McColl Center opens its studios Nov. 14, 2 to 6 p.m., to mark 100 years of its N. Tryon St. building, with live portraits, a fiber demo, music and food.
McColl Center is opening its Uptown building from top to bottom on Saturday, Nov. 14, to mark 100 years since it was built, with open artist studios, live portraits, a fiber demonstration, music and food from 2 to 6 p.m.
The Centennial Celebration takes place at the center, 721 N. Tryon St. “Our building is turning 100!!!” the nonprofit said, inviting readers to “enjoy open artist studios, hands-on art experiences, live performances, and building-wide activations featuring Charlotte artists.”
The registration page listed tickets from free to $10 when we checked it on Nov. 3. Full details are on the McColl Center event page.
“Come for an hour. Stay for the afternoon.”
The afternoon opens the center’s Centennial Open House and Patron Party, the first event in what the organization calls “a year-long celebration of this building’s past, present, and future.”
“For 100 years, the building that we call home has held space for stories, ideas, and generations of people who have shaped its history,” the center says on its event page. “For over 25 years, McColl Center has carried that story forward, transforming these historic walls into a place where artists create, experiment, and connect with the Charlotte community.”
Visitors are invited to “explore McColl Center from top to bottom with open artist studios, art in progress, hands-on experiences, music, food, and moments that connect the building’s history with the artists shaping what happens here today.”
“Come for an hour. Stay for the afternoon,” the page says. “Together, we’ll honor the history held within these walls, experience what’s happening here now, and imagine what’s possible in the next 100 years.”
What is on
According to the center’s event page, the afternoon includes:
- Edwin Gil: The Heart Series. The Charlotte-based artist “returns to his artistic roots” with what the center describes as “a deeply personal body of work shaped by healing, transformation, and the restorative power of art,” which asks visitors “to consider the heart not only as something we carry, but as a vessel for memory, resilience, emotion, and renewal.”
- Live portraits. Charlotte-based artists Madelyn Hernandez and Simon Lane will create live portraits through the afternoon, “inviting visitors to become both audience and subject as the act of art-making unfolds in real time.” The center says the portraits leave sitters “with a record of your own presence in this historic building. Come take a seat, meet the artists, and become part of what’s being made.”
- A live demonstration in the new Fiber Studio, 3 to 5 p.m. Charlotte-based artist Will White, a 2025-2026 Exhibition Fellow at the center, will work with “fiber, material, and technique” in what the center calls “the newest addition to McColl Center’s studios.”
A Contemporaries Insider Brunch runs from 2 to 3 p.m. for members of the Contemporaries, a group listed under the center’s support pages.
The rest of the centennial year
The celebration continues with the center’s Benefit Art Auction on Feb. 20, 2027, and its Spring Patron Party on May 22, 2027, the event page says.
McColl Center has run its Artist-in-Residence program for more than 25 years, “providing the time, space, and resources for creative practices to thrive,” the center said. Its motto: “Art thrives when artists do.”
Outside special events, the center’s website lists opening hours of noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, by appointment Sunday to Thursday, with complimentary admission and a $10 suggested donation. The center can be reached at 704-332-5535 or through mccollcenter.org.
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