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Visual Arts

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By Dathan Kazsuk

North Hills continues to evolve, but the best businesses stay rooted in what they do and who they are. So I’m kicking off a new series where I get out from behind the screen, visit a local spot, and meet the people running it. First up: ArtSource Fine Art & Framing, where art, family, and even a little wine talk all share the same space.
 
“I’ll just hit record,” I say, settling into an office tucked behind ArtSource Fine Art & Framing in North Hills. It’s my first time in this space, though I’ve known ArtSource from its earlier, larger gallery across the way, back in my Triangle Business Journal days. Owner Nancy McClure gestures to a clipping on the wall from a story I’d designed for TBJ years ago.
 
Across from me is McClure’s daughter, Lacy Rollins. The office feels part headquarters, part museum—walls lined with McClure’s work. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when a family business turns a page without losing its soul, this is it. 
 
“It was 1990,” McClure tells me, starting from the beginning. She and her partner, Sharon Tharrington, launched ArtSource without a gallery. “We were in a little itty bitty room downtown, art consulting. That’s all we did.” No inventory, no walls packed with originals. They sourced pieces from other galleries.
Art & Framing shop owners, Nancy McClure and her daughter Lacy Rollins. Photo by ArtSource.
ArtSource moved from that tiny downtown setup to a spot off Glenwood Avenue. Then to Five Points, where McClure says they stayed “a long while.” After that, the opportunity came to move to North Hills, into a larger gallery near Wells Fargo, the one I remembered. Finally, they landed in North Hills, where they’ve been for the last decade.
 
McClure drops the kind of line only a family business can.
 
“Lacy, my daughter, has been with us all 35 years, beginning in the womb.”
 
“I’m also 35 years old,” Rollins shoots back.
 
That’s the heartbeat of ArtSource: a mother-daughter team carrying forward something built with care and a lot of belief. 
 
On January 1, ArtSource entered a new era, with Rollins joining McClure as co-owner after Tharrington retired. You can feel that shift in the way they talk about what’s next for ArtSource.
 
I tell them the truth: I love art, but I don’t shop for it the way people who “collect” art do. I’m a graphic designer and writer, so I understand composition, color, and all the visual rules. But buying art for your own walls is different.
“I think people kind of rely on us to help with that if they don’t know what they’re looking for exactly,” Rollins says.
 
McClure explains that ArtSource began with corporate consulting—helping offices and businesses “liven it up a little bit”—but now the gallery invites people into something more personal. They represent roughly 50 artists—mostly local and regional—across oils, acrylics, mixed media, and more, with inventory viewable online.
ArtSource Raleigh North Hills
The longtime family-run gallery helps clients find meaningful pieces for their homes, offices, and personal collections—not just something to fill a wall.
Rollins puts it simply: you might think you want something abstract, then find yourself connecting to a scene because it reminds you of a trip, a memory, or a place. Buy the art for the art, not just to “fill the space.” That’s how you end up with pieces you keep, even when you repaint the room, change the furniture, or grow into a different version of yourself.
 
And if you’re still not sure? They’ll help you ease into it.
 
ArtSource offers what they call “on approval,” where clients can borrow art, try it in their space, and see how it feels at home before committing. Then, if you love it, they can deliver and install it.
 
Beyond artwork, they frame jerseys, shadow boxes, photographs, and keepsakes. I mention a print at home my wife loves that recently gave out—the backing failed, and we heard that unmistakable thunk from another room. Rollins tells me to bring it in so they can fix it.
 
That’s the thing about businesses that last. They’re not just selling a product. They’re solving problems and making those lasting impressions. Sometimes the problem is a blank wall. Sometimes it’s a frame that decides to betray you at 2 a.m.
 
After our interview, McClure gives me a tour of the gallery. That’s when the conversation shifts to something more personal. We talk about my taste and what I’m drawn to. I mention wine (because of course I did), and suddenly we’re moving through the space like we’re plotting the next move in a game of chess.  
 

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