SMART GALLERY

MEET OUR ARTISTS

smART Gallery is proud to and honored to partner with incredible artists from the local Kinston community and elsewhere. Without their artwork filling our walls and spaces, we wouldn’t be the well-renowned gallery we are today. Check out some of our featured artists below and get in touch with us for information and to inquire about their pieces for sale.

EVIL BOBS

Multi Media

 I have never gone to college for art or even had a starter art class in school. My work was improved by a trial and error process, manipulating every medium I could get my hands on. I lost one of my eyes years ago as a kid, my only eye has little vision. Since then I've had to learn to see depth without natural depth perception. Inspiration for my work has come from my own life and parts of the lives of others that have struck a chord in my life in one way or another, births, deaths, tragedy, and fortunes. But more than anything, my focus is on creating what has never been seen and hoping people can find themselves in even one piece of work.

For years I studied the human mind and different psychological conditions of others and myself. I took my understanding of the different states of mind and the situations that caused them and turned them into images of my own understanding.

Branching out has never been an issue in my work. I'm a huge fan of cartoons and animation from [adult swim] and popular titles like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gumball. My dream is to one day work with a large scale animation company. It's one thing to see my creations on flat surfaces, but I hope to see them move and hear them speak telling their stories.

SHYLA SUTTON

Mixed Media

Shyla Sutton is an art educator and multi- media artist from Goldsboro, North Carolina. She obtained her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at the University of NC at Greensboro while earning her teaching certification. Shyla teaches art from the heart, building self-esteem in her students and challenging them to find their inner artist. Outside of the classroom, her work focuses on female reproduction and womanhood. She gains most of her inspiration from both past and present life experiences.

KIMBERLY GARLAND

Mixed Media

Kimberly Garland MSW is a self-taught artist whose work is informed
by her background in social work and social justice. She often uses
found objects and mixed media to create works that question cultural assumptions. Kim has shown her work extensively in Northern Vermont, as well as Connecticut, Boston and Rhode Island. In 2017, Kim received 2nd place for Untitled/Gun Piece in

SEABA’s Festival of Fine Arts (Burlington, Vermont). Kim currently lives in Kinston, North Carolina as part of the smART Kinston Artist Residency program. Kim is the recipient of the smART Artist City Foundations micro grant, for her curatorial work on the show Embodying The Female Gaze, and received a grant from The North Carolina Arts Council for Don’t Forget To Remember, a mixed media installation focused on trauma and memory.

GRACE JOYNER

Ceramics, Art Educator

Grace graduated from East Carolina University with a BFA in Art Education and her BFA in Ceramics in Fall of 2017. She is now a full time art educator, who is also pursuing the life of an artist. Working with students day in and day out, she also comes home to work in her home studio, working on commissions and new pieces inspired by her memories from childhood and more recent experiences, too. Grace enjoys using her ceramics to tell a narrative, wether it is her story or someone else's. Her work sparks conversations and she enjoys using her work to form relationships. Get in touch with smART Gallery if you’d like to find out about their available pieces.