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ABOUT


Fried Fruit Art Space is an artist-run gallery. We are committed to education and freedom of expression. Housed in a retired cargo container, our space functions as a storefront. Fried Fruit is in the growing Cargo District, surrounded by small businesses, entrepreneurs and local restaurants. Day or night, anyone can approach the floor-to-ceiling glass window and view our exhibitions. 

Fried Fruit’s footprint is a mere 150 square feet. The smallness is appealing and unintimidating, allowing exhibiting artists to conceptualize and execute an idea freely. Fried Fruit Art Space serves as a great jumping-off point to realize long-thought-about projects. Past collaborators have used this cargo container to push their practice to explore processes and concepts formerly out of reach. These unique exhibitions function as a proof of concept that allows an artist to propose future shows to larger establishments.

gallery layout


MISSION STATEMENT


Fried Fruit is a space for artists, curators, educators, and students to explore and experiment.  Our focus is to showcase conceptual art, championing work that breaks away from traditional expectations of what art should be. We want viewers to think deeply about the artists’ motivation behind their work. Fried Fruit serves as an educational tool, offering the community access to lectures from visiting artists of all backgrounds. The gallery highlights a range of disciplines in hopes of expanding our community’s understanding of what art can be. Art is research, process, material, emotion, storytelling . . . 

CONNECT


︎ friedfruitart@gmail.com
︎ friedfruitartgallery
︎freshAF


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OUR STORY


Madison and Matthew Creech are collaborators and partners residing in Wilmington, NC. They co-founded Fresh As Fruit Gallery in DeLand, FL, and later Fried Fruit Art Space in the Cargo District of Wilmington, NC. 

Madison currently teaches Graphic Design in the Art & Art History department at UNCW, and Matthew is a freelance illustrator and coffee barista at Blue Cup Roastery. We’ve connected Fried Fruit artists with UNCW for talks, workshops, and studio visits at the Mohin-Scholz LGBTQIA Resource Center, Intersectional Feminist Media Lab, CAB Gallery, and Art & Art History Department.

Fresh As Fruit Gallery started in a detached garage in DeLand, Florida.  Our friends and collaborators Katie Baczeski and Chad Serhal worked to provide a place for contemporary art opportunities in DeLand. After hosting 5 ½ successful shows, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted Fresh As Fruit Gallery’s operations. 

Fresh As Fruit, became Still Life with Fruit in August of 2020 when exhibitions began in the storefront window of Tom’s Auto Repair. These shows were viewable from the street, bringing art to the community in a safe and accessible way. 

Still Life with Fruit exhibited works for one year, with the experiment eventually coming to a close when Baczeski and Serhal relocated. In far-away Wilmington, NC, Will Friar, a photographer, offered Madison Creech a space in the Cargo District. This opportunity resulted in the creation of Fried Fruit Art Space. After several location changes within the Cargo District, Fried Fruit Art Space presently hosts exhibitions that challenge the viewer’s understanding of art. Floor-to-ceiling windows allow the audience to view works 24/7, a nod to the Still Life with Fruit storefront window. 

Open calls for art are held periodically. Inquiries can be directed to friedfruitart@gmail.com


LOCATION


615 S 16th St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Parked in Accessible Spot:
Accessible Parking is available at Queen Street Barber Shop. To get to Fried Fruit Art Space from this location, continue on the sidewalk along Queen st. You will quickly approach a walkway between two shipping containers with a mural indicating that you are entering the Cargo Courtyard. Turn left and enter the walkway. Continue along this path. You will pass Salita Pizza, and Crafted Outpost. After, you will enter the courtyard. Fried Fruit Art Space is located along the back section, a shipping container with wall to ceiling windows. WALK THROUGH VIDEO 

Parked at Plant Outpost:
Free parking is available in the gravel lot behind The Plant Outpost. The parking lot can be entered on either Queen st. or S 17th st. On Maps, there is a small road connecting these two streets. If entering from Queen st, enter the road that follows the green neon plants sign. After parking, to find Fried Fruit Art Space, find the large mural at the back of the lot. Continue left toward the group of shipping containers. Upon entering the Cargo Courtyard, Fried Fruit Art Space is to the immediate left. WALK THROUGH VIDEO




Land Acknowledgement:

Fried Fruit Art Space is located in Wilmington, NC. We acknowledge that the land we occupy was that of the Waccamaw and the Cape Fear People, known now as the Skarure Woccon, who lived in this area from as early as 10,000 BC. The Waccamaw’s land stretched along North and South Carolina, living along the Cape Fear, Pee Dee, and Waccamaw Rivers. 

In 1749, war erupted between the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe and the state of South Carolina. This assault forced the Waccamaw Siouan people to relocate from an area near Charleston, SC. They currently reside 37 miles from Wilmington, NC. The Waccamaw Siouan Tribe celebrates culture, art, language, and community. The non-profit organization Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, Inc. works towards solutions to problems affecting the welfare of the Waccamaw Siouan people. Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, Inc. also allocates financial assistance from government resources to improve the livelihood of Tribal members.

The Skarure People were a small, coastal tribe who lived along the Cape Fear River. Their lands ranged from the piedmont region of North Carolina, all the way to what is now New Hanover County. British colonizers documented encounters with the Skarure People as early as 1662. The local population suffered many hardships at the hands of these invaders, including an outbreak of smallpox that decimated the native population, from an estimated 1,000 to just 206. After the war of Tuscarora from 1711-1713, the remaining Skarure were split, absorbed into neighboring tribes. The descendants of those who stayed behind stand strong together, still living in the swamp lands of North Carolina. 

Fried Fruit shares this brief synopsis in the hopes of spreading awareness to the history of the land we occupy. None of our lives here would be possible without the sacrifice and hardship endured by the indigenous populations of what is now the United States. 

“It is important to understand the longstanding history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation.” - Northwestern University

Below are resources on the history and current practices of the Waccamaw Siouan and Skarure Woccon. We encourage our readers to perform their due diligence and educate themselves on the history of the land we occupy.