Simone Wilson is a mixed media artist and a native of Georgia. She primarily works in wood, steel, paint and found objects. 

Inspiration has come from growing up in the South, the many hours spent in her Mother’s and Grandmother’s kitchens, her love of gardening, the southern landscape and of animals. All these inspirations can often be seen in her paintings and the images she creates in steel and wood. 

She is an avid scavenger and collector of things. 

As a child these collections were of rocks, sticks, marbles, birds’ nests and various treasures that caught her eye and ended up in bags and boxes in her parents’ basement. Over the years these have become larger objects salvaged from the remains of barns, dilapidated houses, dumpsters and scrap yards that today line the shelves of her warehouse studio. She uses all of these materials to create both figurative and abstract assemblages that each have their own stories to tell. 

Simone opened Pleasant Hugh Studio in Atlanta in 1991, named after her maternal Grandfather Pleasant Hugh Martin, a farmer and carpenter in North Georgia. 

He was a simple and quiet man who had a huge influence on her life. As she followed along behind him he would show her how to use her hands and make things using simply what was on hand. A slingshot was one of the first things he taught her to make and her love of transforming found objects to a new purpose was realized! 

She lived in Athens, GA for 7 years during which time she focused on her painting and assemblage works. During this time much of her painting was done in the form of murals and trompe l’oeil paintings commissioned for residential and commercial spaces throughout Atlanta and the Southeast. She was also beginning to experiment with working with metal.

In 2002 she decided to move to the mountains of Western North Carolina and settled in Asheville where she continued creating her custom garden gates, indoor and outdoor screens and other metal works for clients for the next 14 years. 

In 2009 Simone met the owners of Tupelo Honey Café based in Asheville and began creating custom metal story boards, architectural assemblages and light boxes for their locations. As Tupelo Honey has expanded and opened new locations Simone has had the opportunity to design and create custom works for each of the now 13 restaurants and continues to work with Tupelo Honey as the lead artist on upcoming locations.

She currently lives and works in her hometown of Atlanta, GA with her hound dog Opal Ann. She continues to create works in her studio and to work with clients on custom pieces.

Her custom garden gates, paintings and other mixed media work can be found in residential gardens and homes and commercial spaces throughout the United States.

She continues to be inspired by the simple things in life. Growing, cooking and eating good food, walking in the woods, the goodness in people, the sweetness of animals, the innocence of children and the beauty of mother nature.