A Curated Evening of Art, Artists, and Connection
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The evening has passed. The next one is coming.
April 2026
An evening you'll talk about
long after you leave.
First to know. First access.
WHY THIS EXISTSYou've earned a Friday night
that actually feeds your soul.
Art After Hours is a curated, beautifully hosted evening where five Charlotte-area artists bring their work to life — and where you get to discover them, meet them, and bring a little of that beauty home.
Glass in hand, a mini workshop to make something useful, and the kind of conversation that surprises you. This is what a real Friday night looks like.
And if you're the woman who wishes she'd been in that room — now you'll know when the next one opens.
What’s waiting for you.
THE EXPERIENCEFive Curated Artists
Abstract landscapes, layered mixed media, modern portraits, digital art, and dog portraits. Every artist hand-selected. Every piece original. You'll be in genuinely good company, discovering work you won't find anywhere else. (No offense, HomeGoods.)
The Golden Hour
A signature cocktail crafted by Swanky Straw — named for the painter’s favorite light and the feeling of a perfect Friday evening. Available with or without the spirits.
Gallery Wall Workshop
A hands-on mini workshop on curating and hanging a collection of pieces that feel entirely yours. You'll leave with real skills, real ideas, and perhaps a new piece you can already picture in that perfect spot.
Prize Drawings
Each artist and our sponsoring venue has contributed a gift for our prize drawings — think gorgeous prints, small originals, and a few surprises. You have to be there to win.
Art Available to Purchase
The art on display is available for purchase all three days — Friday through Sunday. VIP guests get first access Friday night before the doors open to the public Saturday morning.
VIP OPENING NIGHT
Some experiences you stream later.
This isn't one of them.
Friday's VIP opening is the only night the artists are in the room. Think of it like an opening night screening where the director is in the house for a live Q&A — except instead of a darkened theater, it's a beautifully curated space, a drink in hand, and five local artists who make extraordinary things and love talking about them.
If you're the kind of woman who enjoys business class when she can get it — this is your upgrade. (And yes, the men are welcome too.)
You'll meet the artists directly, hear the stories behind the pieces, and leave knowing the work in a way you simply can't through a screen. You'll also have first access to purchase — before the doors open to the public Saturday morning. No crowds. No here's-what's-left-after-the-party vibes.
Nope. Friday night is just you, the work, and the women who made it.
How the evening flows:
7:00 PM — Doors open. Drink in hand. Artists in the room. Browse, connect, and settle in at your own pace.
7:15 PM — Gallery Wall Workshop with Christy. Hands-on, not a lecture. You'll arrange actual pieces, learn what makes a collection work, and leave knowing exactly what to do with that wall. A PDF guide goes home with you.
8:10 PM — Prize Drawings. Five artists. Five gifts. (And a few surprises.) You have to be there to win.
Five voices.
Five visions.
We curated four established Charlotte-area artists whose work spans a beautiful range — and one rising student artist attending UNC-Charlotte who's about to become someone you'll want to say you knew early.
Here's what we want you to remember: every piece in this room is an original. Not a print. Not a reproduction. Something the artist's hand moved across — sometimes for weeks on end — building layer by layer into what you'll see on these walls. It will never hang in anyone else's home. It was made once.
And somewhere in this room, there's probably a piece that's been waiting for exactly the right wall. Yours.
You might not know you need it until you see it. But you'll know.
April’s Artists
MINI WORKSHOPLeave knowing exactly
how to hang the wall
you've been imagining
Maybe you've pinned 47 gallery walls. Perhaps you've admired the arrangements in other people's homes. Maybe you've bought a piece or two that's still leaning against the baseboards because — where does it go, exactly?
This isn't theory. It's a hands-on workshop where you'll actually arrange artworks on a tabletop and see how it all comes together before a single nail goes in the wall.
We'll cover the things that actually matter: finding your underlying shape, determining the right scale for your space, choosing an anchor piece, knowing when to match frames and when to mix them, getting spacing right, and how to add to your collection over time without starting from scratch.
Plus — the Swiss cheese problem. We'll show you exactly how to avoid it.
You'll leave with a PDF that covers everything, so you have it in hand long after the evening ends. Consider it your gallery wall guide — designed for the wall you actually have, not the one in a catalog.
North Star Creative Co
Don't be the one who hears about it later.
Art After Hours will happen again. Different artists. Same commitment to a beautifully curated, unhurried Friday evening.
The women who were there in April? They're already on the list for the next one.
Get on The Good Stuff List, and you'll be among the first to know when VIP registration opens.
Capacity is limited. First come, first welcomed.