You put in a token and out comes a piece of original art. That is the whole idea behind Art O Mat, and it works beautifully. What started as a Winston Salem experiment in 1997 has grown into a nationwide movement with over 100 machines operating across the country. The home base is still North Carolina.
Where It Started
Art O Mat was created by Winston Salem artist Clark Whittington. He took vintage cigarette vending machines, which were being phased out and discarded, and converted them into art dispensers. The first one went live in 1997. The concept was simple: make original art accessible, affordable, and fun to buy. Five dollars gets you a token. A token gets you a small original work created by a participating artist.
The project grew from one machine in Winston Salem to a network of artists and venues across the country. There are now more than 400 artists contributing work to the program. The art comes in small packages sized to fit the old cigarette slots, so every piece is compact but fully original. You never know exactly what you will get, which is part of the appeal.
How It Works
Art O Mat machines are placed inside museums, galleries, shops, and cultural venues. You cannot just walk up to one on the street. You find one, buy a token from the venue, put the token in the machine, and pull the knob. Out comes a small package containing original artwork. Paintings, prints, photography, ceramics, jewelry and more have all come through the machines over the years.
Each artist creates a run of work specifically for the program. The pieces are made to fit the machine but are otherwise completely unrestricted in medium or style. Some artists have sent work through Art O Mat for years and have built a following among collectors who hunt down machines just to find their pieces.
Finding Art O Mat Machines in NC
Winston Salem is the best place to start. The Reynolda House Museum of American Art has had a machine on site, which makes it a natural pairing since the museum is already one of the best art experiences in the Piedmont Triad. The SECCA building and the broader Winston Salem arts community have long embraced the project as part of what makes the city's creative scene worth paying attention to.
Machines rotate and move over time, so the best way to find a current location near you is to check the official Art O Mat website at artomat.org. They keep an updated map of all active machines. NC tends to have solid representation given the program's roots here.
Why It Matters
The whole premise is that art should not be intimidating or expensive. You do not need to walk into a gallery and feel like you have to know what you are looking at. You put in five dollars, you pull a knob, and you walk away with something made by a real artist. That directness is rare in the art world and it is a big part of why Art O Mat has lasted as long as it has.
It also does something meaningful for artists. The program gives them a way to reach people who would not normally encounter their work. A kid in a museum lobby pulls a token and discovers a ceramic artist from Asheville. That kind of unexpected connection is hard to manufacture any other way.
A Winston Salem Export Worth Knowing
Winston Salem has a real arts identity that most people outside NC underestimate. SECCA, Reynolda House, the School of the Arts, and Art O Mat are all part of the same story about a mid size NC city that has quietly built one of the more interesting creative communities in the South. Art O Mat is the most portable piece of that story. You can now find it in museums and shops across the country, but it started here.