Gregg Museum of Art and Design

If you love wandering through an art museum, but you’re looking for something a little smaller and less overwhelming than the NC Museum of Art, then Gregg Museum of Art & Design may be the perfect fit!

some of the permanent collection on display for an “All that glitters” theme

I’ll preface this review by saying this place really isn’t kid friendly at all. There are a lot of very fragile exhibits so if you go you will want to keep a very close eye on your kids at all times. The staff stopped me at the door and told me there was a no backpack policy, so I was unable to carry my diaper bag with me. They had lockers at the front for bags, but I just took mine back to the car. Luckily we weren’t there long so we didn’t need it. I didn’t try to take my stroller, so I’m not sure how they would have felt about that.

The good news is that since the museum is smaller, it’s easier to see everything quickly and then get out, which is what I did with my 4, 3, and 2 year old. We were in and out in about 45 minutes and luckily didn’t break anything! If you have older kids you will probably want to stay a bit longer and read all of the descriptions. It still may be worth a shot to visit if you like new adventures!

The Exhibitions

The museum has their own permanent collection, but they also host traveling exhibitions as well. While we were there they were hosting Design By Time from the Pratt Institute and Art’s Work In the Age of Biotechnology Shaping Our Genetic Futures. The time exhibition was my favorite and had some really visually interesting work. It was also the most fragile area so it terrified me to have my kids walking through it!

a unique traveling exhibit that was on display. My 3 year old tried to touch this as soon as we walked in the door!

video representation of a clock in the time exhibition. My 3 year old stared at this for a long time!

Those rocks were very tempting for little fingers!

the only interactive exhibit in the building! I let them tinker away!

Schedule A Tour

For our group we called ahead and scheduled a tour, but that is not necessary if you just want to visit the museum. It was nice to have a guide to explain the exhibitions to the kids a little more in detail, and they did a good job tailoring it to the ages of our group. Although it was much harder to move as a large group through the museum, and we moved at a faster pace once we broke up into smaller groups.

Our guide was smart and made all the kids sit down while she spoke!

The Garden

One nice feature I was excited to see was a small garden area in the back. My kids enjoyed being outside for a bit after seeing all of the artifacts inside. There was unique seating overlooking a small grassy area that could be a nice contained area to let the kids play.

there’s a small garden you can walk through

In the front of the building there was a much larger field that would be nice to have a picnic (It also contained a piece of art from the Whirligig Park in Wilson if you’ve ever been there!). However, the field was adjacent to the main road and parking lot, so it may not be a good option if you have a runner!

there’s a large field outside of the building, great for a picnic!

Great spot for a date night!

Overall it was nice to get out and do something new, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend this place for younger children. This is nothing like Marbles! There aren’t any play areas or interactive exhibits for kids. It really stressed me out to have my toddlers in there. Although, they were fascinated by quite a few of the exhibitions and I felt like a good mom for showing them art at their age! 😆

This could be a fun spot for a date night though, and they host some fun free programs for First Friday!