Saturday, August 23, 2025 @ 11:00 am - 3:00 pm | Main Gallery
Join us to celebrate nearly 30 years of Art-o-mat! Come meet more than 60 artists who keep these incredible machines filled with original, affordable, and portable works of art and culture. Art-o-mat artists will have art to sell and Art-o-mat blocks to swap. There will be live music from 12:30pm to 2:30pm, more information coming soon.
This event is free and open to the public. Come for an hour or stay the whole day!
What is an Art-o-mat Swap Meet?
The term Art-o-mat Swap Meet was established after our first gathering of Art-o-mat artists in the year 2000. This group of strangers from around the country immediately connected and were stoked to meet others who were involved in the project. Unexpectedly, the artists began trading their Art-o-mat art, and at the end of the day, everyone left with a collection of works crafted by their colleagues. Swap Meet (a somewhat archaic and geeky term) is defined as a gathering at which enthusiasts or collectors trade or exchange items of common interest. I just liked how the name literally defined what happened at that first event – it's also an accessible term that reflects the egalitarian nature of Art-o-mat.
– Clark Whittington, Art-o-Mat Creator and Founder of Artist in Cellophane
About Art-o-mat
Art-o-mat began in 1997 as a conceptual artwork by Winston-Salem artist Clark Whittington, repurposing vintage cigarette machines to dispense works of art. Over the years, Art-o-mat has become a resident fixture in many art venues nationally and internationally, and the project has been recognized in shows at SECCA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and through sprawling artist-collector networking events called art swaps. Machines have been installed in museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and at locations as far flung as Australia.
Learn more about Art-o-mat at www.artomat.org