How Jessica Kimes Turns Cabarrus County Landmarks Into Art — One Mug at a Time
The Concord native’s hand-painted designs capture familiar and beloved places, transforming them into mugs and artwork that reflect the community.
In Cabarrus County, where growth and change are reshaping the landscape, Jessica Kimes has found a way to preserve something harder to measure — the feeling of home.
Through a series of hand-painted designs now printed on mugs, Kimes, 26, is turning local landmarks into something people can quite literally hold onto.
What began as a way to capture the character of a place didn’t start with mugs — or even with a clear sense of direction.
A Concord native, Kimes didn’t set out to build a business. Her artistic journey began during the Covid pandemic, when she started oil painting as a creative outlet, capturing landscapes — the ocean while living in Surf City and the mountains while in Boone.
But it wasn’t until she returned to Cabarrus County that her work found its defining subject.
Back home, Kimes began to notice something she hadn’t fully appreciated before — how much the places she grew up around had changed, and how deeply people still felt connected to them.
Those landmarks — from a revitalized downtown Concord streetscape to the restored Gem Theatre in Kannapolis — became the focus of her work.
She started painting them — not as formal portraits, but as colorful, almost whimsical sketches. “Doodles,” as she calls them.
What followed was less a business plan than an experiment.
Inspired by Starbucks travel mugs, Kimes began placing her artwork onto drinkware, transforming everyday objects into something more personal — a kind of portable map of place and memory.
Her first collection, released last year, focused on Kannapolis: the Gem Theatre, Atrium Health Ballpark, Village Park, and the iconic green “K” tied to A.L. Brown High School. Each image, distinct on its own, came together to form something larger — a visual shorthand for the city itself.
Then came Concord.
For that design, Kimes turned to the community, asking residents which landmarks mattered most to them.
“It was honestly so cool to hear everyone’s stories and get the town involved in the ‘final’ look,” she said. “I grew up in Concord and figured I knew all the places, but was pleasantly surprised at all the new ideas others gave!”
Her second design brought together landmarks including the historic Cabarrus County Courthouse, Cabarrus Creamery, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Frye’s Roller Rink, and the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center — a collage of places that, for many residents, define the rhythm of daily life.
Jessica Kimes walks through downtown Concord, highlighting the landmarks featured on her custom-designed mug.
Behind each mug is a process that is far more meticulous than the finished product might suggest.
Kimes begins with a rough draft — brainstorming which landmarks belong and which memories matter most. She gathers reference photos, builds a collage of the places she wants to include, and sketches them out in a notebook.
From there, she paints each image, outlines it in pen, and digitizes the artwork before working with printers to bring the designs to life.
“Behind every map is hours worth of planning, sketching, painting, digitizing and designing but it’s so worth it to be able to capture the essence of the city,” Kimes wrote in a December Instagram post.
If the process is deliberate, the response has been anything but slow.
“Around Christmas time, they exploded,” she said, referring to the surge in interest in her products.
A few downtown Kannapolis businesses, including Local Patriot Roasting Company and Southern Collective, were among the first to carry her work. In Concord, shops such as Press & Porter Coffeehouse have also begun selling her mugs.
Customers — some longtime residents, others who had moved away — found something familiar and comforting in the designs.
“The public’s reaction has been incredible,” Kimes said, noting many people, even those who have not lived in the area for years, have discovered her on social media.
There is something quietly powerful about that connection — the way a simple object can carry a sense of home.
“I feel like I’m simply a vessel putting stuff on the mugs and that the identity I’m trying to capture is Concord, Kannapolis and the other communities,” Kimes said.
Part of that resonance comes from the details.
Each mug includes small, personal “easter eggs” — touches that tie the work not just to a place, but to Kimes herself. A graduation cap near the Cabarrus Arena marks where she graduated from Cox Mill High School. Rainbow-colored homes in Kannapolis nod to her day job in marketing for a local plumbing company that worked on those houses.
“I try to put a little bit of myself into each piece,” Kimes said.
It’s a philosophy that extends beyond mugs. She has since expanded into ornaments, tote bags, coasters, magnets, and coffee coozies, and recently sold her work at the Art Walk on Union in downtown Concord.
Still, the mugs remain the centerpiece — both her most recognizable product and the one that defines her growing reputation.
In Cabarrus County, she’s even picked up a nickname among people who recognize her work: “the mug girl.”
She doesn’t mind it.
If anything, she embraces the unexpected visibility that has come with it, describing the experience as “like a little micro-celebrity.” By her estimate, she has sold more than 400 mugs featuring Concord and Kannapolis alone.
On Instagram, where she goes by blessedjess.art, Kimes shares videos of herself bringing her custom mugs into local coffee shops — a blend of everyday routine and subtle marketing.
She also gives followers a glimpse into her life beyond the mugs, posting videos of her creative process alongside content about being a duck mom, gardening and her growing interest in beekeeping.
The next step, she hopes, is expansion.
Requests have already come in for designs featuring Harrisburg and Mount Pleasant. Eventually, she envisions a full collection representing each Cabarrus County municipality, along with a countywide design — a visual archive of the region, one commemorative mug at a time.
Even beyond the county, her work has begun to branch out, with art capturing iconic images associated with Chimney Rock and Mooresville.
But at its core, her work remains rooted in something simpler — the act of creating, and the meaning that follows.
“I feel like God’s given me the gift of creativity, so to be able to use it and then see it bring joy to other people is really cool,” Kimes said. “I feel like I’m living my calling when I’m creating.”
For Kimes, the mugs are more than merchandise. They reflect how people see the places they call home — not just on a map, but through memory and experience.
And in that way, the old cliché still holds.
A picture may be worth a thousand words.
But sometimes, it fits just as well in the palm of your hand.
Kimes’ work is available through her Etsy shop, and she shares her latest designs and process on Instagram at blessedjess.art. Her mugs are priced at $25.
Those interested in her work or future projects can contact her at kimesjessica@gmail.com.