Our Story

Some businesses are built on numbers. Steele Creek Art was built on the love of art.

It all begins with Eloise Pope, a prominent watercolor artist and beloved figure in the Charlotte, NC art community. Eloise had a gift for capturing the world around her — whether it was a quiet still life, a sweeping landscape, the cobblestone streets of a European village, or the misty ridgelines of the North Carolina Mountains. She painted with a joy that was contagious, and her influence shaped not just the walls of The Pope's Collector Gallery — the family's art space where her work and the work of other local artists found their home — but the lives of everyone in her family. Eloise didn't just teach her children to appreciate art. She gave them a calling.

Her son Kerry Pope took that calling and ran with it. Starting in the framing and furniture industry in the 1980s, Kerry spent years traveling the country, supplying framing shops with the molding, equipment, and expertise they needed to do their best work. Over time, he didn't just learn the industry — he mastered it. Today, with nearly five decades of experience behind him, Kerry is widely regarded as one of the finest art framers on the East Coast. But what truly sets him apart isn't just his technical knowledge — it's his eye. Every piece of artwork in the Steele Creek collection is hand-selected by Kerry himself. Every frame is personally chosen to complement the art it holds, carefully matched to the current styles, colors, and textures that bring a space to life.

Kerry's brothers shared that same family passion. Rick Pope, who passed away a few years ago and is deeply missed, was a part of that world. Tom Pope carries the tradition forward through Shenandoah Framing, where he has served major institutional clients including universities and distributors. The art world runs deep in the Pope family — it always has.

Steele Creek Art is, at its heart, a family business. Kerry's wife Roxanne is the backbone of the operation, managing the production team, handling the books, and keeping every moving part running smoothly. Their son Stuart has been with the company for over a decade, managing business development and overseeing the Carolina and Georgia territories, building lasting relationships with customers across the region. Kerry himself remains as hands-on as ever — leading design, personally curating the collection, and managing wholesale accounts stretching from Alabama to Florida and from Virginia to New Jersey.

The production team, based right in Rock Hill, SC, reflects the same values that have always defined this company. Every frame is American made, produced locally with American employees who take pride in their craft. These are people who handle each work of art with care and attention, understanding that what they're doing isn't just manufacturing — it's the final act of bringing a piece of art to its full expression.

Steele Creek Art reaches its customers through online and phone orders, as well as through a mobile gallery that personally visits each territory on a regular rotation — every four to eight weeks, depending on the region. Many of the designers and wholesale buyers in the Steele Creek Art family have been doing business with Kerry and his team for ten, fifteen, even twenty years. That's not a customer base. That's a community.

When you work with Steele Creek Art, you're not placing an order with a faceless corporation. You're connecting with a family that grew up surrounded by art, that has spent a lifetime learning what makes a frame sing alongside a painting, and that genuinely cares about what ends up on your walls. That's the Steele Creek Art difference — and it starts, as so many good things do, with a mother who loved to paint.