Virginia Beach Art Center — Home of the Artists Gallery
Hidden GemVirginia Beach Art Center — Home of the Artists Gallery is a attraction in ViBe Creative District, Virginia Beach, best for art lovers, a ViBe District stop, meeting working artists in their studios.
Housed in the landmark 'Purple Building' at 17th Street inside the ViBe Creative District, the Virginia Beach Art Center combines a public gallery, working artist studios, and art education under one roof — over 50 resident and exhibiting artists call it home. The Brock Gallery hosts rotating monthly exhibitions, the Bailey Ceramic Studio and Jean Rawls Art Classroom run pottery and instruction for all skill levels, and the artist-run Artists Gallery co-op — about a dozen working studios — lets visitors watch working artists and browse an eclectic mix of seascapes, still lifes, and contemporary pieces. Admission is free. Open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday noon-4pm; closed Mondays.
Amenities
- Brock Gallery rotating exhibitions
- Bailey Ceramic Studio
- Jean Rawls Art Classroom
- Artists Gallery working-studio co-op
Know Before You Go
- Best for: art lovers, a ViBe District stop, meeting working artists in their studios
- Parking: Free on-site parking.
- Accessibility: The Art Center building is handicapped accessible.
- Dogs: not allowed
- Location: 532 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA 23451, at 17th Street between Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues (the 'Purple Building'), Virginia Beach, VA
Last verified 2026-07-11.
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Upcoming Events Nearby
Old Beach Farmers Market
July 11, 2026 – October 31, 2026 · weekly (Saturdays 9am–noon April–October; 1st & 3rd Saturdays November–March)
The ViBe District's Saturday-morning market runs every week from April through October, 9am to noon at 611 18th Street, with local produce, seafood, baked goods, and Virginia wines from area farms and makers. When the regular season ends in late October it doesn't disappear — a winter schedule continues on the first and third Saturdays through March. Parking is easiest in the Runnymede lots on Cypress Avenue or the convention center lot.
First Friday ViBe
August 7, 2026 – October 2, 2026 · monthly (first Fridays, May–October)
On the first Friday of each month from May through October, the ViBe Creative District opens up from 6 to 10pm with local artist pop-ups, live music, open mic sets, and DJs — a chance to meet the makers and muralists who give the district its character. It's the ViBe at its most ViBe: deliberately local, a few blocks inland from the boardwalk crowds. Park in the ViBe lot on 18th Street or at the Oceanfront Library; the season's remaining 2026 dates run through early October.
Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend
September 25, 2026 – September 27, 2026 · annual
Virginia Beach's signature festival closes out September with its 52nd Boardwalk Weekend, spreading across the Oceanfront between 1st and 35th Streets. The headline draw is Neptune's International Sandsculpting Championship — 22 large-scale works by sculptors from around the world — alongside an art and craft show with more than 200 artisans, twenty-plus musical acts across festival stages, the Grand Parade, Neptune's 8K, and a surfing competition at the jetty. Most of it is free to attend, and it reliably fills the resort area for one last big weekend of the season.