It’s too often the case that creative passions are put aside in the bustle of daily life—notably, to make space for our less artistic professions.
This is the case for some of Columbus’ top women in business, who have been given an opportunity to step into the city’s art scene. A show at Marcia Evans Gallery in the Short North opened in early June and features the paintings of five women better known for their success founding, building and running companies.
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The group was assembled by Catherine Lang-Cline, host of the podcast The Secret Art of Business and founder and former CEO of staffing firm Portfolio Creative. “I noticed along the way that a lot of executives, presidents and VPs always had some sort of creative hustle,” Lang-Cline says. This observation led to the creation of her podcast—around the time she sold her business and started painting again.
Wanting to share her art with others through a show, she contacted some of her friends who painted, including fellow artist and businesswoman Merry Korn.
Korn, an author and founder of Pearl Interactive Network, connected Lang-Cline with her close friend, gallerist Marcia Evans. She pitched the idea for a show featuring women executives who paint. Evans agreed, and the show opened June 6.
“They’re all very strong and unique women, and I’m honored to be involved with them,” Evans says. “The styles are all so very different. … [Hopefully] this is just opening the doors for them to do more shows, and do more art.”
Lang-Cline and Korn were joined by Jacquie Bickel, vice president of IT company Improving; Cindi Englefield, the co-founder of investment group Accelerating Angels; and photographer and painter Nancy Lambert.
When Lang-Cline reached out to the featured artists, she asked them each the same question: “Are you brave enough to try this?”
When Lang-Cline called Bickel, her answer was simple: “Let’s do it.”
Bickel has been painting for three years, though her interest in art and music has been lifelong. Her boyfriend bought her an easel for her birthday, and Bickel “painted nonstop for five days.”
The show not only brings together a community of artists but also reflects their experiences of being businesswomen. Lang-Cline, for example, made pieces that depicted women underwater to express the expectations they face to feel composed and beautiful under pressure.
“[The paintings are of] these very beautiful women, and these bubbles are swirling around them. … They are right there at the brink of being overwhelmed, or drowning, if you will. But they still have to look good.”
Bickel’s work uses acrylic and oil and occasionally incorporates technology like player piano music sheets. The pieces are abstract and simultaneously emotional.
AI is helping “us as humans move forward faster,” Bickel says. “But being able to evoke a feeling or emotion, I think, is one of the qualities that is very humanistic that technology will never replace.”
This story appeared in the August 2026 issue of Columbus Monthly. Subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on Columbus Monthly: Gallery Show Draws Out Women Artists in Business
Reporting by Lucy Clark, Columbus Monthly / Columbus Monthly
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lucy Clark, Columbus Monthly | USA TODAY Network
