This concentration can be partially explained by the fruitful marriage between industry and artistry dating to the founding of Salem in 1766 by the Moravians, whose talents included blacksmithing and weaving. That marriage comes to play in an exhibit opening Jan. 22 at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, "Oral History," in which New York artist Donald Lipski employs tobacco as his theme and even his medium.

It's fitting that tobacco be the topic of the first in SECCA's "Artist and the Community" series in which national artists interact with locals during three-week to two-month residencies. After all, cigarette manufacturing has been one of Winston-Salem's bedrock businesses since the late 1800s, when Richard Joshua Reynolds founded his tobacco company here.

Industrialists such as Reynolds and James G. Hanes generously supported the arts in Winston-Salem, an influence felt even years after their deaths. Today, Reynolds's 1917 mansion houses the Reynolda House Museum of American Art, while nearby SECCA occupies Hanes's 1929 English-style manor.

These are but two of at least seven essential art stops in Winston- Salem:

Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art: The old Hanes mansion's ivy-covered, stacked-stone facade and its entrance hall wallpaper depicting a tony hunt scene don't prepare you for the challenging viewing that awaits at SECCA, one of the nation's leading showcases of contemporary art. Founded in 1956, SECCA found its way into national headlines in 1989 when it included Andres Serrano's controversial "Piss Christ" in a touring exhibit.

Under the leadership of new director Susan Lubowsky, formerly with the National Endowment for the Arts, SECCA seeks as much to embrace as to provoke. The "Artist and the Community" series being inaugurated with Lipski's take on tobacco (continuing through April 17) is an attempt to tear down the wall between maker and viewer - and to reach new audiences.

With the addition of a modern, glass-walled wing, SECCA has room for some 25 invitational and traveling exhibitions a year as well as an expanding contemporary performance schedule and educational offerings.

Also on view are multimedia works by Cuban-born artist Maria Martinez-Canas that explore her heritage (through March 13) and "North Carolina Arts Council Artists Fellowship Exhibition" (Jan. 22 through April 10).

Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, 750 Marguerite Drive. 919- 725-1904.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art: The tick of the grandfather clock resounds in the Reynolda House hallway, and you almost expect to see the master of the manse behind the desk when you pass his library. But R.J. Reynolds died in 1918, less than a year after moving into this welcoming and remarkably unpretentious 60-room home.

Although the furnishings have stayed much the same, there has been a major change: In 1967, the mansion was reborn as Reynolda House Museum of American Art, whose collection extends from a polite 1755 portrait of a Charleston, S.C., lady by Jeremiah Theus to Nam June Paik's raucous 1991 video installation "Leonardo da Vinci," which deconstructs his masterpieces at warp speed.

In between, there are important works by Frederic Church, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Eakins, Grant Wood, Georgia O'Keeffe and Thomas Hart Benton.

For some guests, the pleasure is happening upon lesser-known gems such as Horace Pippin's powerful "The Whipping Post" (1941). Created with a burning fireplace poker and paint on board, it depicts a slave being lashed as a smiling overseer watches.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2250 Reynolda Road. 919-725- 5325.

Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology: Modest in size, the museum has a big mission: to bring to life the cultures of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Children in particular will enjoy the vivid array of artifacts in the permanent collection. It has everything from a terrifying body mask from New Guinea, worn by men in secret societies to scare off women and children, to a 20-foot-long section of an Indian dugout canoe, dating to 970, from South Georgia's Flint River.

"A Common Thread," an exhibit of textiles and needlework from around the world, runs Feb. 22 through Aug. 12.

Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology: Follow signs from Wake Forest Road on the campus. 919-759-5282.

Sixth and Trade Art District: So it's no SoHo. The district, a smattering of art spaces in renovated storefronts surrounding a downtown intersection, includes at least three galleries/shops that would be welcomed in any big city:

Urban Artware's selection of some of the region's top folk artists - including Bessie Harvey, Woodie Long, James Harold Jennings and Sarah Rakes - is consistently strong. It also has several very early, detailed pieces by Pennville, Ga.'s Rev. Howard Finster, with prices (more than $1,000) that will make you wish you'd bought him back when. Also represented is up-and-coming Winston-Salem folk artist Mark Casey Milestone, who produces inventive found-object constructions and paintings.

Anyone with a yen for handmade clothes will have a hard time resisting the Fiber Company, which displays vests, jackets, hats and scarves in its storefront, while the owners busily loom and sew more nearby.

The Collective Mind features handmade furniture with a high funk quotient, including Tallulah Falls, Ga., artist Don Bundrick's "Electric Buffet," a canary-hued piece with bark covering its doors and drawers.

Sixth and Trade Art District, Sixth and Trade streets. 919-724-7153.

Piedmont Craftsmen: Although Winston-Salem isn't the center of crafts production Asheville is, the city is home to one of the region's top guilds, Piedmont Craftsmen, which represents 385 artists across 12 Southeastern states and the District of Columbia.

Most of those showing in its gallery/shop give contemporary twists to traditional crafts production. Among them is Decatur's Chester Old, who uses industrial materials in his futuristic lamps.

Piedmont Craftsmen, 1204 Reynolda Road. 919-725-1516.

Winston-Salem State University: This historic black institution is a hotbed of African-American art. Its Diggs Gallery will host "Artistic Legacy: Collections of Art from Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Schools," a rare survey exhibit drawn from historic black college collections, Feb. 4 through April 9.

On permanent view at O'Kelly Library are monumental murals by Tarheel native John Biggers. "Origins" and "Ascension" - each 15 by 30 feet - are richly symbolic works that draw from sources including African mythology, religion and American history. The campus is also the setting for four major outdoor sculptures, including one by Atlantan Beverly Buchanan.

Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University, 601 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. 919-750-2458.

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts: Strolling through the 19 period rooms of this museum is like taking a time machine to the region from the 1600s to 1820.

Located in the restored Old Salem settlement near downtown, the museum displays furniture, paintings, textiles, ceramics and metalwares in settings accurate to the period and locale.

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 924 S. Main St. in Old Salem. 919-721-7360.

TIPS FOR THE TRIP
Here's how to plan a Winston-Salem visit:

Getting there: If you drive, it's 321 all-interstate miles from Atlanta via I-85 north to Charlotte; I-77 north to I-40 just north of Statesville; and I-40 east to Winston-Salem.

Where to stay: Winston-Salem has a range of chain motels; two medium-size convention hotels and several inns.

Other attractions: After touring the arts centers, you still haven't seen it all. Don't miss:

SciWorks, for interactive exhibits, a planetarium, and 30 acres for picnics, hiking and bird-watching. 400 Hanes Mill Road. 919-767-6730.

Old Salem is a restoration of the 18th-century town of Salem, with 12 residences open to tours plus shops including Winkler Bakery (delicious goodies) and demonstrations of shoemaking, weaving and other early Americana crafts. 919-721-7300.

If you'd like to see how cigarettes are made, tour the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Whitaker Park Manufacturing Center. You can view entirely computerized cigarette production and see exhibits on tobacco growing. 919-741-5718.

Information: Winston-Salem Convention and Visitors Bureau, 800-331-7018.

(This information was current at the time of publication, but hours and prices may have changed. It's always a good idea to call before you travel.)

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