After leading efforts to preserve, showcase and popularize a tinkerer’s towering windmills for five years, Jeff Bell is leaving Wilson for Raleigh to serve as director of the North Carolina Arts Council.

The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum’s executive director will start his new job on June 13, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced in a Thursday news release. In addition to his duties for the park and museum, Bell is the city of Wilson’s arts innovation coordinator.

“Jeff Bell’s hands-on experience in using the arts to stimulate creativity, enhance quality of life and spur local economic development have prepared him to ably lead the North Carolina Arts Council as it helps artists and arts organizations thrive and connect all North Carolinians to the arts,” Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson said in the release.

A Goldsboro native, Bell drove to Wilson County as a teenager to marvel at Simpson’s whirligigs when they loomed over the self-taught sculptor’s shop outside Lucama. The Whirligig Park job brought Bell full-circle after serving in leadership roles for three Triangle-area museums, and the N.C. Arts Council position will leverage his skills on a statewide scale.

Bell’s hire also appears to cement a career pipeline between the Simpson park and museum and the Raleigh-based arts grantmaker. His predecessor in the Wilson job, Jenny Moore, also left to accept an N.C. Arts Council position.

Stephen Hill, who chairs the arts council board of directors, said Bell will help the organization reach new heights.

“I have worked with Jeff on many projects across eastern North Carolina and have seen his impact on the state’s art resources,” Hill said. “He is a good leader, and he will be a great asset to the North Carolina Arts Council and the whole state art scene. I look forward to working with Jeff as we continue to make North Carolina the most creative state in the country.”

Bell earned degrees in art history and studio art from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and holds a master’s degree in fine art from UNC-Greensboro. A sculptor himself, Bell has exhibied his work across the state.

He and wife Amanda Duncan live in Wilson with their four children.

“I have seen firsthand the tremendous impact the North Carolina Arts Council has on our local communities,” Bell said. “The arts in North Carolina are incredibly strong, one of our state’s greatest assets, and it is vital that everyone has access to and can benefit from what the arts have to offer. I am honored to work with a committed and driven staff as we move forward to expand opportunities for artists and arts organizations.”

Prior to leading the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum, Bell worked at the 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, the CAM Raleigh contemporary art museum and Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art.