Cameron Art Museum

About the Cameron Art Museum

The Cameron Art Museum occupies a 40,000 square foot facility designed in 2002 by the renowned architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates (NYC). Formerly located in downtown Wilmington, N.C. as St. John's Museum of Art, the new Cameron Art Museum is sited on a 9.3 acre woodland park known as Pyramid Park, featuring long-leaf pine woodlands, outdoor sculptures, nature trails, a historic Civil War site and The Clay Studio housed in the Pancoe Art Education Center. The main museum building includes three exhibition areas, the Weyerhaueser lecture and reception hall, a full service museum café and catering kitchen, museum gift shop and free parking.

The Cameron Art Museum was formerly named St. John’s Museum of Art, operating 1964-2001 in a cluster of historic buildings located in downtown Wilmington. In the mid-1990’s, the St. John’s Museum was in need of better environmental conditions and expanded space. In 1997, the Museum trustees launched a capital campaign and began to search for a new building site. After exhausting efforts to secure appropriate property in the downtown area, the newly-named Cameron Art Museum opened at the intersection of south 17th and Independence Streets, located between the downtown and beach communities.

The Cameron Art Museum is committed to arts education, and presents exhibitions and public programs of both historical and contemporary significance, with 6-8 changing exhibitions annually, in addition to outdoor, site-specific projects on its park property. The museum also presents lively, ongoing family and children's programs each month; Alzheimers “Connections” tours for patients and their caretakers; ongoing interdisciplinary public programs (lectures, music, films, literature, dance); and workshops, classes and demonstrations in ceramic arts at the Clay Studio, overseen by resident master artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi.

The Museum's permanent collection of fine arts, crafts and design includes work by artists of national and international significance, including works by North Carolina artists. Selected works from the permanent collection are exhibited periodically in thematic exhibitions. The Museum’s collection includes many vulnerable works on paper, and is therefore not kept on view permanently given conservation concerns of sustained damage from prolonged exposure to light.

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