TRIANGLETODAY.COM
Published by The News & Observer
Sunday, January 7, 2018
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W
hen Seraphim Smith moved from Durham to Kinston last year, he met Stephen Hill his first night in town. A culinary internship as a cook with award-winning chef Vivian Howard had drawn Smith to this Eastern North Carolina town of around 20,000.
s A large scale mural on the old NAPA Building in downtown Kinston is one of many public art projects scattered around the town. Kinston is emerging as an unlikely arts hub in Eastern North Carolina. TRAVIS LONG
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Painter Seraphim Smith works in his Kinston home studio. Kinston is emerging as an unlikely arts hub, thanks to a benefactor who attracts artists to the Eastern North Carolina town by renting them houses at affordable prices. TRAVIS LONG
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But Smith was more interested in painting than cooking, and when Hill asked what he did, Smith told him he was an artist. “That got his attention and he asked me, ‘Have you heard about smART Kinston?,’ ” Smith recalled. “ ‘It’s cheap rent for artists. You should apply!’ So I did. And here I am.” So far, Hill has bought about 60 houses in Kinston and refurbished them, with brightly colored exteriors as a signature. About half of those houses have artist tenants — with artist broadly defined, encompassing culinary and grooming as well as visual and performing arts. Hill, 56, is a Kinston native who made his money in the family business of health care-related real estate and insurance. He’s also the entrepreneur behind Mother Earth Brewing, Mother Earth Motor Lodge and other rising Kinston establishments.
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” ~ St. Augustine
ARTS HUB
KINSTON
By David Menconi for The N&O
EXPLORE YOUR WORLD .ORG