Great Smoky Mountains hosts art programme on 24 October
Published on 10/18/2026 at 08:50 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Great Smoky Mountains National Park hosts its Artists-in-Residence programme on 24 October 2026, bringing artist Jenna Marie Kesgen to Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The public event links hands-on art with the park's autumn landscape and gives visitors in Gatlinburg a fixed programme date during October.
Artists-in-Residence programme comes to Oconaluftee
The National Park Service lists Kesgen as the October artist in the 2026 Artists-in-Residence programme. She is described as an oil and acrylic painter, muralist and environmental educator from Asheville, North Carolina.
The programme takes place at Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Saturday 24 October 2026. The NPS says its Saturday visitor engagement programmes run from 10am to 2pm, with activities held at either Oconaluftee or Sugarlands Visitor Center. The 2026 programme schedule identifies the October date and venue.
The monthly series runs from June through November and invites visitors to explore the Smokies through art shaped by its landscapes, history and natural features. Friends of the Smokies describes the visitor engagements as free and family-friendly, with the October programme at Oconaluftee forming the second listed date for Kesgen after the 17 October session at Sugarlands.
Oconaluftee puts the October art programme in context
Oconaluftee Visitor Center stands in the North Carolina section of the park and is associated with the Mountain Farm Museum, where historic buildings and demonstrations interpret Southern Appalachian life. That setting gives the 24 October programme a direct connection to the cultural landscapes that the residency is designed to explore.
The park extends across 522,427 acres, or 800 square miles, divided almost evenly between North Carolina and Tennessee. Its recorded elevations range from about 875 feet at the mouth of Abrams Creek to 6,643 feet at Clingmans Dome, while more than 22,000 species of life have been documented. The National Park Service records its World Heritage Site designation in 1983 and its International Biosphere Reserve designation in 1976.
Those figures explain why the programme is more than an indoor art appointment. Kesgen's stated practice in oil and acrylic places a contemporary creative activity inside a protected mountain landscape whose natural and cultural resources are central to the park's identity.
Visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The Artists-in-Residence programme with Jenna Marie Kesgen takes place on 24 October 2026 at Oconaluftee Visitor Center.
- The visitor engagement is scheduled for the Oconaluftee site, while the wider series is described as free by the organiser and open to families.
- The park lies across North Carolina and Tennessee, with Gatlinburg serving as the Tennessee gateway identified in the park's news release. Oconaluftee is on the North Carolina side, near Cherokee.
- The setting is a large mountain park with elevations reaching 6,643 feet, so conditions and access can vary across the terrain. Current road and trail information should be checked before travelling.
- Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.
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Frequently asked questions about Great Smoky Mountains National Park
When does the Artists-in-Residence programme take place?
The October session with Jenna Marie Kesgen takes place on 24 October 2026 at Oconaluftee Visitor Center.
Where is Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
The park straddles North Carolina and Tennessee, with Gatlinburg on the Tennessee side and Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the North Carolina side.
What is Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
It is a national park covering 522,427 acres and protecting mountain landscapes, forests, wildlife and historic Southern Appalachian buildings.
