The 2nd floor Art Galleries will be closed April 29 – May 27 with new exhibits opening May 28.
Exhibits
The Maria V Howard Arts Center
Fall 2024 Art Exhibits
Exhibits Run September 10 – December 31, 2024
Art Reception: Sept. 15, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Recognition of Featured Artists: Sept. 15, 2:30 p.m.
CULTURAL ANCESTRY
Artist: Eric McRay
Eric McRay is a celebrated artist and educator. His work is included in collections regionally, nationally, and internationally. McRay’s exhibit, Cultural Ancestry is rich in storytelling through imagery. His guiding principle — an artist’s style is his visual language by which he communicates. Thus, Eric McRay is multilingual. Openness and exploration best characterize his work.
According to McRay, “I believe there is no single correct pictorial solution.”
Unlike most painters who have a single style, McRay has a range of styles and imagery through which he works up and back. He has a powerful pictorial discernment that enables him to go from paintings with a lot of splash and spontaneity to images with a sense of organization and reason. McRay works in themes and variations to empty himself of images.
BEYOND THE LIMINAL RIFT
Artist: Scott Eagle
Beyond the Liminal Rift is a large body of works from artist, Scott Eagle. Eagle is a professional artist as well as an associate professor and serves as Area Coordinator for the Drawing and Painting Department at the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. His paintings and illustrations have been exhibited and reproduced internationally. Eagle uses images to represent ideas and issues that he is dealing with in everyday life.
Dr. Emily Gerhold, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Director of Sechrest Gallery at High Point University sees Eagle’s work as deep and complex.
“This collection of work by Scott Eagle engages complex ideas tied to dualities like life and death, power and submission, nature and artifice, creation, and destruction,” said Gerhold.
DEEPLY ROOTED
Artist: Erin C. (Stewart) Day
Erin C. (Stewart) Day is originally from Rocky Mount, NC. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from UNC at Greensboro. For her exhibit, Deeply Rooted, her inspiration can be found in nature. From floral works to studies of birds, her love of nature is evident, and she enjoys sharing this love with others through vivid, colorful images. Professionally Erin works in watercolors, oils, pastels, acrylics, inks, and ceramics. She often makes baskets, binds books, or does weavings. She has an insatiable desire to create, and loves working in any medium and learning new ones.
Permanent Collection
The Arts Center Permanent Collection consists of 500+ works by artists primarily from North Carolina and the southeast. The collection includes key regional artists such as Frances Speight, Sarah Blakeslee, Ben Owen, Sr., Mark Hewitt, Cynthia Bringle, Billie Ruth Sudduth, Hobson Pittman and Louis Orr. Acquisitions are funded through the City of Rocky Mount and private donations.
| Exhibit | Season |
| Remnants of a Technical World | Spring 2021 |
| Black History Month | February 2021 |
| North Carolina Clay from the Permanent Art Collection | December 2020 |
| Lena Bulluck Davis | November 2020 |
| Sculpture Salmagundi XXIV (2020-2021) Digital Exhibit and Virtual Reception | October 2020 |
| Women of a New Tribe | September 2020 |
| Juried Art Show | Summer 2020 |
| Markings of Wildness: Anne Willson | Spring 2020 |