Discove r Cit yV iewN C.co m's fre s h up d ate d loo k ! | 25
the last two decades melds with a
backdrop of local history dating back
hundreds of years.
According to Mims, the relocation
of the enterprise was also for dual
reasons. "We had a friend in Detroit
who grew up in Fayetteville and he
moved back here to settle and retire,"
Mims said. "We came to Fayetteville
to visit and we liked what we saw and
thought, this is a nice place to live. And
as a bonus, you didn't have snow."
Ellington-White followed in 2008,
operating with limited programming.
In 2010, the struggling Fayetteville
Museum of Art closed. at created
a void that Smith and Mims felt
Ellington-White could help fill.
"I was working at the Arts Council
then, running their gallery, and
knew firsthand of this loss to the
community," Mims said. "Local artists
and art lovers in the area were saying
we are missing something."
at's when Ellington-White really
got launched. It plunged into a plethora
of activity ranging from art exhibits for
local and national artists to summer
art programming for youth. According
to Smith, half of the gallery's
exhibitions are local and half are
national. Its national calls for art have
brought in artists from around the
country, even as far as away as Alaska,
while the general shows focus on artists
within a five-county or 50-mile radius
of the studio. In addition, the gallery
hosts a solo show of a widely acclaimed
artist once a year. is year, it hosted
an exhibit highlighting the works of
Leo Twiggs, a nationally recognized
artist from South Carolina. Smith
and Mims credit gallery benefactors
and supporters for making all of this
possible.
"We write grants to bring big-name
artists in like Leo Twiggs," Mims said.
"We rely on the support from grants,
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