Rikki Asher is a New York City visual artist recognized for her award-winning community murals, silk and oil paintings. Asher received her MFA in painting from City University of New York at Lehman College, and earned a Doctorate in Art Education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Professor and Director of Art Education at Queens College, CUNY for 17 years, Asher currently serves as Artist-in-Residence at Lenox Hill Hospital in a program she developed (Art by the Bedside).
As a Teaching Artist, she has trained teachers and engaged with students at prominent cultural institutions including the Lincoln Center Institute, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Asher’s murals inhabit her hometown (New York) as well as spanning the globe. New York City: including The Life of the Mind at Queens College; Jazz All Stars at the St. Albans Station-Long Island Railroad; When Women Pursue Justice (collective mural) in Brooklyn; Flight of Fancy (Association to Benefit Children, Manhattan); La Lucha Continua (Lower East Side, Manhattan). Nationally, Asher’s murals can be seen in North Carolina (The Home Project and Growing Up in America), and overseas are found in countries including Nicaragua and Ghana.
Awards consist of grants from the Flux Factory as well as Queens College, (Asher received three Excellence in Teaching Awards from Queens College and was appointed as a Teaching Artist in India). Additionally, the Queens Council on the Arts recognized Asher as an Outstanding Artist and awarded her two Community Arts Grants. Asher’s articles have appeared in journals such as International Poesies: A Journal of Learning, Teaching Artist Journal, and Art Studies. Asher’s artworks have been featured in books including: Art in the Public Interest (Arlene Raven), The Best of Silk Painting (Diane Tuckman and Jan Janas) and Art in Revolutionary Nicaragua (David Kunzle).
Galleries exhibiting Asher’s works include The Queens Council of the Arts Gallery, Flux Factory, a solo exhibition (Cityscapes on Silk) at The Queens Museum of Art, Prince Street Gallery (Manhattan), Julia de Burgos Performance and Arts Center, and a solo exhibition of prints and paintings at Teatro Luispoma Gallery in El Salvador. Most recently, Asher has been creating a series of watercolor paintings that will accompany recipes for her upcoming vegetarian cookbook.
