullock, at reagan@camraleigh.org.
Anna Buckner is an interdisciplinary maker and educator, interested in exploring the limits of existing structures within painting, language, textile patterning, new media, and emerging modes of teaching and learning. Buckner received her MFA from Indiana University in 2016 and a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012. Her works have been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally with recent shows at The Blowing Rock Art Museum (Blowing Rock, NC), The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC), Brandt Roberts Gallery (Columbus, OH), Bad Water (Knoxville, TN), Blue Spiral Gallery (Asheville, NC), and Kathryn Markel (New York, NY). Her work has been published in multiple catalogs and galleries, including Textiel Plus (Netherlands), New American Paintings (USA), and New York Magazine (USA). She has been an artist in residence at Unlisted Projects (Austin, TX), Design Inquiry (Vinalhaven, ME), and Konstepedimen (Gothenburg, Sweden).
Small Frogs, Anna Buckner. Found fabric on stretcher. 24 x 24 in.
$2000
Blue Heron, Anna Buckner. Found fabric on stretcher. 24 x 24 in.
$2000
Little Blue Stem, Anna Buckner. Found fabric on stretcher. 24 x 24 in.
$2000
Andréa Keys Connell (b. 1980) is an Associate Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art at Appalachian State University. Her work has been widely recognized, featured in national and international publications such as Colossal and The New York Times. She has exhibited internationally in galleries and museums, including the Jane Hartsook Gallery in New York City and the Gaya Culture and Art Center in Goryeong, Korea. With over 20 solo exhibitions since 2009, she is represented by Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville, NC, and J Mackey Gallery in the East Hamptons.
Beyond her studio practice, Andréa has extensive experience in public art commissions and collaborative projects. Her recent collaboration with Susan Alexandra in New York City was featured in Wirecutter.
In addition to exhibiting her work and teaching at App State, Andréa is an accomplished educator who has led figure-sculpting workshops at renowned craft schools, including Penland, Haystack, Arrowmont, Centre d’arts Rozynski, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. She has also been invited to present as a demonstrating artist at major conferences such as NCECA, Women Working in Clay, and The Bascom’s Annual Clay Symposium.
Keeping the Window Open, Andréa Keys Connell. Clay, underglaze. 4.5 x 22 x 12 in.
$6500
Jeana Eve Klein is an artist and educator based in Boone, North Carolina, where she is Professor of Fibers (and—reluctantly—sometimes a low-level administrator) in the Art Department at Appalachian State University.
Klein’s wide-ranging practice addresses recurring themes of labor and value, social media and other digital relationships, language and communication, the inherent meaning in materials, the fallibility and malleability of memory, and the limitations of documentation. As a textiles generalist and conceptual artist, the processes and materials she uses vary from project to project, including traditional textiles techniques such as weaving and knitting as well as digital media, installation, and social practice.
Klein’s work has been exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at OZ Arts (Nashville) and ArtSpace (Raleigh) and group exhibitions at Untitled Space (NYC), the Museum of Design (Atlanta), and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair (Miami Beach). Klein earned her undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and MFA from Arizona State University. She is a past recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Individual Craft Artist Fellowship.
Klein has exactly one tattoo (a blue dot on her right foot based on a dye spill), is a passionate-yet-mediocre gardener, and has never met her match in Boggle. She shares her home with her husband, two kids, two guinea pigs, and a few houseplants that are struggling to survive.
Cake, Jeana Eve Klein. Hand-woven plastic beads, nylon monofilament, and acrylic yarn. 41 x 51 in.
$9,000
Glitch, Jeana Eve Klein. Hand-woven plastic beads, nylon monofilament, and acrylic yarn. 41 x 43 in.
$8000
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. Her handcrafted dolls can be found at The Big Crafty events. Her work has been featured in local galleries, several newspapers, and magazines such as Readers Digest. Asheville Made, and The Laurel of Asheville. She was also the T-shirt designer for the Goombay festivals in 2006-2007. Pickens also has several murals throughout the city, including the Wortham Center as well as one of the lead artists for The Black Lives Matter Mural in downtown Asheville. She continues to work with children in after-school programs as well as an Art Teacher for Asheville PEAK Academy. She was featured on a Season 5 episode of Samantha Brown's Places To Love which aired on PBS.org January 2022. WRAL-TV The Tarheel Traveler in June 2022. In January 2023 she appeared in The Story of Art in America (Season 2). In May of 2023. Jenny was recognized in the New York Times 36 Hours in Asheville, NC: Things to Do and See. Pickens says her paintings and crafts are related to her cultural background. and that is something she never wants to lose.
A Love Supreme, Jenny Pickens. Acrylic on canvas. 30 x 40 in.
$5000
Discernment, Jenny Pickens. Acrylic and crystals on canvas. 36 x 36 in.
$6800
Konia, Jenny Pickens. Acrylic on canvas. 24 x 36 in.
$4000
Kenny Pieper was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in the mountains of North Carolina. He began his craft career in high school when he studied at the Penland School of Crafts. Initially, he studied pottery with Norm Schulman and Cynthia Bringle. Later, he found his passion for glass under the tutelage of Richard Ritter. After high school, Kenny moved to Detroit in 1978 under scholarship at the Center for Creative Studies; he subsequently received his B.F.A. from California College of Art and Design, Oakland, CA. he then spent 16 years working as a glassblower in the San Francisco East Bay area. Kenny’s career came full circle when he left California and moved back to North Carolina. While constructing a studio there, He worked at Penland School and managed the glassblowing and lampworking studios. It was during this fruitful time that he developed his expertise in the tradition of Italian glass. Kenny now resides in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Reflecting the harmony and beauty of his surroundings, Kenny produces an exquisite line of glass vessels and sculpture. He has work in the collections of Corning Museum of Glass, Museum of Fine Art Boston, New Bedford Museum of Glass, Asheville Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, Hickory Museum of Art, Racine Art Museum, as well as many private collections.
Ocean Diva, Kenny Pieper. Glass. 28 x 7 x 7 in.
$1900
Hurricane Bowl, Kenny Pieper. Glass. 44.5 x 14.5 x 14.5 in.
$1190
Daniel Rich was born in Ulm, Germany in 1977. After moving to the United States in 1996, he received his BFA from The Atlanta College of Art and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University in 2004. Rich attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and has exhibited his work nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. Rich has been the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies including a Traveling Scholars Grant from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; a Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Studio Grant and he is a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow for Painting. Museum exhibitions include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the Maison Particulière in Brussels, and the Fralin Museum of Art in Charlottesville, VA. Rich lives and works in Blowing Rock, NC and his work is represented by Miles McEnery Gallery in New York and Bernhard Knaus Fine Art in Frankfurt, Germany.
Hong Kong University, Daniel Rich. Acrylic on Dibond. 38 x 26 in.
$18,000
Jerrie’s art is an expression of being blessed, by God through her family, beyond measure. In 2007 she authored and illustrated her first children’s book, A Prayer for Wings - A Journey of Nipaerilla the Caterpillar. Over the years her art has taken on new dimensions, where she has tutored art students, taught art therapy classes, and expanded to digital art. No matter what the medium or the platform, the grace and love of God is always expressed in every creative work. She signs all her work with JEMS:
J- Jerrie, her nickname
E- Essie, her middle name from her grandmother, her childhood hero
M- Mae, her grandmother’s middle name, Jerrie selected on adoption day
S- Settles, her last name she received when marrying the love of her life.
And the Lord said to me; “your signature means Jesus Eternally Making Sketches.” Now God is still working in her life behind the scenes, ensuring the sketches will never stop.
She Worships, Geraldine E. Settles. Digital on Canvas. 20 x 20 in.
$1200
A-Waridi, Geraldine E. Settles. Watercolor. 24 x 30 in.
$3000
Piedmont Plaza, W-S, NC, Daniel Rich. Acrylic on Dibond. 22 x 16 in.
$12,000
Baby’s Breath, Geraldine E. Settles. Digital on Archival Paper. 16 x 20 in.
$900
Originally from New Haven, CT, Margo Vaughn is a contemporary abstract painter whose creative journey spans a multitude of mediums. Trained in art at Seton Hill College in Greensburg, PA—with a major in sculpture and a minor in metalsmithing—she has cultivated a diverse practice that also embraces clay, fiber arts, photography, mixed media, and metalsmithing. This rich background informs a body of work defined by vibrant abstraction and an innovative exploration of form, texture, and emotion.
Her career has been marked by several significant exhibitions and accolades. Margo first began to show her work in Boston while continuing to explore and running mixed media open studios for adults. Her first show in North Carolina was at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC 2008, where she showcased 27 abstract paintings. Earlier, a solo show of contemporary art quilts at J Crist Gallery in Boise, ID (1999) highlighted her creative approach to fine art quilts. Margo further distinguished herself by earning Best of Show honors at the Woman in the Arts Annual Fundraiser in Boise, ID in both 2001 and 2002.
More recently, she has continued to expand her reach while living in Western North Carolina with a group show at Noir Collective in February 2023, followed by a solo show with the collective in March 2023. Her paintings were also featured in a solo exhibition at the Asheville Community Theater in July 2023 and a two-person show at the Grove Park Hotel in Asheville, NC, in March 2023. 2024 brought Mosaic Realty’s 2nd Annual Art Walk & Benefit in May, and an upcoming two-person show at the University of Mars Hill in Asheville, NC in January 2026.
Through her ever-evolving body of work, Margo Vaughn invites viewers to explore abstraction and agrees to meet them halfway. Though abstraction is frequently a misunderstood form of art, her aim is to produce art that will speak to all levels and make art that is accessible to everyone.
You are always on my mind, Margo Vaughn. Acrylic. 24 x 24 in.
$1600
Singing songs of Silence, Margo Vaughn. Acrylic. 24 x 30in.
$1700
Perri + Kevin Anderson
Thank you to our exhibition sponsors!
Eric Sowers
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