Venerable Durham Arts Council celebrates 60 years amid buzz of new scene

New art studios and upstart galleries have generated a trendy buzz about the arts belt stretching through downtown Durham.

But it was one of the city’s mainstays – the venerable Durham Arts Council building – that was creating the hum during the weekend.

Fine artists, jewelry makers, fashion designers, ceramicists and more took part in a two-day art walk and holiday market that was as much about supporting the arts, in general, as it was the artists individually.

The Durham Arts Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting performance and visual arts in Durham and the Triangle region, celebrated its 60th anniversary with cake and marshmallows dipped in chocolate.

The council was spun out of the Durham Arts Guild, an organization founded in 1948 that now provides artists two public galleries and an online gallery to display their work.

“The guild is such a great resource,” said Eleatta Diver, one of the artists showing her work on Sunday.

Diver, who is on a mission “to bring art a little closer into everyday life,” was tending to the details of one of her whimsical paintings as she talked about the state of the arts in the Triangle and what that means for fine artists trying to make a living.

New spaces, new buyers

Echoing the thoughts of many gathered at the Art Walk and Holiday Market, Diver acknowledged the new cultural scene developing in downtown Durham and Raleigh.

Not only have artists opened small galleries in old tobacco warehouses and textile buildings, but museums such as The Carrack Modern Art in Durham and CAM Raleigh have also brought in new crowds.

“Durham is a wonderful artist community,” Diver said. “I don’t know if the economic base is the most supportive, but the culture here is great.”

Katie Seiz, gallery director at the Durham Art Guild, said she thought the economic climate could improve for artists, particularly as the shop local movement grows and people begin to realize that buying art does not necessarily mean buying a painting for hundreds or thousands of dollars. She pointed to the artists selling jewelry, fabric art and smaller visual art objects.

“There are a lot of people talking about trying to educate people about collecting art and the different ways they can do that,” Seiz said.

Many of the artists selling their work in Durham over the weekend have no galleries or open studios regularly showing their work.

The holiday markets and street fairs that have proliferated in this region have become more and more important to them.

Though they have websites where people from great distances can peruse their creations, they say it is as important to put in “face time” at the holiday markets and street fairs that have proliferated in this region.

Local art gains support

“You still have to get people to your website,” said Tiffany Coley, who was selling her handcrafted artisan jewelry in one of the guild rooms on Sunday. “This time of year it’s almost better to do as many face-to-face sales as you can.”

Coley and Amy Barnard, who started The Wayward Stitch to sell her colorful vinyl handbags, said they enjoy meeting customers and hearing what they have to say about their artwork.

One comment they heard more than once at the market in Durham was one they hope takes off everywhere, particularly as Black Friday approaches and shoppers look toward the busy retail season ahead.

“People like to support local artists,” Barnard said.

That, they say, will make for a much jollier holiday season and a stronger arts community in Durham and elsewhere after all the presents have been wrapped and unwrapped.

This story was originally published November 23, 2014 at 8:33 PM.