Announcing ArtPop’s Cities Program Class of 2025!
Join us in welcoming the 20 talented local artists who have been juried into ArtPop’s Charlotte-region Cities Program Class of 2025! Throughout the year, artworks by 19 adults and 1 high school senior will be exhibited on billboards and public ad displays. Donated by our media partners, this ad space is valued at over $8.5 million!
Our Class of 2025 artists will also benefit from educational opportunities, features at artist events, and more - all to foster sustainable careers in the arts and to create accessible art experiences within the communities we serve!
If you spot an ArtPop art display in the wild, snap a pic and tag us @ArtPopStreetGallery and use #ArtPopCLT
Meet The Class of 2025
Use the thumbnails below to jump to each artist:
Zaire McPhearson
Between the World and Me | Quilted Portrait
Zaire McPhearson | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Born in Charlotte NC, McPherson completed her B.A at South Carolina State University and obtained an M.F.A at Duke University. Zaire McPhearson is a contemporary artist known for her interdisciplinary work and figurative representation of Black bodies. Her artwork touches on the divine spiritual being and challenges the narrative of traditional biblical figures. Her multilayered approach includes themes of religion, race, and femininity.
As a Black Woman, one thing she feels responsible for is ensuring that the art forms complicate and interrogate the questions of the Black body within various historical canons that many have deemed nearly exclusively white. This is the labor that she has felt motivated to engage in. Her work is a love letter to Black womanhood and centers on the Black body using sculptural work, digital manipulation, and photography. Her research employs an extensive knowledge of Fine Arts, lifelong experiences as a Black Woman, and the use of multiple materials.
Connect with Zaire:
Crane Seven
Elemental Guidance | Mixed Media (Wood, palm branches, silver)
Crane Seven | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
As an interdisciplinary Creatress, I leverage various artistic mediums as vehicles of self- expression.
Each body of work is a distinct embodiment of life's playful, ever-evolving, and contemplative aspects. Inspired by Her vast wisdom and effortless beauty, I create to unravel these threads that tie us to the Earth and one another - inviting all who engage with the artwork to embrace the juiciness of the human experience.
Connect with Crane:
Caroline Greb
Citrus Sea | Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
Caroline Greb | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Caroline creates in her home studio in Matthews. Though she considers herself a traditional representational painter, she can’t help but play with looseness, texture, and color. Her subjects and inspiration come from observation of the ordinary world, driven by a need to slow down and look at things for what they truly are. Each painting is an act of wondering and truth-seeking, marking the intersection of grace and moments in time. Caroline’s hope is that her art may be a testament to the mercies of the seemingly mundane and the redemptive beauty found even in places of pain. And sometimes she just loves letting paint be paint.
Connect with Caroline:
Chalice Meikle
Figure It Out: 32 of 50 | Mixed Media on Panel
Chalice Meikle | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Chalice Meikle (Florida, b.1990) is an abstract painter, cradle-to-grave art teacher, muralist assistant, printmaker, program manager, and beginner sculptor. She received a BFA in Painting in the winter of 2015 from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Ms. Meikle moved to Charlotte, NC, in 2015 and orchestrated Unorthodox Studios from June 2017 to March 2020. From 2021 to 2024, she worked and volunteered with several non-profits, including The Arts and Empowerment Project, Arts Plus, McColl Center, The VAPA Center, and The Light Factory.
Ms. Meikle has exhibited her work in multiple juried exhibitions, including ‘100 Tiny Things’, CIAF Blumenthal Arts, Charlotte, NC; ‘Counting Up,’ Levine Museum, Charlotte, NC; and ‘Unbound,’ Charlotte Art Leauge in Charlotte, NC. Her artwork has been influenced and shifted while in residence with Dacia Gallery, New York, NY, the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL, and the Braitman Studio in Charlotte, NC. She is currently pursuing a degree in counseling to become an art therapist.
Connect with Chalice:
Diego Alba
Orange Room | Acrylics and Oil Pastels
Diego Alba | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
As a lifelong admirer of art, Diego Alba is continually inspired by the innovative minds and diverse perspectives of both historical and contemporary artists. His passion for art, design, and travel fuels his curiosity and keeps him attuned to the latest trends and movements. He is captivated by the human mind's ability to generate ideas and the inherent beauty of our imperfect creations.
Having immigrated to the United States from Colombia in 1999 due to violence and personal threats, Diego has overcome significant challenges and legal obstacles to become a naturalized citizen. This accomplishment is a source of great pride and gratitude, as it has shaped his personal growth and artistic evolution. His cultural background provides a unique lens through which he views art and allows him to approach the journey of others with empathy and respect.
Diego has always had an affinity for the creative process and is also a seasoned user experience and visual designer, with extensive experience creating digital products for clients across a variety of industries. "I really enjoy drawing from inspiration to turn ideas into something tangible, useful, and pleasing to the eye, whether digitally or by hand. However, I find that creating art by hand is a more direct vehicle between my mind and the physical world."
Diego’s artistic practice is fluid and responsive to his current mood and inspiration. Rather than adhering to a specific style, he prefers to let his intuition guide his choice of medium, subject, technique, and scale. Through his art, he seeks to connect with others, express and evoke emotions, and leave a lasting impact on the world.
Connect with Diego:
Ellie Ko
Then and Now | Oil Paint
Ellie Ko | Union County, SC Student Artist
Ellie Ko is a seventeen year old high school senior who’s currently interested in pursuing visual art as a career. She enjoys creating artworks relating to stories and characters, all while using vibrant colors throughout the process. As a part of Class of 2025 for the ArtPop Street Gallery Cities Program, she’s excited to start this new journey with all the artists and supporters! She can’t wait to form new friendships, learn new lessons, create new memories, and share her passion with the rest of the ArtPop community!
Connect with Ellie:
Teresa Dunlap
Joined By Tradition | Catawba Pottery and Longleaf Basketry
Teresa Dunlap | York County, SC Artist
Teresa Dunlap is a Catawba potter, embroiderer, and pine needle artist. Her deep love for nature is expressed through her art, both in subject and medium. Teresa continually explores different techniques and forms, eager for a new challenge.
Growing up away from the Catawba reservation and community, Teresa had limited access to learning about her traditional culture and art. However, since returning to the Catawba community three years ago, she has immersed herself in the cultural arts. This journey of discovery has been enriched by her apprenticeship under master potter Caroleen Sanders and by attending basket workshops with esteemed basket makers within her own and other Indigenous communities.
Teresa’s artistic journey is intertwined with her passion for education. As a former teacher, she now channels her love for teaching into her role at the Catawba Cultural Center, where she coordinates cultural arts classes for Catawba citizens and their families. Her work has been showcased in several art shows, and she actively demonstrates both pottery and Longleaf Pine basketry to both Catawba Citizens and the broader public.
Connect with Teresa:
Vanessa Thorman
THE HUNTRESS (Secretarybird) | Watercolor
Vanessa Thorman | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Vanessa Magdaleno Thorman is a self-taught watercolor artist originally from Southern California, currently residing in Charlotte, North Carolina. With a profound love for animals as her driving force, Vanessa's artwork offers an immersive experience that allows viewers to not only observe but truly see the subjects of her work. Through her incredibly detailed watercolor paintings, she pays heartfelt tribute to the beauty and presence of the animal kingdom in her life.
Vanessa has accumulated numerous accolades for her contributions to art. Notable exhibitions include being a finalist in the Richeson75 International Art Competition - Animals, Birds and Wildlife in November 2024 and earning First Place at the Mark Arts - National Watercolor Exhibition in October 2024.
Vanessa's artworks serve not just as representations of the animal world, but as a call for recognition and understanding of these creatures that deeply inspire her.
Connect with Vanessa:
Jing Huang
Loop #17 | Glazed Stoneware
Jing Huang | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Born and raised in Guilin, China, Jing Huang is a ceramic artist currently living and working in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received degrees from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China (BA, Ceramic Art, 2012), Sheridan College in Canada (Diploma, Crafts and Design - Ceramics, 2015), and Alfred University in the US (MFA, Ceramic Art, 2020).
Jing has lectured, curated exhibitions, conducted workshops and exhibited extensively throughout the US, Canada, China and the UK. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), and Ceramics Monthly Magazine featured Jing as an Emerging Artist in 2023. Jing’s work is included in private and public collections including the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK), Alfred Ceramic Art Museum (Alfred, US), Yingge Ceramics Museum (Taipei, Taiwan), Eton College (Windsor, UK), Durham University Oriental Museum (Durham, UK), and Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections Museum (Manchester, UK).
Connect with Jing:
Susan Jedrzejewski
Wild Perceptions 2 | Photo Transfer on Pine
Susan Jedrzejewski | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Susan Jedrzejewski captures makeshift and coincidental encounters within the natural world. The resulting work, layered with competing dualities, recounts a physical act with nature, but also one’s distance from it. Her work has been exhibited regionally at McColl Center, Goodyear Arts, Central Piedmont Community College, UNC Charlotte, and Greensboro Project Space, as well as nationally at Florida State University Museum of Fine Art (Tallahassee, FL), Lodger Gallery (Kansas City, MO), Treat Gallery (New York City), among others. In 2023 her work was published in the third volume of Concrete Nature’s Out of Office series and in 2024 she was awarded a Creative Mecklenburg Grant from the Arts & Science Council. Susan holds a BA in Studio Art from UNC Charlotte (2006) and an MBA from Queens University of Charlotte (2017).
Connect with Susan:
Linda Keene
Wash Day | Fabric Collage Art Quilt
Linda Keene | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Although Linda Keene loved to draw and paint as a child, there was nothing in her life experience to nurture aspirations for an artistic career. So, she focused her energies on academic pursuits where she received lots of support and positive reinforcement. That path led to a 25-year career as a corporate marketing executive and a "Second Act” as a non-profit CEO.
Following her retirement, Linda decided to pursue making art of her own despite having had no formal training. Previous experience with sewing led her to choose fabrics as a medium to create in. With practice, she began to find her artistic voice and produce work that she wanted to share with others.
Primarily using batiks, Linda creates small art quilts depicting scenes of African-American life and culture. Each piece incorporates a variety of quilting techniques, as well as embellishments that enhance the overall image. The hand-stitched backgrounds are a tribute to the generations of women quiltmakers in her family who came before her. Her primary goal as an artist is to create work that people will want to have in their homes because of the positive feelings it generates.
Linda’s work has been featured in online forums such as Artsy Shark and Pathfinders Travel. She was also included in the July 2022 issue of Quiltfolk magazine, a subscription-only publication highlighting the best quilt artists in the United States.
Her artwork has been exhibited in juried shows sponsored by the Yadkin (NC) Arts Council, the Raleigh (NC) Fine Arts Society, the Art League of Hilton Head (SC), Morningstar Gallery (Matthews, NC), Marin (CA) Society of Artists, 311 Gallery (Raleigh, NC), and the City of North Charleston (SC) Cultural Arts Department. She was also featured in the 2022 Winter Show sponsored by GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art. Her work has also been exhibited at Douglas Flanders Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), the Atlanta (GA) Quilt Festival, and as part of “The Vault” exhibition at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
Linda has been married to her college sweetheart Robert Keene for 50 years. They are the parents of one son who has blessed them with two amazing grandsons.
Connect with Linda:
Karey Bancroft
The Party in my Garden | Photography and Collage
Karey Bancroft | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Karey Bancroft is a California native with a rich family heritage steeped in the arts. Inspired by grandparents who were professional artists, she developed an early appreciation for creativity and design. Karey graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), where she honed her skills in design and visual aesthetics.
After college, Karey ventured into hobby magazine publishing, founding "Jewelry Crafts Magazine,” allowing her to combine her love for editing, graphic design and photography. In 1997, Karey moved to The Woodlands, TX where she studied portrait photography, eventually opening a studio. In 2020, Karey relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be closer to her beloved grandsons. During the pandemic, a fascination with flowers grew, prompting Karey to delve into gardening. Over the past year, she grew more than 600 seedlings. What started out as a passion turned into a second career.
Now, Karey combines floral photography with her graphic design expertise to capture stunning Dutch-masters inspired floral portraits as well as complex collages celebrating the nature and beauty of Charlotte.
Connect with Karey:
Meg Greene Malvasi
Home Place | Composite Photograph
Meg Greene Malvasi | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Meg Greene Malvasi is a photographer and image-maker living in North Carolina. Since 2010, she has used her iPhone and iPad to create photo composites. She creates works inspired by the everyday world incorporating her images, collage elements, and found objects. Her work has been exhibited in both national and international galleries.
Connect with Meg:
ZeroPopArt
Robot Billboard | Wood Sculpture
ZeroPopArt | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Paolo Pedini, the creative behind ZeroPopArt, is a multidisciplinary artist known for vibrant, hand painted wood robot sculptures that blend pop art colors and themes.
With a background in painting, muralism, and graphic design, he brings a unique perspective to the world of wood art.
ZeroPopArt's work has been featured in multiple shows and markets, and Paolo continues to push the boundaries of the wood art craft with pop art-inspired characters.
Connect with ZeroPopArt:
Rosemary Dykstra
Countryside | Acrylic on Canvas
Rosemary Dykstra | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Making art is all about joy and meditation for me. I love the use of bright, highly pigmented colors and what happens in the conversation when applying one color next to another color. The outcome is often a wonderful surprise! Furthermore, the use of marks and a variety of organic shapes is very appealing to me. Creating each piece of art, what colors will be utilized and what marks will be made is an intuitive process for me with every painting. I do not have a preconceived notion of the outcome and feel there is nothing like the joyful surprise and many happy accidents!
I am primarily a self-taught artist. After a long career in Nursing Management, and many life changes, I have retired and am finally fulfilling my life’s dream of becoming a full-time artist. My journey towards this goal began with a small watercolor class offered through the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design while living in Milwaukee, WI. From that point forward, I knew I craved the continued practice of art making.
I begin painting on a regular basis when I retired approximately 4 years ago. This shift from a full-time management career to being able to focus on my art has been such a gift.
Connect with Rosemary:
Randy Pender
Contentment | Oil on Canvas
Randy Pender | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Randy is a self-taught portrait and figurative painter intrigued by the old masters’ styles and processes, especially classical and traditional portraiture and the love of ancient, but with a modern twist. His work has been included in multiple openings at Mt. Holly’s Awaken Gallery, numerous regional juried exhibits and competitions, an exhibition at the Gaston County Museum, and Charlotte’s 2023 Shout Luminous Lane experience.
Randy’s subject matter usually centers on the timeless elegance of antiquity converging with the vibrancy of modernity. His work is often described as seductive and moody, and is his version of classical beauty filtered through a dreamlike vision. The artist seeks to imagine his contemporary characters in a different time, ancient and nostalgic, but rarely in a modern setting.
Connect with Randy:
Kai Griffin
Tensions 3.3 (Spectrum) | Laser cut cast acrylic, enamel
Kai Griffin | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
For over twenty years, Kai Griffin (b. 1981) has proven to be a creative, innovative, and intensely trained professional, specializing in trendsetting beauty, fitness, and wellness. Applying those same principles and experiences, Kai developed his spark for creating art; art with convergent points where classical theory meets modern work, where analog meets digital, where handcrafted meets laser cut.
Kai holds a BFA from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University and resides in Charlotte, NC.
Connect with Kai:
Hannah McKee
Morgenmete | Oil Paint on Canvas
Hannah McKee | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
I’m a 27 year old tattoo artist here in Charlotte that’s been painting with oils for 10 years now. Painting has given me the ability to meditate and process feelings, while also expressing myself. I’m inspired heavily by classical renaissance style paintings and medieval/fantasy imagery. I love to tell a subtle story with my art, and give the onlooker a chance to create their own. I’m honored to be a part of the ArtPop Class of 2025, and can’t wait to create this year alongside my peers.
Connect with Hannah:
Camisha McDaniel
Forever Love 2 | Mixed Media
Camisha McDaniel | Mecklenburg County, NC Artist
Camisha McDaniel is an artist dedicated to creating work that promotes inclusion, unity, and healing. With a Bachelor's in Fine Arts from the University of Kansas and a Master's in Education Administration, she has a strong background in art and teaching. Drawing inspiration from spiritual figures and the everyday life of African Americans, Camisha's mixed media artworks aim to inspire healing and peace. Through her teaching experience in elementary and high school art, she has shared her passion for creativity and learning.
Currently, Camisha is focused on exploring themes of inclusion, unity, and healing through various mediums like painting, installation, and collaborative projects.
Connect with Camisha:
Jill Melyssa
Metalwork Handcrafted Sculptural Art Rings | Metalwork Jewelry
Jill Melyssa | Union County, SC Artist
Introducing Jill Melyssa, a visionary creator and former New Yorker, whose bold jewelry designs are inspired by the grandeur of historical architecture, industrialism, and the over-the-top fantasy of haute couture fashion. Jill pushes the limits of her imagination, sculpting pieces with striking dimension and texture.
Her journey began with an apprenticeship at a Brooklyn, New York metal design studio, where she mastered working with metals and enamel. For her, jewelry metalsmithing is both a craft and a calling, rooted in tradition yet fueled by innovation. The manipulation of metal becomes her means of self-expression, capturing the essence of individuality and confidence in each piece.
Despite her initial forays into metalwork, it wasn't until her two eldest children embarked on their college endeavors that she felt the freedom to fully embrace her passion. Immersing herself in the intricate world of metalsmithing, she discovered a profound sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Jill works with sterling silver, brass, bronze, gold and gemstones, combining modern technology with traditional metalsmithing methods to meticulously craft each piece from concept to completion. Jill Melyssa’s unique, original wearable sculptural art jewelry pieces are a testament to her dedication and creativity, showcased in her exquisite collections.
