Aaron Pickens was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. He attended Toledo School for the Arts between 2001 – 2007. In December of 2011, Aaron completed his BFA in
Digital Arts at Bowling Green State University and completed his MFA in painting at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015. After graduate school, Aaron worked as a digital technical assistant for digital installation artist, Erwin Redl. Aaron currently resides in Greentown, Indiana and is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and New Media, at Indiana University Kokomo. Both his plein air paintings and toy still life paintings have been accepted into juried exhibitions throughout the United States, notably the Surreal Salon 10 and 14 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the 79th, 81st, and 85th National Midyear Show at the Butler Institute for American Art. Finally, in 2024, his painting “Loco-Motive” received the Best of Show award at the 126th Annual Exhibition at the Richmond Art Museum in Richmond, Indiana and was acquired for the museum’s permanent collection.”
