Sampson County has had a art community that has been slowly rising, with many art pieces, murals, and dedicated exhibitions held for many local artists.
But there hadn’t been a place for the county to teach those who have interest in learning how to become artists themselves. Until now.
The Sampson School of Art will give the community what it’s been asking for. The location of the school will be in one of the buildings that Sampson Community College currently rents, but once SCC finishes its business at the beginning of 2027, leaders at Sampson Partners plan to set up the School of Art inside the building near 307 West Main St.
“Sampson Partners is able to forgo rent on that building,” noted ArtWorks Director of Logistics Paul Viser. “The building is owned by Sampson Partners, and we decided to make it available for art teaching, which has not had a permanent location outside of the public schools in recent memory. There have been some smaller things people have tried to do in their homes, and the Arts Council has tried to do the best they could at the Victor R. Small House. There’s no question that there are people that are really aching for art lessons, and we’re going to try to fill that need.”
Sampson School of Art will focus on arts that aren’t taught at many other locations, things like knitting, jewelry-making, leather craft and a few other hand-made arts along the way. The school will also have its own board, and while it’s overseen by Sampson Partners, that group will not be involved with the art decisions made at the school.
“We want that group (the art school’s board) to make those decisions — who teaches, what classes are offered, figure out the costs and those sorts of things,” Viser emphasized.
Johnny Pridgen, ArtWorks director of Financial Operations, hopes the school class schedule will be in ‘full stride’ by the time the building becomes available on Friday, Jan. 1 2027.
“The team is setting up classes and working out all the bugs and everything, so we can start doing some testing,” Pridgen explained. “We’ve had so far great local support. We’re going through a revamp of the Sampson Art right now, but hopefully we will launch that where we can offer classes right here (in the gallery). All of these panels (inside the ArtWorks building) are portable, they can be moved around, we got the space. We also host events here, from weddings to art shows and other meetings. (The School’s board) will be working with the local community in trying to find out the type of talent and programs they’re going to run. Hopefully, we’ll look at other types of art that we can do in coordination with the Sampson Art Council. For example, we don’t plan right now to go into pottery, because they are set up, they’re engaged in that with a dedicated building and everything. It would be hard for us to make that kind of investment. We feel that we want to offer the type of art that’s in this display (at ArtWorks), that people might want to learn and they could teach them how to do that.”
The school’s board consists of six people, with Viser and Pridgen as administrators. Brenda Nordine will be acting director, along with members of the board Rosa Campos, Hendry Jones and Derek Rosser. The main goal for the School of Art is to fill the needs that the community would like to see fulfilled.
“We have no intention or desire to duplicate anything that’s already been done or being done now at the Arts Council or any other place in the county,” said Viser. “What we’re looking to do is to fill gaps. We’re in constant consultation to make sure that Sampson Arts and ArtWorks work together and not spin our wheels duplicating services. The gallery is the first thing, and then to have a permanent, dedicated space for art teaching, that’s going to be another thing.”
Pridgen mentioned that the school will be using these next few months to put everything together.
“Surveying the community and trying to find out where the interest lies, so we can create that class, that sort of thing,” he explained. “There will be a registration application process, which will be online. These next few months, before January, we can get things organized and structured.”
Viser picked up where Pridgen left off. “Cost, said, will be very limited, and in some cases waived all together. We want anybody who’s interested in having lessons to contact us, and we plan to do whatever it takes to make them (services) available to people. We’re a nonprofit; we’re not trying to make money, we’re serving the public. That’s by definition a non-profit and we’re trying to meet needs. We’re also appreciative of the Anonymous Trust; they’re very serious in helping organizations that are active in eastern North Carolina primarily focused in art.”
Grants, along with patrons, are a big piece of what supports the backing of the school in addition to the Anonymous Trust, which Pridgen called a “big benefactor.”
“We have an expanded patrons list to get support from the community and organizations,” he said. “We also want to try to implement things like scholarships that we award to individuals that want to develop or improve their talent. Then, through enrollment, the fee ($1 a month), is going to be structured in a manner that is not going to be to the point that it would break anyone. Sponsorships might come in and put a scholarship on the table and say ‘hey, I will pay for five or six people”’ for people who love art.”
As for ArtWorks, the gallery within the building opened back on May 2, 2024, following a $375,000 renovation. The building is filled with different types of art forms, from oil paintings, vases, mugs and other unique items that are on display for the public. Yet some people in the community might pass by the building without looking into what it has to offer.
“One of the things that we’ve found, is that a lot of people don’t know that we’re here.” Pridgen acknowledged. “They pass by that beautiful sign up there (front of the building) and see ArtWorks … I don’t know what comes to their mind but it’s not “this is a gallery.” So (when) people come in, they’re like “wow”. Then, as far as what we’ve done (regarding) renovation of this facility here. Helping get all of this out, that’s where Krista (Wiggins, ArtWorks executive director) has done an excellent job for us. We’re engaged in a lot, and we can’t thank the city enough for running a lot of things through us. They do a lot of things in promoting small businesses, and really contributed in supporting ArtWorks.”
To keep up with the amount of art pieces that come in, oftentimes the art is rotated the gallery, on panels that can be moved and placed in different parts of the building. These panels were handcrafted and built by Viser himself.
“It takes some doing to do this (building the furniture),” he explained. “If we bought something from a supplier, it would be a piece of junk and it would cost us about $400, but this (gestures to a painting holder) is not a piece of junk, and it didn’t cost ArtWorks anything. (The panels) were major project just because of their physical size. I had to invite people to my basement, to help me position these things and to work and build them.”
Pridgen added, “He was able to get those panels in here pretty quickly, because on opening night, we had those in place. They’re mobile, so that’s why we say we can open this space up. We’ve had school receptions, weddings, events, the Sampson County YMCA has been here, had a beautiful event, things of that nature. This (building) is available for people, for the community. We’ve done our part to try to make it available to the community. There is a rental fee, but we are negotiable on that rental fee, depending on the audience you plan to serve.”
Viser stated that sometimes the rental fee can be waived, but when it isn’t the cost is around $200-$300. For all the support that they have received for both ArtWorks and the initiative for the school, Pridgen offered appreciation.
“From the minute this project was launched, we had an overwhelming amount of community support,” he said. “We’re just so thankful for those that have volunteered (at ArtWorks). We live off our volunteers and are just thankful for their service and hopefully in their continued service.”