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 at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015. After graduate school, Aaron worked as a studio assistant for a digital installation artist and taught art at Adrian College, in Adrian Michigan, and other regional institutions of higher education for four years. As of August 2019, Aaron lives in Kokomo, IN where he teaches in the New Media, Art, and Technology department at Indiana University, Kokomo as an Assistant Professor. Both his plein air paintings and toy still life paintings have been accepted into juried exhibitions throughout the United States.