Opening Reception: Friday, March 3

Jennifer Spear spent the early part of her career among the Las Vegas glitterati, “[selling] her art in top galleries and focusing on highly realistic portraits and pinups of pop icons such as Audrey Hepburn, Bettie Page, and Elizabeth Taylor,” as she reveals in her artist’s statement. “Fully immersed in the Vegas art scene, [Spear] found herself living comfortably with a community of artists, critics, and eccentric art benefactors such as Hugh Hefner,” the blurb goes on. But a move from the neon strip to the Mountain South changed everything, and now Spear spends her days awed and inspired by the local flora and fauna, as well as depicting the occasional bowtie-adorned pup — in other words, living the life of the quintessential Asheville artist.

Her unusual technique, watercolor on birch board, was used by William Blake — “the only other artist known to do so,” according to Spear, who lives locally with her child and their pet dog Oreo. The trio enjoy “long drives through the countryside in pursuit of new ideas to paint and new stories to tell.”