History

In 2002, the Cameron Art Museum opened its new museum facility designed 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 ½ acre woodland park featuring a pond, historic Civil War site, 2100 square foot art education building, a 42,000 square foot art museum with galleries, a full service restaurant, lecture and reception hall, museum gift shop and parking.

The Cameron Art Museum is the only accredited art museum in southeastern North Carolina. The Museum presents 6-8 special exhibitions annually; monthly family and children’s programs (Kids @ CAM); weekly interdisciplinary programs (lectures, music, films, literature, dance); and ongoing workshops and classes in ceramics at a unique Clay Studio with a resident master artist and developing artist-in-residence program.

The Museum’s permanent collection of fine arts, crafts and design includes work of both historical and contemporary significance, and a growing collection of work by North Carolina artists. Specific works in the permanent collection are shown in selected exhibitions at the Museum.

Architect Charles Gwathemy and Mr. Bruce Cameron

Architect

The Cameron Art Museum was designed by Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, Inc. in New York. Gwathmey has established a reputation for designing innovative and highly functional museums. A Charlotte, NC native, he is the son of noted American painter Robert Gwathmey and photographer Rosalie Gwathmey. The architect's other projects in NC include The Thomas I. Storrs College of Architecture at UNC Charlotte, the Center for Jewish Life at Duke University, and the IBM Office Building and Distribution Center in Greensboro. In addition to the Guggenheim project, he also designed the renovation and addition to the Henry Art Gallery (University of Washington, Seattle), the addition to the Werner Otto Hall of the Fogg Museum (Harvard University) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami.

Civil War Historic Site

The museum's grounds include a significant site of one of the last battles of the Civil War, called "Battle of Forks Road," fought on February 20, 1865 just before the fall of the city and the subsequent collapse of the Confederate forces. After the fall of Fort Fisher following the largest naval bombardment to date in US history, Union troops marched up the Cape Fear peninsula to capture Wilmington and seal off the Confederate Army's last remaining port. Lining the edge of the Museum grounds are confederate revetments built during the Battle of Forks Road in the last days of the Civil War.