The Beaufort County Arts Council’s first new exhibit of 2015 opens tonight with a reception at the historic Turnage Theater in Washington.

The show features new works by East Carolina University artists Beth Blake, Kate Speranza and Christine Zeurcher. Speranza and Zeurcher are both current MFA candidates at ECU, while Blake is an associate professor at the university.

The exhibit is by no means the first time the arts council has teamed up with ECU’s School of Art and Design, and the occasional partnership offers students and professors alike the opportunity to have their work shown to the general public, according to BCAC Executive Director Joey Toler.

“While BCAC doesn’t have a formal partnership with ECU, we do try to work with them whenever possible,” Toler said. “In the past, we have worked with the School of Art and Design on several exhibits, and since our move to the Turnage, we are partnering with the School of Theatre and Dance on children’s programming and future production possibilities. This current exhibit is an outgrowth of these collaborations.”

Blake’s works are narrative reflections based on daily activities influenced by her environment and societal exposure, according to the ECU website. She trained as a painter at Virginia Commonwealth University and Ohio University before making her way to ECU. Along the way, she has exhibited her work throughout the U.S., including solo exhibits at Lancaster (Pa.) Museum of Art, Duke University School of Law and the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Mont.

Speranza received her BFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft, has exhibited her paintings on both east and west coasts and currently has work on display in ECU’s Joyner Library — part of the School of Art and Design’s graduate student exhibition.

A Dayton, Ohio, native, Zuercher has been recognized by both the Dayton Art Institute and by the Ohio Arts Council. Recently, her work has been featured at the Castell Gallery in Asheville, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in New Harmony, Ind.

The reception runs from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight and is free and open to the public.