Our Galleries
For more information about the exhibits in our galleries at the Arts Center, contact us at (252) 527-2517. Admission is free and open to the public.
Through May 24, 2025 — Arts Market — Shop this annual event which is a collaborative exhibition for sale of more than 50+ artists and artisans, the majority of whom are local or regional in their practice. Featured works include jewelry, pottery, glass, paintings, photography, textiles, baskets, and much, much more! annual event is a collaborative exhibition for sale of more than 50+ artists and artisans, the majority of whom are local or regional in their practice. Featured works include jewelry, pottery, glass, paintings, photography, textiles, baskets, and much, much more!
Through September 2025 — Murals — The Arts Council, in cooperation with the City of Kinston, has on display a eight-panel mural originally installed on the outdoor façade of the Lenoir County Office Building. This mural was created five years ago as part of a City-wide mural project and commissioned through a grant-supported project through the National Endowment for the Arts. The mural depicts the peaceful 1951 Adkin High School walkout by students.
Through September 2025 — Selected Works from Permanent Collection
Through September 2025 — Permanent Collection Works of Henry Pearson & Friends — Kinston-born Henry Pearson (October 8, 1914 – December 3, 2006) was an acclaimed abstract and modernist painter who graduated from the University of North Carolina and studied theatrical design at Yale University. During WWII, he became interested in Japanese art and theatre forms and designed maps for the US Army Air Corps. In the early 1950s, Pearson moved to New York and studied Reginald Marsh and Will Barnet, who were students of the Art Students League of New York. Pearson was loosely associated with the Op Art movement. His collections may be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the North Carolina Museum of Art. Along with his art, Pearson taught at the New School for General Studies and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He was interested in literature and illustrated several poems by the Irish Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. Much of his correspondence and other associated memorabilia may be found at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Through April, 2025 — St. Mary's Preschool — On display is artwork from the children of St. Mary’s Preschool. Receptions were held March 19 and March 20 for this wonderfully cheerful and fun display.
Now Showing — Mike Sagaser: “Flight School Installation” — Mike is a mixed media, ceramic, mosaic, and digital artist. This loaned installation features molded and painted planes suspending in formation and as an artist’s simulation of aerial maneuvers.
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“This piece originated as a challenge to create 100 identical copies of the same object to form a stand-alone installation. Each jet is made from stoneware, hand pressed into a plaster cast, bisque-fired, then glaze-fired with an irregular black surface and a single golden “eye.” The boundary between human made machine and living thing is blurred by the skin-like texture of each jet’s glaze."
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“The jet-swarm dives in and out of the rafters like schooling fish effortlessly swimming over our heads immersed in the thin compressible fluid of the air, chasing an unseen goal and responding to unseen forces. From mechanism to body, we feel the flow of power and vulnerability and wonder at their destination and motivation.”
Through April, 2025 — Shelia Stroud — Shelia will be exhibiting and selling a grouping of mini paintings at Queen St. Deli. All have excellent price points, each will make a wonderful keepsake gift for that special someone in your life. Sales are placed through the Arts Center by bringing the painting “exhibit tag” to the Center or calling (252) 527-2517 to speak with staff from the Arts Center. Transactions are not completed through the Queen St. Deli. Additional works are also for available for sale at the Arts Center. (Right: A Mess of Fish, acrylic by Shelia Stroud)
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Through July 2025 — Sylvia Lanier — Sylvia will be exhibiting and selling oil paintings at Queen St. Deli. All have excellent price points. Sales are placed through the Arts Center by bringing the painting “exhibit tag” to the Center or calling (252) 527-2517 to speak with staff from the Arts Center. Transactions are not completed through the Queen St. Deli. Additional works are also for available for sale at the Arts Center.
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