Visual Index Brings the Whole Country to North Carolina

The Winston-Salem gallery has been showing and selling works by artists from all 50 states since 2017.

By Robert Alan Grand
April 28, 2026

Digital Only

Museums & Galleries

Free To Read

Photo by Robert Alan Grand

Visual Index, a gallery in the North Trade Street Arts District in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, stocks pieces by artists from all 50 states.

Visual Index Gallery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, leads with the mission to offer goods that are “truly handmade, from all 50 states.”

And while owner and founder Toni Tronu takes the every-state commitment seriously—recently stocking work from Montana’s Beth Aimée and Oregon’s Terra Glassworks—her impetus for starting the business went way beyond providing a wide-ranging look at art and craft across America.

Fed up with the high prices and unfriendly demeanor that often accompanies white-cube gallery spaces, Tronu opened her Visual Index in August 2017, offering a playful, diverse selection of items designed to appeal to a wide range of interests and budgets. She also showcases only living artists. “Investing in an artist’s vision allows them to continue making, and is an earnest and genuine way to impact the growth of creativity,” she says.

“We feature a mix of art, craft, objects, small-batch designs, and even stickers,” Tronu explains. The bold, colorful, and often humorous pieces often serve as a gateway for a deeper art appreciation.

Photo by Robert Alan Grand

Toni Tronu founded the gallery in 2017.

“The original question was: ‘How do I start an art gallery that is approachable, accessible, makes art exciting, and helps people understand that art is for everybody?’”

So far, it’s working. “Now, I have people come in off the jobsite, maybe they’re in their farm overalls,” she says. “They do not look like what has been traditionally defined as the ‘art buyer,’ but will spend thousands here—that’s my favorite.”

Tronu finds most of the artists she represents through social media, online communities, and word of mouth, often asking fellow makers, friends, and shoppers for their advice on artists working in unexpected locations.

She also plans a research trip every year, choosing a city she is unfamiliar with, touring studios, and meeting up with a represented artist or two. This year, she went to Baltimore to visit studio potter Matthew Hyleck and Baltimore Clayworks, while also spending time at craft shows in the area.

Photo by Robert Alan Grand

Glassware by Brooklyn's Jessica Moore.

“The art world can often feel so big and sometimes disjointed, but it will surprise you with unexpected connections.”

— Toni Tronu

The idea to stock artists from all 50 states came after Tronu worked for three years at GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art in Greensboro, a space that has showcased and championed artists from the Tar Heel State for over half a century. Tronu described her experience at the center as an invaluable “crash course” in gallery management that found her curating exhibitions, running the shop, and acting as registrar, but she felt limited by its state-centric scope; she kept a spreadsheet of artists she loved and wanted to work with who didn’t have a North Carolina connection, in case the right opportunity came along.

When she decided to step out on her own, Tronu looked to other similarly minded galleries for inspiration, including Troika Contemporary Crafts in Floyd, Virginia, and Austin Art Garage in Texas’s capital city. But it was a chance meeting in February 2017, during a visit to Fiber Company, a weaving shop in Winston-Salem’s North Trade Street Arts District, that helped it all come together.

Tronu noticed that Fiber Company’s neighboring gallery, The Other Half, was closing and met with owner Tamara Propst to ask for advice—thinking maybe their closing was a sign that she shouldn’t pursue her own dream.

Photo courtesy of Toni Tronu

The gallery is in Winston-Salem's North Trade Street Arts District, where Tronu also hosts her quarterly Art Crush block parties.

In fact, it was the opposite: Tamara and her husband, ceramist Ron Propst, owned the large building on Trade Street that housed The Other Half, seven other artist-related businesses, and 25 private studios. The couple had played a significant role in transforming the surrounding neighborhood into an arts district and were now ready for retirement. “We met for coffee,” Tronu recalls. “Tamara checked my business plan, and later called to say, ‘We don’t want you to open your gallery in Greensboro. We want you to open it in our building.’”

Visual Index’s initial home helped Tronu build a strong reputation and a solid business over the course of several years. In April 2023, she founded Art Crush, a recurring, lively Arts District block party featuring emerging artists, creative nonprofits, and dynamic performers; it regularly draws thousands and has become a popular attraction in Winston-Salem.

Photo by Robert Alan Grand

The gallery's offerings include works in traditional craft media and on paper.

Tronu experienced another remarkable (and neighborly) turn of events in late 2023 when Fiber Company closed and the shop’s artist collective transferred the lease on their 2,400-square-foot corner boutique to Tronu—allowing her to significantly grow her gallery footprint and stock more sizable inventory, like large tufted fake plants by Michigan- and North Carolina–based duo Haha Bonbon and foot-tall vases by Minnesota maker Tony Santoyo.

“The art world can often feel so big and sometimes disjointed, but it will surprise you with unexpected connections,” says Tronu. “I was in Pensacola, Florida, looking for artists from my hometown to represent when I met this amazing clay artist, Lou Mitchell Courtney. We’re chatting, and when I told her the gallery was in Winston-Salem, she said, ‘That’s my hometown!’ and I went, ‘What? This is my hometown!’ It was amazing to meet someone who had such an intimate knowledge of both places I was talking about.”

Photo by Robert Alan Grand

A model of Visual Index by Winston-Salem artist Vikki Vassar.

Robert Alan Grand is a writer and photographer based in Asheville, North Carolina. He received the 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant to cover contemporary art in southern and central Appalachia.

Check out Visual Index online.

Website Instagram

Before you go!

We believe that making creates a meaningful world, and we hope you do, too. Deeply researched and impactful journalism on the craft community is in short supply. At the same time, being featured in craft-centered media and articles can have a major effect on a maker’s or artist’s livelihood, particularly those who are just starting in their career. You can help support our mission and the work of makers around the country by becoming a member or by making a gift today.

Thank you!
American Craft Council

Join Donate