Inspired – Fall/Winter 2021

FALL/WINTER 2021

In separate file

The Joy of Nature

Step into a world of misty waters and sun-dappled fields in the new exhibition John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist

PLUS 24 hours with ceramicist Lydia Thompson Fashion designer Anna Sui talks rock bands, hippie style, and inspiration boards

What will your Mint event look like?

Whether it’s city-chic vibes or a lush landscape you want for your next event, The Mint Museum has you covered.

Connect with the Mint’s Special Events team today.

2 Fall/Winter 2021 704.337.2000 | mintmuseum.org/rent-the-museum

FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO Let me start with a heartfelt thank you to our staff and members who continued to believe in and support The Mint Museum, as we grappled with issues over this past year that demanded thoughtful consideration and substantial energy. Throughout, it was clear that art can and should be part of what heals us and brings us together as communities. Exhibitions such as It Takes a Village, Silent Streets, and W|ALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine resonated with the community as evidenced by very strong attendance numbers.

This fall we open two long-awaited exhibitions. The first, John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist, which opens September 18 at Mint Museum Uptown, explores the career of one of the first American artists to work in Giverny alongside Monet. Inspired by a painting in the Mint’s collection and organized by our own Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, the exhibition will travel to two other museums.

A couple months later, on November 20, we bring you The World of Anna Sui at Mint Museum Randolph, an exhibition organized by the Fashion and Textile Museum, London, that’s dedicated to one of the iconic designers of pop-culture fashion. Sui draws inspiration from music, art, film, photography, as well as past epochs and styles, creating a highly energized, visually stunning world that is both sophisticated and fun.

Another don’t miss: Mary Cassatt’s beautiful and charming Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder (No. 3) is installed in the American galleries at Mint Museum Uptown, on long-term loan from the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation. Cassatt was the only American artist to exhibit with the French Impressionists, and this stunning painting demonstrates her connection to painters like her lifelong friend Edgar Degas.

Finally, I want to thank our Board Chair Natalie Frazier Allen who has been steadfast in her support and guidance during the pandemic. Get to know her through a Q&A with the Mint’s Director of Community Relations Rubie R. Britt-Height in this issue.

And if you need another reason to spread the word about all we have planned for the fall, the Mint is continuing to offer free admission to frontline and essential workers (and their families) through the end of 2021. This has been very well received and utilized by the community and was made possible through the generosity of our donors.

We also thank you for your patience and support as our mask guidelines evolve according to CDC guidelines (visit mintmuseum.org for updates). Now, let’s embark on a new season of beautiful art and inspiring programming.

Sincerely,

Todd A. Herman, PhD President and CEO of The Mint Museum

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OUR TEAM

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EDITORS Caroline Portillo Michele Huggins CREATIVE DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN Stephanie Lepore Jen Cousar CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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Liz Rothaus Bertrand Maggie Burgan Annie Carlano Hillary Cooper

Table of Contents 7 | ARTFULLY YOURS

53 | STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Shop The Mint Museum Store for works inspired by the John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist exhibition.

A conversation with associate registrar and expert gardener Eric Speer.

12 | ON THE DAILY

Catch a glimpse of our recent events, from Wild Wednesdays to a drive-in movie night.

Get a glimpse of a typical Saturday for artist Lydia Thompson.

56 | CROWN SOCIETY PATRONS

16 | REASONS TO LOVE THE MINT RIGHT NOW

Thank you to the generous contributions of the Mint’s Crown Society patrons.

All the happenings inside and outside the galleries that make the Mint a gem.

59 | CURATOR’S PICK

30 | AFFILIATES IN ACTION

Garniture of Potpourri Vases, part of the decorative arts collection, is on view at Mint Museum Randolph.

A rundown of the Mint’s affiliate groups’ events and activities.

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Jen Sudul Edwards Brian Gallagher Page Leggett Joel Smeltzer Jonathan Stuhlman Leslie Strauss

54 | EVENTS AT THE MINT

Mark your calendar for these events.

14 | UPCOMING EVENTS

Jen Cousar

ON THE COVER John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99).

The Bay at Venice (detail), 1897, oil on canvas, 32 x 45 inches. Private Collection

OPPOSITE: Reclaiming by Goodyear Arts artist collective member Katrina Sanchez hangs in the It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives exhibition at Mint Museum Randolph.

Features 28 | WE REMEMBER Celebrating the legacies of two of the Mint’s treasured staff.

31 | THE JOY OF NATURE Step in to a world of misty waters and sun-dappled flower fields at the upcoming exhibition John Leslie Breck: American Impressionism.

35 | THE WORLD OF ANNA SUI A conversation with designer Anna Sui whose fashions reign supreme in the Mint’s upcoming exhibition.

39 | IT TAKES A VILLAGE Inside the exhibition featuring three of the city’s innovative artist collectives.

43 | CONTEMPORARY CERAMICISTS Pivotal stylings of early 20th-century ceramics shine.

45 | ‘BROKEN BUT IN ONE PIECE’ The story behind Constellation CLT artist MyLoan Dinh’s works of art.

47 | THE ART OF EMPOWERMENT Meet Natalie Frazier Allen, Mint Board of Trustees Chairperson and founder of The Arts Empowerment Project.

50 | ART ADVENTURES IN STYLE From Provence to Tuscany, extraordinary destinations are on tap for The Crown Society Travel Program.

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist is generously presented by Bank of America, with additional support provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts and the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

The World of Anna Sui is generously presented

by PNC Bank, Deidre and Clay Grubb, the Fashion Task Force, and friends of fashion.

Silent Streets: Art in the Time of Pandemic is generously supported by Fifth Third Bank.

Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition catalogue is supported by the John & Robyn Horn Foundation.

Foragers is generously presented by Wells Fargo Private Bank with additional individual support from Laura and Mike Grace, MaríaJosé Mage and Frank Müller, Kati and Chris Small, and Rocky and Curtis Trenkelbach.

The Mint Museum From Home is presented

by Chase.

Free Wednesday evenings are generously sponsored by Bank of America, Publix Super Market Charities, and the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

The Grier Heights Program is financially supported by Fifth Third Bank, the CharlotteMecklenburg Community Foundation, and the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

The Mint Museum’s Coveted Couture Gala is generously presented by PNC Bank.

The STAR (Student Artist) gallery at Mint Museum Uptown is generously sponsored

by Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas.

Support for Student Tours is provided by The Mint Museum Auxiliary.

Constellation CLT is generously supported by Fifth Third Bank and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Covid-19 Relief Support funding has been generously provided by the Windgate Foundation, Foundation For The Carolinas, Charlotte-Mecklenburg CARES for the Arts grant program and THRIVE Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Private Bank, Terra Foundation for American Art, and the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Additional significant support provided by all members of The Mint Museum’s Board of Trustees and Advisory Board.

The Mint Museum is supported, in part, by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the Arts & Science Council.

The Mint Museum is supported, in part, by the Infusion Fund and its generous donors: Multimillion Dollar Commitment City of Charlotte $1.5 million and above Bank of America C.D. Spangler Foundation/ National Gypsum Company John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Trane Technologies

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Fall/Winter 2021

$600,000-$1 million

$300,000-$600,000

Up to $300,000

Albemarle Foundation Atrium Health Barings Duke Energy Honeywell JELD-WEN, Inc. LendingTree Foundation Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Novant Health Red Ventures Truist

Ally Financial The Centene Charitable Foundation Childress Klein Properties Coca-Cola Consolidated Deloitte EY The Gambrell Foundation Moore & Van Allen PwC Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. Rodgers Builders Wells Fargo

Fifth Third Bank Foundation For The Carolinas Deidre and Clay Grubb Leslie and Michael Marsicano Jane and Hugh McColl Nucor Corporation PNC Bank Premier, Inc. Jane and Nelson Schwab

Artfully Yours Shop The Mint Museum Store for these distinctive pieces inspired by works in the upcoming John Leslie Breck: American Impressionism exhibition.

CASEY HENDRICKSON PHOTOGRAPHY

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Bella Vista 1. Australian Shea Butter Beach Soap $10 2. Local NC Artist Earrings by Natalie Chanel $65 (blue) 3. Draw Your Life Sketchbook $14 4. Beautiful Day Journal $12 5. Offline Zip Pouch $52 6. World Traveler Luggage Tag $8 7. Recycled Skateboard Bottle Opener $38 8. Blue Cloud Handblown Glass Cups from Local Artists at STARworks NC $45 9. Local NC Artist Earrings by Natalie Chanel $55 (pink)

John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Misty Day, Venice, 1897, oil on canvas, 21 x 18 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Gift of C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry. GMOA 2018.49 (also shown on page 7)

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In Full Bloom 1. Yellow Thumbprint Glass by Local Artists at STARworks NC $45 2. Yellow Catch-All Tray $44 3. My Art Book of Love $16.95 4. Dandelion File Folders $16 5. White Grapefruit Lafco NYC Candle $62 6. Local Artist Ben Owen III Small Melon Globe Vase in Teadust $180 7. Yellow Bloom $5 8. Gold Finish Hand Mirror $12 9. Suncatcher by Local Artists at STARworks NC $32

John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Daffodils, 1886, oil on canvas, 26 x 15¾ inches. The Frank and Michelle Hevrdejs Collection (also shown on page 7)

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About Face 1. Dali Moustache Spoon $6 2. Starry Night Cufflinks $72 3. Moustache Eyeglass Holder $22 4. Dali Moustache Fan $18 5. Blue Fleur de Lis Silk Tie $58 6. ColsenKeane (NC) Leather Travel Case $125 7. Claude Monet Hand Felted Doll $34 8. Dali Moustache Plate $18

John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Self Portrait, ca. 1890, oil on canvas, 11 x 9 inches.

Private Collection, Courtesy of Martha Richardson Fine Art, Boston (also shown on page 7)

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Creative Class 1. Local NC Artist Dominos by Natalie Chanel $80 2. Leather Roll Up Colored Pencil Case $38 3. Pastel Umbrellas $12 4. Draw Your World Sketch Journal $18 5. Leather Wrapped Journal $46 6. Mini Masterpiece Notebook $3.50 7. Red Lacquered Chinese Paintbrush $102 8. Fun & Funky Red Hand Felted Scarf $46

John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). The Sketch Class, 1890, oil on panel, 5¼ x 7 inches.

Private Collection (also shown on page 7)

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ON THE DAILY 24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF ARTIST LYDIA THOMPSON

BY LIZ ROTHAUS BERTRAND

For Lydia Thompson, a working artist and professor of ceramics at UNC Charlotte, the past is always present.

She is fascinated by “our abodes,” and how we interact with them. Inside these spaces, we carry our own stories, as well as those of former inhabitants and vestiges from our lives elsewhere. Thompson’s recent work focuses on issues such as forced displacement, gentrification, and what gets left behind when a home is abandoned.

spending much of her career in leadership positions at universities throughout the United States, she is eager to return to a schedule with more time for teaching, studio work, and leading community workshops.

“You can see the emotions of a structure when it starts to deteriorate, especially when it’s been abandoned,” Thompson says. “You can see layers and layers of cultures that lived in there.”

While her weekdays have been mostly filled with administrative duties she finds time for studio work on the weekend. Take a look at a typical Saturday for the renowned ceramic artist, filled with her sketchbook, the kiln, and some thought provoking documentaries.

As Thompson wraps up a three-year term as UNC Charlotte’s chairperson of the department of art and art history, she’s also looking toward the future. After

I wake up and start my day with some personal reading. The books I’m reading are always centered around projects I’m working on. Books I’ve recently read include Feeding the Ghosts by Fred D’Aguiar, Root Shock

by Mindy Thompson Fullilove, and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.

I head down to my basement studio — I am happy to finally have a dedicated studio space — and open the kiln. Even though I know what the result is going to be, I love the anticipation. The excitement of seeing a fired piece never goes away.

Because slabs are heavy, I work on them while I have the most energy of the day. I spend a couple of hours focused rolling out and flipping slabs. I use a template and make

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Fall/Winter 2021

Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

a cardboard model before I actually cut anything out to be sure it’s going to work when I put it together.

While working, I usually put on the television show “Columbo” or listen to a podcast. I feel like detective Columbo is the underdog who is misunderstood.

I think of myself and my career in terms of being misunderstood sometimes.

People see me and never think I’m the director or the person in the leadership role at UNC Charlotte because I’m an African American woman. They’re always surprised when they find out who I am.

I also enjoy listening to podcasts.

I love Brené Brown’s “Unlocking Us,” and “Business of HYPE,” with host Jeff Staple.

If I have slabs set up, I start building the interior structure and putting the walls together. I start busting up things, making rubble so I can dip all of it in glaze and put it in the piece.

It’s time to glaze. I look at the wooden bases and check the inventory of what needs to be done before setting up. I usually glaze my pieces three or four times.

Photos courtesy of Lydia Thompson

I check emails, maybe look at Instagram, and have two cups of coffee, followed by a full breakfast of pancakes or eggs. I reserve the yogurt and oatmeal for Monday through Friday. I keep a sketchbook nearby at all times.

Because I don’t have a lot of time to work in the studio, I’m always making lists.

“I really love working with the community,” she says, “because the artwork just sits in the gallery and I want to bring it alive.”

I take a lunch break, which is usually leftovers — homemade pizza, maybe a salad or a tuna sandwich — and enjoy time in my backyard with a quick stretch and check on the garden my fiancé planted. We have green beans, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, lettuce, and green peppers.

Back to the studio. I set up the piece a little more and then do some glazing. This takes time and can be tedious because I put masking tape where I want another color to appear. But it gives me the result I’m after. I glaze for an hour and a half and then let it dry.

I get another cup of coffee that I don’t really need.

I’m always working on two or three pieces at the same time, so it’s helpful to review where I am with projects.

I go back to my sketchbook and then I repeat the cycle I began at the start of the day, except for the slab rolling.

Studio time is so important. It’s dedicated time to work and to review work you’ve done, especially the work that wasn’t successful. Even though you want to throw it in the trash, you’ve got to look at it and say, “Why did this not work?”

It’s time to get dinner ready. We try to eat healthy, and I walk every day after dinner and sometimes in the morning, too. I also stretch. It helps to keep your body in tune, especially if you’re doing ceramics.

My fiancé and I unwind watching movies, but I’m sketching all the time — at night, when I’m in bed or while I’m looking at the TV. I look through the sketches and pull out the ones I think will work.

We like to watch suspense, thriller, love stories, and futuristic movies. I love documentaries. With the Black Lives Matter movement in focus, I’ve been watching documentaries, such as Black Wall Street, Amend, Coded Bias, and I Am Not Your Negro about African American history. They’re tear jerkers for me because this is reality.

I think we’ve come really far, but the only way we can change certain mentalities is to start when people are very young. It’s hard to understand unless you actually walk in someone else’s shoes. I just don’t want people’s eyes to roll when we continue to have these conversations because it really has impacted lives. The way you treat a certain group of people still has an impact on their life and where they are in this country. There’s just no way around it.

I go to bed fairly early. By 9:30 or 10 o’clock, I’m out. I’m done.

Liz Rothaus Bertrand is a writer and editor based in Charlotte who is passionate about the arts.

See works by Lydia Thompson in the upcoming installation Continuing Conversations opening in December at Mint Museum Uptown.

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UPCOMING EVENTS SEPTEMBER

18 SATURDAY AND 19 SUNDAY

26 SUNDAY Party in the Park

Free Mini Art Kits

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist Opening Celebration

Mint Museum Randolph 11 AM–6 PM | Free

Mint Museum Uptown 1–5 PM | Free

Help yourself to a fun and easy project from the art cart parked on the terrace Wednesday through Saturday, or until kits are gone. Free Mini Art Kits are presented by Chase with additional support from Mint Museum Auxiliary.

Enjoy live music, a cash bar, plus complimentary museum admission.

Mint members can enjoy light bites and a cash bar 1-4 PM in the Grand Room on Level 5.

Enjoy live music, food trucks, and cocktails on the lawn, plus complimentary museum admission. Presented by Truist.

11 SATURDAY AND 12 SUNDAY

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist Roundtable Panelist Conversation

1 WEDNESDAY

It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives Closing Celebration Mint Museum Randolph | Free See the exhibition, and enjoy food trucks, a cash bar, live music, and complimentary museum admission.

12 SUNDAY Goodyear Arts Performance Takeover Mint Museum Uptown 2–5 PM | Free Goodyear Arts presents dance, spokenword, and theatrical performances on the lawn. Complimentary museum admission, cash bar, and food trucks.

17 FRIDAY BLKMRKTCLT Bodega Opening Celebration Mint Museum Uptown 7–10 PM | Free Enjoy live music by artist and DJ Dammit Wesley, a cash bar, and complimentary museum admission.

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Fall/Winter 2021

19 SUNDAY

Mint Museum Uptown 2–3 PM | Free Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum, is joined by independent art historian Royal W. Leith to discuss the life and works of John Leslie Breck.

Mint Museum Randolph 1–5 PM | Free

29 WEDNESDAY Charlotte YP Mixer Mint Museum Uptown 6–8:30 PM | Free Charlotte’s young professionals are invited to mingle and check out more than 25 professional organizations.

Hosted by the Young Affiliates of the Mint.

OCTOBER 1 FRIDAY

22 WEDNESDAY

Mint to Move Cultural Dance Night

Constellation CLT: Intergalactic Soul Opening Celebration

Mint Museum Uptown 7:30–11:30 PM | Free

Mint Museum Uptown 6–9:30 PM | Free

Step to the sounds of Orquesta Mayor, Rumbao Latin Dance Company, and Mambo Sol Dance Society to celebrate Latin American History Month.

Enjoy a conversation with artists Marcus Kiser and Jason Woodberry and a screening of their film The Last Black Starfighter, with live accompaniment by Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers.

25 SATURDAY Potters Market at the Mint Mint Museum Randolph 10 AM–4 PM | $15, free for ages 12 and younger Shop ceramic works from 60 of the region’s top makers, plus live demos, a beer garden, concessions and complimentary museum admission. Members can use code MINTMEMBER for 20 percent off tickets. pottersmarketatthemint.com.

6 WEDNESDAY Free Mini Art Kits Mint Museum Randolph 11 AM–6 PM | Free Help yourself to a fun and easy project from the art cart parked on the terrace Wednesday through Saturday, or until kits are gone. Free Mini Art Kits are presented by Chase with additional support from Mint Museum Auxiliary.

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

3 WEDNESDAY

1 WEDNESDAY

Free Mini Art Kits

Free Mini Art Kits

Mint Museum Randolph 11 AM–6 PM | Free

Mint Museum Randolph Museum hours | Free

Help yourself to a fun and easy project from the art cart parked on the terrace Wednesday through Saturday, or until kits are gone. Free Mini Art Kits are presented by Chase with additional support from Mint Museum Auxiliary.

Help yourself to a fun and easy project from the art cart parked on the terrace Wednesday through Saturday, or until kits are gone. Free Mini Art Kits are presented by Chase with additional support from Mint Museum Auxiliary.

Mint Museum Uptown and Mint Museum Randolph Museum hours | Free

14 SUNDAY

4 SATURDAY

The Artworks of Nellie Ashford Dedication

Bilingual Stories and Music

Celebrate the 85th anniversary of The Mint Museum with a weekend of music, concessions, and complimentary museum admission.

Mint Museum Uptown 2:30–4 PM | Free

9 SATURDAY Bilingual Stories and Music Mint Museum Randolph 11–11:45 AM | Free Children ages 6 and under and their families can enjoy bilingual stories (Spanish/English), music, musical instruments, puppets, and games.

Led by Criss Cross Mangosauce.

22-24 FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Photo courtesy of Anna Sui

Cheers to 85 Years

27 WEDNESDAY

Join us for a dedication of two newly acquired works by local artist Nellie Ashford.

Youth Orchestras of Charlotte Live at the Mint

18 THURSDAY

Mint Museum Uptown 6–9:30 PM | Free Enjoy a live Halloween-themed performance by the Youth Orchestras of Charlotte.

28 THURSDAY Mint Member Bring-aFriend Day

The World of Anna Sui Members-Only Opening Celebration

15 WEDNESDAY The World of Anna Sui Curator Chat Mint Museum Randolph 6 PM | Free

Enjoy live music, a cash bar, and touring the exhibition featuring works by fashion designer Anna Sui.

Join Annie Carlano, senior curator of craft, design & fashion, for a gallery chat about The World of Anna Sui.

20 SATURDAY

Members can bring up to four friends for complimentary admission 11 AM-6 PM at both locations. Mint Museum Uptown will offer extended hours, 6-9 PM, with cash bar and light music.

Mint Museum Randolph 2 PM | Free

The World of Anna Sui Artist Chat

Join designer Anna Sui and Annie Carlano, senior curator of craft, design & fashion, for a conversation about Sui’s fashion designs.

Party in the Park

28 SUNDAY

Mint Museum Randolph 1–5 PM | Free

Party in the Park

Enjoy live music, food trucks, and cocktails on the lawn, plus complimentary museum admission. Presented by Truist.

Children ages 6 and under and their families can enjoy bilingual stories (Spanish/English), music, musical instruments, puppets, and games.

Led by Criss Cross Mangosauce.

Mint Museum Randolph 5:30–9 PM | Free

Mint Museum Uptown and Mint Museum Randolph 11 AM–6 PM | Free

31 SUNDAY

Mint Museum Randolph 11–11:45 AM | Free

Mint Museum Randolph 1–5 PM | Free Enjoy live music, food trucks, and cocktails on the lawn, plus complimentary museum admission. Presented by Truist.

Anna Sui

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17 REASONS TO LOVE THE MINT RIGHT NOW 16

Fall/Winter 2021

WE’RE CELEBRATING 85 YEARS! On the eve of The Mint Museum’s 85th anniversary, we wanted to take a look back at the museum’s remarkable founding in the middle of the Great Depression.

The Mint Museum opened on October 22, 1936, thanks to the efforts of many women who were devoted to bringing art to the Charlotte community. Foremost in this sisterhood was the Mint’s “godmother,” Mary Myers Dwelle.

Dwelle, the daughter of John Springs Myers and Mary Rawlinson Myers, came from a family dedicated to the advancement and culture of Charlotte, so it makes sense that she would become the driving force behind the creation of the first art museum in North Carolina: The Mint Museum. As chairman of the Charlotte Woman’s Club Art Department, Dwelle arranged art exhibitions and lectures which found an eager audience in the people of Charlotte. Recognizing the need for a free-standing arts center, she and other arts advocates identified the historic U.S. Mint building on Tryon Street as a viable location for this enterprise. The building had been condemned in 1930 to make room for a new Post Office, but community protests had stalled demolition for three years.

Converting the Mint building to an art museum appeared to be an impossible task. However, on February 18, 1933 — with demolition of the Mint building underway — Mary Myers Dwelle and the Art Department hosted a luncheon with guest speaker Leila Mechlin, secretary of the American Federation of Art. Her passionate speech in defense of saving the Mint building inspired the donation of $200 (the equivalent of around $4,200 today)

by Katherine Clark Pendleton Arrington, president of the North Carolina State Art Society, toward the purchase of the rubble to allow reconstruction on another site.

More donations followed, and within two days, $950

had been raised and paid to the demolition contractor.

Developer E.C. Griffith donated the land in the Eastover neighborhood on which Mint Museum Randolph sits today. With the building material and location secured, Mary Myers Dwelle’s work had just begun.

Reconstructing a demolished historic building in the middle of the Great Depression made for challenges that Dwelle met by tirelessly writing letters to government aid agencies and traveling to Raleigh and Washington, D.C. to request financial support. First as secretary and then as president of the Mint Museum Association, she coordinated the rebuilding process, as well as building relationships with other arts organizations and maintaining public support for the museum. She also courted art acquisitions, including the now iconic portrait of Queen Charlotte by Allan Ramsay, which was donated to the museum by Jane Hall Liddell Battle. After three long years, The Mint Museum opened its doors with an inaugural gala, and Mary Myers Dwelle’s hard work and persistence had made the impossible possible.

As we celebrate the remarkable founding of the Mint 85 years ago, we also recognize the Mint has not always been the welcoming and inclusive institution we aspire to be today. More than half a century ago — but still in living memory — African Americans were only permitted to enter the museum on one designated day a week. We acknowledge that these past practices have made many feel not just unrecognized in our galleries but also unwelcome, unwanted. We have a number of initiatives focused on making the Mint a place people of all races and backgrounds feel welcome. For a list of initiatives, visit mintmuseum.org/anti-racism-resources.

—Ellen Show, archivist

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WE HAVE A MARY CASSATT PAINTING IN THE AMERICAN GALLERIES

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926). Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder No.3, 1900, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation. L2021.22.5

The Mint is currently displaying the stunning work Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder (No. 3) by iconic American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, on a longterm loan from the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation. The Foundation purchased the piece from The Brooklyn Museum, as well as Thomas Cole’s The Arch of Nero (deaccessioned by the Newark Museum of Art), on May 19 at Sotheby’s, and immediately offered to lend the Cassatt to The Mint Museum and the Cole to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Cassatt was the only American artist to exhibit with the French Impressionists, and Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder (No. 3) is a classic example of her mature work. View it now in the American galleries at Mint Museum Uptown.

—Caroline Portillo, senior director of marketing and communications

WE ARE ANSWERING THE CALL FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND ACCESSIBILITY For over two years, the Mint’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility committee — led by Human Resources Director Ebony House-Bradshaw and Director of Community Relations Rubie R. Britt-Height — has been spearheading changes to help the museum better reflect and represent our community. “The Mint has come a long way since the days of Jim Crow,” says Mint President and CEO Todd Herman, PhD. “But we also understand that we have not progressed far enough.” The committee, with representatives from every department, has offered staff training and promoted programming that offers diverse perspectives. This spring the committee outlined institution-wide changes to come in the Mint’s new five-year strategic plan. Plans include: diversifying the board, staff and leadership; pursuing more diverse vendors; and seeking projects that work with culturally and ethnically diverse artists, scholars, themes and private collectors. For a progress report of museum-wide efforts, visit mintmuseum.org/anti-racism-resources. —CP

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Fall/Winter 2021

POTTERS MARKET AT THE MINT IS BACK The Potters Market returns to the lawn at Mint Museum Randolph Saturday, September 25. Presented by the Delhom Service League, Potters Market 2021 will feature 54 booths representing over 60 of the top potters working in North Carolina who were selected through a highly competitive jury process. The event helps support ceramic artists of North Carolina; introduces the importance of the ceramic arts and the collections of The Mint Museum to new audiences; and raises funds to support the educational programming of the Delhom Service League, the ceramics affiliate of the Mint. In addition to the pottery sale, attendees can enjoy pottery demonstrations, live music, a beer garden and food concessions. Tickets for the main Pottery Sale event are $15 per person. Mint members get a 20% discount using the promo code MINTMEMBER. For tickets and more information about participating potters, visit pottersmarketatthemint.com.

—Michele Huggins, communications and media relations project manager

Potter Ben Owen III whose multigenerational pottery features traditional and designs will be at Potters Market at the Mint.

A NEW RESTAURANT CONCEPT IS OPENING JUST OUTSIDE OUR DOORS Mother Earth Group is pleased to announce its newest restaurant, Mariposa, will open in September at Mint Museum Uptown. Mariposa, Spanish for butterfly, will be a multicultural culinaria, representing an evolution for both the restaurant space (formerly Halcyon, Flavors from the Earth) and creator Jill Marcus. Marcus and the Mariposa team have curated a thoughtful menu featuring dishes meant to be shared, sampled, and passed.

Once renovations are complete guests will dine in a modern and relaxing space with velvet couches, black and white decor, and designs by Charlotte muralist Owl, a former Constellation CLT artist and the artist behind the stunning murals in Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood and His Contemporaries. —MH

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OUR NEW CONSTELLATION CLT ARTISTS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD

Pluto and Astro are the two young Black astronauts that travel the universe confronting issues related to Blackness in the Mint’s newest Constellation CLT installation.

Beginning September 15, the new installation of Constellation CLT will feature the Charlotte collaboration Intergalactic Soul at Mint Museum Uptown. The project, which brings together the creative forces of Marcus Kiser, Jason Woodberry, and Quentin Talley, features multimedia installations of graphic illustrations, animation, music, and augmented reality to tell the story of Pluto and Astro, two young Black astronauts. The duo travels the universe, encountering and confronting social issues related to Blackness in work that combines the traditions of comic books and Afrofuturism, a genre akin to science fiction that explores issues specific to the African diaspora. Each artist advances the narrative within their specific medium: Kiser and Woodberry produce the visual components — illustration, typography, animation, graphic design, and augmented reality installations — while Talley creates performative elements, including the music composed with his band, The Soul Providers. To commemorate the installation, Kiser created a special-edition book, Illustrations from the Last Black Star Fighter: The Design Manual that will be available for purchase in The Mint Museum Store. The opening party, free to all, will feature a conversation with Kiser and Woodberry, and a screening of their film The Last Black Starfighter with live accompaniment by Talley and the Soul Providers. —Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, chief curator and curator of contemporary art

ART COMES ALIVE IN OUR SPACES In conjunction with the more traditional museum exhibition It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives at Mint Museum Randolph, a complementary, collective-controlled series will take place this fall, handing the reins over to the artists. Goodyear Arts will infiltrate Mint Museum Randolph’s grounds on September 12, the closing day of the exhibition, with spoken word, dance performances, music, and immersive theater. The following Friday, September 17, BlkMrktClt will celebrate the opening of its Bodega in Mint Museum Uptown’s Level 5 expansion space. Artists from the collective — Dammit Wesley, Will Jenkins, Carla Aaron-Lopez, and Carey J. King — worked with a team of collaborators to create Bodega, an artist-recreation of those catch-all stores that can sell you a carton of milk, a mix tape, and a set of dice all in one trip. The second installation in Mint Museum Uptown’s Level 5 will be Labyrinth by Brand the Moth opening November 17. The collective — including Sam Guzzie, Arko, Owl, Hannah Fairweather, Jay Watson, and Drew Newpher — will create a maze of barriers and peepholes, hiding and revealing dreamlike environments. It Takes a Village: Collective Takeover is made possible with the generous support of LoveBolt, an organization devoted to dismantling systemic racism in the U.S. in one generation through awareness-building and education. —JSE

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LIVE MUSIC, FOOD TRUCKS, DRINKS, AND FREE ADMISSION SOUND LIKE A PARTY (IN THE PARK) In April, we kicked off a monthly event series, sponsored by Truist, in the park at Mint Museum Randolph. Party in the Park includes live music on the front lawn, food trucks and a cash bar, as well as complimentary admission to see the museum.

The series happens the last Sunday of each month through the end of November (weather permitting). —MH

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WE BELIEVE IN THE TALENT OF LOCAL ARTISTS The wildly popular three-day pop-up exhibition LOCAL/STREET at Mint Museum Randolph — curated by artist Carla Aaron-Lopez, a CMS teacher and co-founder of BlkMrktClt — featured the work of more than 40 local artists of color and their allies. The goal of the event was to bring attention to as many local artists of color as possible, strengthening the relationship between them and the greater Charlotte community.

Lines stretched across Mint Museum Randolph’s lawn on opening night, and the galleries were filled throughout the weekend with people taking in the talent of local artists that are defining Charlotte’s 21stcentury identity. This installation extended the Mint’s commitment to integrating Charlotte artists and Charlotte artists of color into their galleries, as the museum has done with its Constellation CLT and Interventions series, and the exhibition It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives at Mint Museum Randolph. —MH

OUR CURATORS GOT THEIR CLOSE-UP FROM LEFT: Rubie R. Britt-Height, community relations director, and Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art, filming in galleries at Mint Museum Uptown.

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While the museum doors were closed due to Covid-19, the Mint curators and staff continued to enlighten art enthusiasts about amazing works in the museum collection. Curators shared the stories and history behind works in the collection. The videos were shared on The Mint Museum From Home website, presented

by Chase, and via the museum’s YouTube channel. The short films provide details on the artist and the work of art, giving a deeper look into what is on display in the museum galleries. See them at mintmuseum.org/the-mint-museum-from-home. —MH

THE 2021 VIRTUAL COVETED COUTURE GALA WAS AN EVENING TO REMEMBER The Mint Museum’s virtual Coveted Couture Gala: A Little Night Magic held on Saturday, April 24 was an incredible success due to the steadfast support of our sponsors, donors, and members. Thanks to generous community participation from far and wide, the Mint netted more than $313,000 — critical funding for future programs, initiatives, and exhibitions.

Small group gatherings across the city were enhanced by curated, delicious, and elegant home-delivered party packages, and an entertaining, professional “Watch Party” headlined by the Avett Brothers, fashion designer Anna Sui, and former Miss USA and “Extra” Correspondent Cheslie Kryst. The result: a vibrant evening that safely celebrated art, fashion and the value they bring to Charlotte and beyond.

Special thanks to presenting sponsor Wells Fargo Private Bank, our extraordinary gala co-chairs Ann and Michael Tarwater, the host committee, our Crown Society members, as well as all the other gala and in-kind sponsors. It was a beautiful, creative, fun, festive, and fruitful occasion. We hope to see you all in person at next year’s Coveted Couture Gala.

Please save the date of Saturday, April 30, 2022. —Hillary Cooper, chief advancement officer

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WE GAVE AWAY THOUSANDS OF FREE ART KITS When the pandemic made in-person art classes impossible, the Learning & Engagement team was determined to continue providing creative experiences for the Charlotte community. Inspired by conversations with colleagues from institutions around the country, Mint educators landed on a novel approach — developing a series of take-away mini art kits inspired by works of art from the museum collections and exhibitions. Packaged individually in 5-by-8-inch baggies and clipped to a selfserve art cart, the Create at Home mini art kits could easily and safely be picked up curbside outside Mint Museum Randolph. Support from Chase and the Mint Museum Auxiliary helped fund the purchase of materials and enabled the museum to offer the kits free of charge to the public. Educators developed new lessons and kits each month, including all necessary art materials, instructions, and an art print featuring a work of art from the museum with conversation prompts.

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The kits, which premiered in December 2020, were well received and flew off the cart. Grandparents picked up kits in anticipation of seeing their families again soon, adults picked up kits for their homebound parents or for porch visits with friends, and families turned kit pick-up into an outing with the kids.

As word of the initiative spread, a new outreach opportunity arose for the museum, and educators doubled their efforts to meet the demand for sets of kits for community organizations serving children, families, and senior citizens.

At a difficult time, this new program enabled the museum to expand its reach in the community. By the end of July, the museum had distributed more than 6,000 free art kits, with about half of those going to community partners, including Communities in Schools Charlotte. The team plans to offer them through 2021. —Leslie Strauss, head of family and studio programs

WE KNOW THE POWER OF ‘STITCHES AND STORIES’ In May, a lively and informative virtual program titled “Stitches and Stories: The quilts and fiber art of Elizabeth Talford Scott and the contributions of African Americans to craft and design,” focused on the rich contributions of African American craft artists. The conversation touched on African textiles, Southern slave quilts, and contemporary quilts by African American male artists. Visionary artist Joyce Scott, and two esteemed art historians, Leslie King-Hammond, and Lowery Stokes Sims were the featured speakers. Annie Carlano, senior curator of craft, design & fashion, introduced the speakers and guided an informative and provocative conversation.

The program was organized in celebration of the Mint’s acquisition of the innovative work of art Untitled (Shield) by Elizabeth Talford Scott that hangs in the Schiff-Breslar Family Fiber Art Gallery at Mint Museum Uptown, alongside mixed media objects and beaded works by her daughter Joyce J. Scott. Innovators of fiber art, Talford Scott and Scott infuse craft with personal or societal narratives through unexpected visual combinations and performance. Watch the virtual program on the Mint’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/themintmuseum. —Maggie Burgan, public programs coordinator

Elizabeth Talford Scott (American, 1916–2011). Untitled (Shield), 1992, quilted and appliqued mixed media. Gift of Lowery Stokes Sims in memory of the Artist. 2020.30

WE GAVE ESSENTIAL WORKERS (AND THEIR FAMILIES) FREE ADMISSION FOR OVER A YEAR Thanks to the generosity of donors in this year’s paddle raise at the Coveted Couture Gala, frontline workers and their immediate family members receive free admission to The Mint Museum through the end of 2021. In addition, the Mint recognized frontline and essential workers with the digital installation Messages for the City displayed on the Wells Fargo screen along Levine

Avenue of the Arts and on the Legacy Union screen at 620 South Tryon Street. Artist-made images and animations recognized and celebrated the commitment of these workers during the Covid pandemic. The project originated with Times Squares Arts in partnership with For Freedoms, Poster House, and PRINT magazine and was first shown in Times Square. —MH

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WE BELIEVE IN GOING BIG Two 30-by-8-foot massive walls were installed on the lawn at Mint Museum Randolph and on Levine Avenue of the Arts uptown. The public art installations, known as Light the Barricades, were created by artists Candy Chang and James Reeves, and shipped from Los Angeles to coincide with the exhibition W|ALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine.

Each installation is inspired by the I Ching, and each wall features a word that represents an emotional barrier. The installations offer an opportunity for contemplation on difficult emotions that can thwart personal progress. —MH

NEARLY 500 SCHOOLS USED OUR VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS During the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum’s Learning & Engagement team created distinctive virtual tour experiences that engaged more than 460 Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, local private and charter school students and teachers with the Mint’s collections.

Staff and docents lead themed virtual tours that encouraged students to look closely at original works of art in the Mint’s collection. According to a Charlotte Mecklenburg Academy teacher and participant in a Mint virtual tour: “The [art] content provided an opportunity for students to display their higher order thinking skills and respond to higher level questioning with ample wait time, probing questions and elaboration. It was a very high-level and engaging opportunity for our students.”

The virtual tour “African American Art & Identity” challenged students to think about how different factors shape identities, including race, ethnicity, and culture.

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Participants engaged with works of art by contemporary African American artists Kehinde Wiley and Ken West and interpreted how these artists use their work to explore and question notions of black identity. The virtual tour “Places & Spaces” explored how artists are inspired by or respond to places that have personal, cultural, or historical significance. Participants engaged with works of art by American artists Alson Skinner Clark and Elaine De Kooning and interpreted how they convey the emotional qualities and the physical attributes of unique places and spaces.

The Mint also collaborated with the CMS arts department to offer a virtual walk through Mint Museum Uptown’s galleries. The experience titled “The Exposure, Experience, and Education (E3) Virtual Field Trip,” connected more than 520 fifth grade students and their teachers to the museum’s collections. —Joel Smeltzer, head of school and gallery programs

LIVE SNAKES AND TURTLES MADE FOR WILD WEDNESDAYS Throughout the months of June and July 2021, the Learning & Engagement team teamed up with educators from the Stevens Creek Nature Center, part of Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, to make free Wednesday evenings a little more wild. Visitors of all ages were invited to drop by the rose garden at Mint Museum Randolph to pick up a free mini-art kit, complete with colored pencils, sketchbook, and instructions to draw a turtle, collaborate with their family on an outdoor art project, go on a self-guided Seek-and-Sketch hunt through the museum or on the lawn, and last but not least, get up close with an animal ambassador. Highlights included a visit from Sriracha the corn snake and modeling snake sculptures out of clay. Parents who visited noted that this casual, socially-distanced program was the perfect setting and pace for their families to return to public events, and many appreciated that it was held outdoors. —LS

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Robert E. Wylie Jr. (right)

Tom Martin

IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS THAT WE RECOGNIZE THE PASSING OF TWO INIMITABLE MEMBERS OF THE MINT FAMILY: ROBERT E. WYLIE JR. AND TOM MARTIN. HERE, WE CELEBRATE THEIR LEGACIES.

BY CAROLINE PORTILLO

ROBERT E. WYLIE JR. Robert E. Wylie Jr. passed away January 2, 2021 at the age of 70. For 12 years he was a beacon of kindness and grace at Mint Museum Randolph, where he served on the housekeeping team.

In spring of 2022, the Mint will dedicate a tree to him on the grounds of Mint Museum Randolph.

“He could cook anything,” says Mary. “Deviled eggs, barbecue ribs. Most people liked his slaw and his baked chicken.”

Before working at the Mint, Robert held a number of jobs at some of the city’s top country clubs, but his role at the Mint held a special place in his heart. “He loved everything about that job,” Mary says.

A native Charlottean, Robert graduated from Olympic High School. As a teenager, he fell for a cute girl named Mary who went to rival school West Charlotte High.

She asked him to her prom. The couple went on to be married for nearly 50 years.

When Lisanne Smith, the facilities manager at Mint Museum Randolph, started her job five years ago, she was told that if she needed to know something, just ask Robert. She and Brian Gallagher, senior curator of decorative arts, both came to count on his warm “good morning” every day in the atrium, and kind, selfless devotion to his job.

Robert and Mary had four children — Robert Wylie III, Dornetta, and twins Christina and Christopher — and later welcomed 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

They were all the beneficiaries of Robert’s love of cooking.

It’s hard to quantify how much Robert took care of, says Joyce Weaver, the Mint’s director of library & archives.

He did everything from transporting interoffice and

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LEFT: Photo courtesy of Katherine Steiner. RIGHT: Photo by Richard Israel

WE REMEMBER

external mail to setting up and breaking down for meetings and events, cleaning offices to mopping up spills from the leaky atrium roof — and all in a way that was usually invisible to visitors.

“I can’t believe how many times he lugged bins of books from Uptown back to the library,” Weaver says. “He was an unsung hero, someone who didn’t want or need a lot of attention, but every day, took care of us, took care of the museum.”

Robert also had a sense of humor — and an undying love of Dallas Cowboys football. Guest services associate Sue Carver says she’ll never forget watching Robert sweep away a picture of former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton with a broom labeled with a big Cowboys star.

“Robert was part of a special group of people I count on here at the Mint,” says Katherine Steiner, the Mint’s chief registrar. “I always knew that he’d be there to help me with anything I asked, but more than that, I counted on his warm smile. I counted on his presence. He was one of those solid people that warm your heart just by being there, by being constant.”

In March 2020, when the spread of Covid-19 forced the museum to close, Head of Family and Studio Programs Leslie Strauss was at Mint Museum Randolph, frantically gathering art materials to bring home. Robert stepped in to say hello.

“We chatted for a bit and I worried over whether our many houseplants in the studios would survive a few weeks without us,” Strauss recalls. But she gave them a heavy watering and turned to leave. Then those days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. “When we finally returned to the classroom, we expected to find withered plants. Instead we found a table full of happy and healthy plants, having weathered their time without us.”

Robert had watered the plants the entire time they were gone.

TOM MARTIN Special Events Director Tom Martin passed away on January 15, 2021 at the age of 60.

Tom grew up in Massachusetts and built a name for himself in events and food service as the Director of Catering and Convention Services for the Harvard Club of Boston, where he worked for more than 12 years. He relocated to Charlotte in 2013.

Tom was the Mint’s director of special events for over four years, and in that time, he helped grow special events revenue by over 40 percent, says Gary Blankemeyer, the Mint’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

In his tenure at the Mint, Tom helped secure and execute on a number of high-profile events for clients ranging from tech giant Facebook to billionaire businessman and Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, who announced Charlotte’s new MLS team from inside the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium at Mint Museum Uptown. During the NBA All-Star Weekend in February 2019 in Charlotte — the biggest event in basketball — Tom shepherded a museum-wide takeover by Nike and Jordan Brand that even included a basketball court in Mint Museum Uptown’s atrium and a wrap across the building’s facade.

“He was driven to do the best,” Blankemeyer says. “And not only was he a good business partner, but he was someone I could count on, someone I could rely on, which is all you want as a manager.”

Tom was a great man, says John Caldwell, former special events manager at the Mint. “He taught me so much about the events business. He changed my professional life as well as my personal life because he became my friend.”

Tom is survived by his three daughters, Jessica, Katelyn and Kristina; two grandsons, Joey and Tommy; as well as a brother, Robert Martin; and his partner of eight years, Gladys Blakeman — all of whom he loved to spend time with at the beach and in Charlotte. His care for even the smallest details carried over into his personal life as well, whether he was pruning a tree, stocking the refrigerator for family coming to stay at his house for the holidays, or executing on one of his many DIY projects.

“He was always rebuilding, remodeling,” Blakeman says. “We built a patio together and f lower boxes for one of his daughters. When the heater went out at my townhome, the electrician told him it’d be $1,700. He said, ‘I’m not paying that, I’m going to Google it.’ He did it himself for $500.”

Tom hired special events manager Laura Hale about a year ago. They both had backgrounds in catering and shared a love of the Boston Celtics. Tom was ambitious, yes, with big goals and ideas for how to grow the Mint’s special events business, she says.

But Tom was also nurturing and sweet. Above all else, Hale says she loved how Tom was always up for a good chat. “You’d go in and be like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?

How was your weekend?’ And you’d be standing in his office door for the next 30 to 40 minutes. He’d tell you that weekend he’d had Bloody Marys and then he’d tell you about the time he was in Boston and had the best Bloody Mary.”

Caroline Portillo is the senior director of marketing and communications at The Mint Museum.

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AFFILIATES IN ACTION The Charlotte Garden Club

Docents of the Mint

The 2021 Art in the Garden Tour in May sold out and broke records for attendance, sponsorship, and net proceeds.

More than 80 new and longtime members and friends also celebrated in June with a Sip & Stroll at Mint Museum Randolph. Mark your calendar for the 2022 Art in the Garden Tour on May 14-15, 2022, as well as the popular AfterTour Party on May 15, 2022 at Mint Museum Randolph.

During the pandemic, docents remain engaged through monthly Zoom-based art chats, a docent book club, the monthly Levine Center for the Arts’ ArtBreak tours, and the development of Levine Center for the Arts: Mindfulness at the Mint. New virtual adult tours also launched, and include themes such as Collection Highlights, Pride and Prejudice, and The Art of Dining.

Details available at mintmuseum.org/tours.

Membership swelled by 30 percent during the pandemic, and Zoom meetings kept members connected when they weren’t busy in their gardens. Members continue to volunteer tending the adopted perennial garden at the McGill Rose Garden in First Ward.

Monthly meetings resume at Mint Museum Randolph in September. Stay tuned for details on announcements for member/guest road trips to glorious Southeast gardens and workshops for beginning gardeners. See the website for a list of speakers and topics. charlottegardenclub.com.

Friends of the Mint Friends of the Mint is excited to present fall programs on art, design, culture, and craft, including a members-only tour of Fourth Ward with Mint docent Bob Del Prete on September 18. On October 20, enjoy a program presented with Delhom Service League, featuring ceramic artist and sculptor Shea Bishop. For more happenings, visit mintmuseum.org/friends-of-the-mint.

Mint Museum Auxiliary

The Charlotte Garden Club bestowed its Life Member honor on Past President Diatra Fullwood during a member event at Mint Museum Randolph.

The Delhom Service League Potters Market at the Mint returns to the lawn of Mint Museum Randolph 10 AM-4 PM September 25. The event will feature 54 booths representing over 60 of the top potters working in North Carolina. Potters were selected through a highly competitive jury process, and each will be exhibiting and selling their best works. Attendees also can enjoy pottery demonstrations, live music, a raffle, beer garden and food concessions, as well as complimentary admission to Mint Museum Randolph. Tickets for the pottery sale event are $15 per person and free for children ages 12 and under. Mint members save 20 percent with promo code MINTMEMBER. The annual event helps raise funds to support educational programming of the Delhom Service League. pottersmarketatthemint.com.

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In May, interior designer David Netto was the featured speaker at the 2021 Spring Symposium held at Charlotte Country Club. His incredible design projects and wry sense of humor served as the perfect antidote to Covid-19. Through member support, the Auxiliary donated more than $130,000 in between June of 2020 and 2021 to support learning and engagement programs, including the student tour program, the Grier Heights Community Youth Arts Program, and Free Wednesday Nights at the Mint. For details on the upcoming Room to Bloom season, visit mintmuseumauxiliary.org.

Young Affiliates of the Mint The Young Affiliates of the Mint (YAMs) hosted its 30thannual Derby Days May 1 at Mint Museum Randolph. The event exceeded its fundraising goals despite a challenging year. The annual End of Year party celebrated the opening of It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives, and the sixth-annual Charlotte YP Mixer for young professionals is scheduled for September 29 at Mint Museum Uptown.

Details available at mintmuseum.org/events.

Founders Circle Longtime craft and design enthusiast Tricia Boyer is serving as interim president of Founders Circle. Want to get involved? Email patriciaeckertboyer@gmail.com.

THE JOY OF NATURE EXPLORE THE LUSH LANDSCAPES OF AMERICAN IMPRESSIONIST JOHN LESLIE BRECK IN THE UPCOMING MINT-ORGANIZED EXHIBITION

BY JONATHAN STUHLMAN, PHD

Nineteenth-century American artist John Leslie Breck delighted in exploring the natural world. More than 100 years later, visitors who likewise seek relief in the outdoors (albeit amid a global pandemic) will have the rare opportunity to view a world of en plein air sketch classes and panoramic vistas through the eyes of one of the founders of American Impressionism.

Organized by The Mint Museum, John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist was inspired by the museum’s 2016 acquisition of Breck’s 1888 painting Suzanne Hoschedé Sewing. The exhibition, presented by Bank of America, features more than 70 of Breck’s finest paintings along

with a handful of complementary works by his American Impressionist colleagues. It’s the first retrospective of Breck’s art since his death in 1899.

Born at sea off the coast of Hong Kong in 1860 (his father was a clipper ship captain), Breck was one of the first artists from this country to adopt Impressionism and to nurture its acceptance in the United States. After training ABOVE: John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Suzanne Hoschedé Sewing (detail), 1888, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 21 7/8 inches. The Mint Museum, Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary and courtesy of Heather James Fine Art. 2016.25

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in the U.S., Germany, and France, he visited the town of Giverny, France for the first time with a small group of colleagues in 1887. He soon befriended Claude Monet and his family, helped lay the groundwork for Giverny to become an artist’s colony, and began his conversion to Impressionism.

The exhibition will feature a section focusing on Breck’s early work in Giverny, where he painted everything from close-up views of the region’s fleurs-de-lis to snow scenes, nocturnes, and even the interior of the Hotel Baudy, where many artists stayed. Visitors can also compare Breck’s early Impressionist paintings to those by colleagues also working in Giverny, such as Theodore Robinson and Willard Metcalf. A second section will explore Breck’s relationship with Monet and his family.

During a quick trip back to the United States in 1890-91, Breck was among the first to exhibit his new Impressionist paintings in this country and to use the style to depict the American landscape. Visitors will see three rare examples

of paintings that Breck did during a trip to California in the winter of 1891-92. Soon after his 1891 exhibition at Boston’s St. Botolph Club, Breck became known as one of the nation’s leaders of the movement. Reviewing this show, a critic for the Boston Transcript called it “the art sensation of the season,” going on to say that “almost everybody in town has visited the exhibition and almost everybody is discussing it.”

Breck returned to Giverny in the summer and fall of 1892, where he painted perhaps his best-known works, a series depicting the town’s iconic grain stacks, captured over the span of a single day under different conditions of light and atmosphere. Subsequent sections of the show will explore his beautiful paintings of scenery in Massachusetts and Maine that Breck created between 1894 and his tragic death at the young age of 38 in 1899.

One of the final sections of the show will include 10 paintings from Breck’s trip to Venice in 1897. Although Venice was a popular destination for American artists—

ABOVE: John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). View of Ipswich Bay, 1898, oil on canvas, 18 x 22 inches. Private Collection.

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James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent both worked there — Breck was perhaps the only American Impressionist to create an extensive body of work depicting the city and its environs. The majority of Breck’s Venetian works take advantage of the city’s canals and waterways, situating the viewer afloat, gazing back at its colorful boats and iconic architecture. Working in Venice forced Breck to experiment with new colors, shifting away from his beloved greens towards soft blues and accents of yellow and orange.

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist is generously presented by Bank of America, with additional support provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Mint Museum Auxiliary, Infusion Fund, the Arts & Science Council, and the North Carolina Arts Council. Individual support provided by Charlie and Susan Murray in honor of Welborn and Patty Alexander, and Mary and Dick Payne.

Following Breck’s suicide in 1899, his colleague John Henry Twachtman, himself one of Impressionism’s American leaders, called Breck “a great genius and the artist who had “started a new school of painting in America.” Despite the high regard in which Breck was ultimately held in Boston art circles and by his contemporaries by the end of his life, since his passing, he largely has flown under the art historical radar, until now.

Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum, is the curator of John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist and the author of the corresponding catalogue.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Santa Maria della Salute by Moonlight, 1897, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches. Collection of Geoffrey Lewis.; John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Silence, ca. 1894, oil on canvas, 28½ x 47½ inches. Private Collection.; and James Carroll Beckwith (American, 1852–1917). Portrait of John Leslie Breck, 1891, oil on canvas, 13¼ x 17¼ inches. Collection of Max N. Berry.

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WANT TO GO? The exhibition will be on view September 18, 2021 – January 2, 2022 at Mint Museum Uptown before traveling to The Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. Mint members can get an exclusive preview 1-5 PM September 18. The member event includes food, cash bar, and live music.

Explore the wide range of flora found in Breck’s lush landscapes with an audio tour narrated by members of Mint affiliate The Charlotte Garden Club. Breck’s paintings are further enhanced by gallery walls painted by local theatrical artist Tim Parati. For more details: mintmuseum.org/ john-leslie-breck-american-impressionist

“John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist is a revelation. Never before have so many of Breck’s finest paintings been seen together. It’s a must for anyone who loves Impressionism.”

George T.M. Shackelford, Deputy Director, Kimbell Art Museum

JOHN LESLIE BRECK

American Impressionist

Stuhlman

“This is the book every artist deserves. It is exemplary in the way it illustrates all of Breck’s outstanding works, gives us a much-needed, detailed account of his life in Giverny including his relationship to Monet and his step-daughters, explains his family and his ties to Boston, expands our knowledge by illustrating his work in Venice, Santa Barbara, and Gloucester, and forthrightly examines his good times and his troubled ones.”

JOHN LESLIE BRECK

A fully illustrated, 208-page exhibition catalogue will be available when the exhibition opens in September. It is the first monograph on Breck ever produced, and includes contributions from Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum and curator of the exhibition, as well as Breck experts Jeffrey R. Brown and Royal W. Leith, and noted Impressionism scholars Erica Hirshler, PhD, and Katherine Bourguignon, PhD. The catalogue will be available for purchase in The Mint Museum store ($49.95, D. Giles Ltd.).

Theodore E. Stebbins Jr., formerly curator of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Harvard Art Museums

ABOVE: John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Asters (detail), ca. 1893, oil on canvas, 18 x 22 inches. The Middleton Family Collection

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AMERICAN IMPRE SSIO NIS T

THE WORLD OF ANNA SUI A CONVERSATION WITH DESIGNER ANNA SUI WHOSE FASHIONS ARE FEATURED IN THE EXHIBITION COMING TO THE MINT THIS FALL

BY ANNIE CARLANO

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Part autobiography and part cultural commentary, Sui — the queen of Romantic rock-n-roll style — uses her fashions to reflect her experiences as part of a vibrant New York City art and music scene in the late 1970s.

Her designs point to her friendships with fellow Parsons School of Design students Steven Meisel and Marc Jacobs, and models Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington. Her fashions are a product of her own high-fashion-meets-thrift store and biker-meetsprincess style, as well as an ongoing fascination and study of London’s art and music world, from Beardsley to The Beatles. All of this will be on display when The World of Anna Sui, presented by PNC Bank, opens November 18 at Mint Museum Randolph.

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Known for eschewing the shoulder pads, the minimalism of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the focus on exclusive couture fashion, Sui wanted to make clothing that reflected her more street-chic style, and she wanted it to be more accessible. Her democratic approach resulted in the creation of a staple of archetypes — mod, punk, grunge, rockstar, hippie, schoolgirl, Americana, surfer, nomad, Victorian, retro, androgyny, fairytale — based on her observations and studies of intriguing artistic dress, textile motifs and textures, and body adornments.

“It was my moment,” says Sui. “If grunge music was an alternative to stadium rock, the kind of clothes I designed were my alternative to power dressing.”

Organized by the Fashion and Textile Museum, London, The World of Anna Sui is the first-ever fashion exhibition at the Mint to put the focus on an Asian American female designer. Sui, a second-generation Chinese American, was born in Detroit and moved to New York to attend Parsons in the 1970s. She established her first label in 1981 and

Photos courtesy of Anna Sui

No other fashion designer captures the zeitgeist of an historic period, place, or artistic movement in such a paradoxically timeless yet contemporary look as Anna Sui. And she does so by designing the entire look — from dress to accessories, hair styles to makeup, and even sound and scent.

“

You have to focus on your dreams, even if they go beyond common sense. How could this young girl from the suburbs of Detroit become a success in New York? It was always that dream.

presented her first fashion show in 1991. Sui’s banner year was 1992 when she opened her first boutique in Soho and won the prestigious CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Perry Ellis Award for new fashion talent. She expanded her world into fragrance and cosmetics in 1993, and continues to innovate within her signature aesthetic in a global arena. Sui was awarded the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA in 2009.

— Anna Sui, fashion designer The World of Anna Sui is more than an installation of clothing — it offers a look inside Sui’s creative process, including sketches, mood boards, and other inspirations, such as concert posters and photographs. Furniture from her personal collection, dollyheads, and other objects envelop the viewer in her milieu, and the exhibition catwalk videos and soundtrack transport us to the runway.

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you started designing. When Covid-19 hit, you took to the internet and social media to contribute their talents to your looks. Do you see this as ongoing?

You’ve been a fashion designer for 30 years, maintaining the energy, sensibility, and vibe of those early collections consistently, mining art history, year after year. What motivates you?

I think Covid changed our world. We had to evolve in order to stay in business. In many ways it taught us how to think out of the box. A lot of the resourcefulness has resulted in new ways to do things. I think these changes will stay with us.

I’ve got the best job in the world because I can use anything I’m interested in, obsessing about, or just discovering, in my work.

The World of Anna Sui is brilliantly organized into 13 fashion archetypes by curator Dennis Nothdruft.

You have said that “hippie” is your default style.

What do you mean by that?

I love the bohemian style of the hippies from the ’60’s. It represented youth culture, a mix of ethnic styles, and so many of the rock bands from that period dressed in this way. It’s all the things that I love.

I’m impressed by the way you design an entire look and the relationship you have with your team of collaborators. How do a look and collection come together?

I always begin with an inspiration board. I really build the collection on this board. I share this with all my collaborators, and they can join the journey of what the collection is all about.

You have been dedicated to sourcing materials from the New York garment industry and other U.S.-based companies and individual makers since

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Music — including the Beatles, rock and punk — is an integral part of your world, and the playlist for each runway show is carefully selected. What are you listening to now?

Music is so important to me. I originally wanted to design for rock bands and people that go to rock concerts. My favorite contemporary bands are Tame Impala, Temples, and anything by Jack White.

Organized by the Fashion and Textile Museum, London, The World of Anna Sui was curated by Dennis Nothdruft.

Annie Carlano is curator of The Mint Museum’s iteration. The exhibition has toured the globe from New York to Shanghai. The Mint is the final venue of the tour.

The Mint’s presentation is made possible through the generous support of PNC Bank, Deidre and Clay Grubb, the Fashion Task Force, and friends of fashion.

Annie Carlano is senior curator of craft, design & fashion at The Mint Museum.

Photos courtesy of Anna Sui

Annie Carlano, senior curator for craft, design & fashion at the Mint, connected with Sui to talk about her career, her style, and even her go-to music.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE A LOOK INSIDE THE EXHIBITION PRESENTING THREE OF THE CITY’S MOST INNOVATIVE ARTIST COLLECTIVES

Photo by Carey J. King, @mrcareyjking

BY MICHELE HUGGINS

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Photos by Carey J. King, @mrcareyjking LEFT: Numerous artists from the Charlotte artist collective BlkMrktClt created the entryway mural on site at Mint Museum Randolph that greets visitors as they walk into the Jones Gallery for the exhibition It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives.

TOP: BlkMrktClt collective co-founder and artist Carla Aaron-Lopez (far left) talks with visitors to the exhibition.

ABOVE: Visitors enjoyed snapping photos in front of works by artists from Goodyear Arts in the Belk Gallery at Mint Museum Randolph, including the textile work Reclaiming by artist Katrina Sanchez.

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More than 25 artists from three innovative artist collectives — BlkMrktClt, Brand the Moth, and Goodyear Arts — are featured in the exhibition It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives, on view through September 12 at Mint Museum Randolph.

Curated by Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, chief curator and curator of contemporary art at The Mint Museum, the works are by artists of diverse backgrounds, many born in countries outside the United States, using materials from oil paint to woven fabric, collage to ceramics, including the work Reclaiming (right) by Katrina Sanchez, who was born in the Republic of Panama.

Many of the artists included in the exhibition had a part in painting the Black Lives Matter street mural in uptown Charlotte in summer 2020. Some, including artists Arko, Owl, and de’Angelo Dia, have been featured in the Mint’s Constellation CLT series, which showcases works by local artists in Mint Museum Uptown’s public spaces.

And many of the It Takes a Village artists were also involved with LOCAL/STREET, a three-day pop-up exhibition organized by BlkMrktClt co-founder Carla Aaron-Lopez in March at Mint Museum Randolph featuring the work of more than 40 local artists of color and street artists who are helping define the city’s visual identity.

Michele Huggins is the communications and media relations project manager at The Mint Museum.

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Photos by Carey J. King, @mrcareyjking; and Alex Cason Photography

Opening weekend of the exhibition included a celebration with music by DJ and artist Dammit Wesley who has more than 10 personal works in the exhibition. Visitors enjoyed moving about the galleries while listening to music, including the Belk Gallery that features the work On Fertile Ground (below, left) by Sam Guzzie, co-founder of the artist collective Brand the Moth.

CONTEMPORARY CERAMICISTS CLAY MODERNE: AMERICAN CERAMICS, 1925–1950 EXAMINES THE PIVOTAL ARTISTS AND STYLINGS OF EARLY 20TH-CENTURY CERAMICS

BY BRIAN GALLAGHER AND MICHELE HUGGINS

In the roaring 1920s and decades that followed, America’s avant-garde movements influenced fashion, style, architecture, and art. Clay Moderne: American Ceramics, 1925–1950 showcases the evolution of American ceramics and the innovative, influential artists behind the designs during the second quarter of the 20th century.

The ongoing exhibition in the Delhom Gallery at Mint Museum Randolph features 25 works of art from the Mint’s permanent collection, many of which have not been on view for many years, if ever.

Clay Moderne highlights a period when streamlined, unornamented styles became the new direction in ceramics — a movement adapted from American

architecture. Notable designers Russel Wright, Eva Zeisel, and Viktor Shreckengost each created dinner services manifesting this new focus on clean lines and simple, geometric forms. Such services were designed for casual but stylish living.

Among all the sets created, no pattern has remained as perennially popular as “Fiesta” by Frederick Hurten Rhead. Created in 1936 for Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell, West Virginia, “Fiesta” is recognizable by the molded, concentric circles on the rims of plates and on the feet or sides of vessels, and by the pattern’s bright, solid colors. “Fiesta” ware is still being produced.

ABOVE: Frederick Hurten Rhead, designer (English, 1880-1942). Fiesta Pitcher (detail), circa 1940-45, glazed earthenware.

Gift of the American Ceramic Society. 2006.102.62.1

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Female changemakers As women’s suffrage in America marched forward, women ceramic artists were being acknowledged as leaders in the field. Several of those pioneering women are featured in Clay Moderne. Maija Grotell received 25 major awards during her career as a ceramic artist and was known as one of the most influential ceramics instructors in the United States. In 1938, she joined the faculty as head of the ceramics department at Cranbrook Academy of Art

in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and by the time she retired in 1966, the school was renowned for having one of the premier ceramics programs in the country.

Clay Moderne also features a ceramic lion vase by Vally Wieselthier, who is credited with helping to develop the field of ceramic sculpture in the United States. While still a student, Wieselthier was invited in 1917 to join the famed Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) in her native Austria. Eventually settling in New York City, she regularly received critical recognition for her work and was represented in the groundbreaking International Exhibition of Ceramic Art, which opened in 1928 at the Metropolitan Museum.

The surge of commercial ceramic design The time period covered in the exhibition, 1925 to 1950, also saw an increase in ceramic sculpture. Artists Waylande Gregory, Henry Varnum Poor, and Thelma Frazier Winter, among others, joined Wieselthier in promoting sculpture as a ceramic art form. Many of these lauded ceramic artists even spent part of their careers studying or working with ceramics manufacturer Guy Cowan.

Cowan founded the Cowan Pottery Studio in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1912. Over the next decade, the factory developed a diverse commercial line of pottery that was sold by prominent retailers, including Marshall Field in Chicago and Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia. Cowan, who designed many of the wares himself, was forced to close his operation in 1931 because of financial hardships brought on by The Great Depression, but for a time his wares were one of the nation’s leading potteries. While managing his factory, Cowan regularly taught ceramics at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Thanks to generous donors and strategic acquisitions, the Mint’s permanent collection includes a number of works by these pioneering ceramic artists, along with those by other notable American ceramic designers.

Clay Moderne offers not only a view into their innovative creative process, but also a taste of an iconic, avant-garde period in history and art.

Brian Gallagher is the senior curator of decorative arts at The Mint Museum and the curator of Clay Moderne: American Ceramics, 1925-1950.

LEFT: Henry Varnum Poor (American, 1888-1970). Nude with Alligator, 1936, glazed earthenware. Gift of Patricia J. Shaw. 1998.21

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‘BROKEN,

BUT IN ONE PIECE’ CONSTELLATION CLT ARTIST MYLOAN DINH EXPLORES THE HUMAN CONDITION – AND THE SEARCH FOR HOME

BY PAGE LEGGETT

MyLoan (pronounced “mee-LAHN”) Dinh has been working with an unusually delicate medium: eggshells.

From coop to kitchen to studio

The Vietnamese-American artist, who splits her time between Charlotte and Berlin, uses them to encase objects — passports, hammers, boxing gloves. “With boxing gloves, you think of fighting,” she says. “I love the idea of pairing things that are complete opposites.

There’s a tension there — a deeper meaning that starts a conversation.”

Working with eggshells is tedious and time-consuming.

Dinh starts by procuring eggs. She has to boil the eggs, crack and peel them. Then, she methodically places each tiny piece onto the object with an adhesive. She uses a stick pin or a needle; her fingers are too big for the job.

Once the entire object is covered, she fills in with even tinier shell shards. She doesn’t want too much of a gap between fragments.

People might see the eggshell mosaics and think of the destructiveness of violence or the fragility of life. But for life to begin, the egg has to be open, to be broken, Dinh says. And brokenness is part of being human.

“I like creating something whole out of fragments,” she continues. “I like this idea that even though we might be broken, we’re in one piece. We’re going to be OK.”

Each object gets covered in five or six protective layers.

Something fragile has been made durable.

Some of the “eggshell art” was featured in Dinh’s installation for Constellation CLT — an exhibition series that spotlights local artists — this spring and summer at Mint Museum Uptown.

ABOVE: Artist MyLoan Dinh stands in front of her installation (re)constructing the space in-between at Mint Museum Uptown.

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“I think it’s wonderful that museums are starting to look for artists in their backyard,” Dinh says. “There’s a lot of talent here. And why not expose the community to those artists? It’s wonderful that part of the community can now see themselves in these spaces.”

The part of the community she’s referring to: AsianAmericans. “When I was growing up, I couldn’t see myself in a museum setting because I didn’t have any role models,” she says. “I couldn’t name a single Asian artist. I saw some Asian art, but it was more like artifacts. So, this Constellations program is really amazing.”

‘A place we can call home’ She and her family were on one of the last ships out of Saigon in 1975. Dinh was 4. She has no memory of her homeland but still feels connected to her culture.

Her story is deeply personal, but there’s a universality to it. “Everyone deserves safety,” she says. “We all deserve the same basic human rights, the opportunity to live in dignity and to somehow find a place we can call home.”

Finding her way to safety was harrowing. For six days, they were forbidden to dock because the ships belonged to the now-defunct South Vietnamese government. “We were stateless,” she says.

The U.S.S. Kirk was the first, and then dozens of former South Vietnamese Navy ships, cargo and fishing boats lowered the Vietnamese flag and raised the American one. That was just the beginning.

Dinh’s family went to three different U.S. refugee camps before a Lutheran church in Boone agreed to sponsor them. “We’re still in touch with the pastor and his wife,” Dinh says. “At the time, there was this — not really, anti-Asian hate — but fear. People were afraid for different reasons: Would we be able to adjust? Were we Communists? Half the congregation wasn’t sure should they take us in. The minister told them, ‘As people of God, we have to.’”

They came to Charlotte because there was a bigger Vietnamese population here and it’s a bigger city. Dinh’s parents wanted to find their community.

Dinh herself has found a large creative community here.

She and her husband — Till Schmidt-Rempler, a former dancer and choreographer — frequently host musicians, poets, storytellers and dancers in the 1935 log cabin that’s home to the couple and their teenage daughter. (Their son is working toward a PhD in art history in London.)

Evolution of an artist Dinh’s work has evolved a lot since she first picked up a paintbrush to create what she calls “representational, figurative work.” It didn’t take long for her to expand her subject matter and media; she experiments to stave off boredom. In recent years, she’s been diving into storytelling.

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“I began revisiting stories about what my family faced when I was growing up,” she says. “Much of that stuff, you just push away. You focus on your survival. You don’t want to bring it up because you think: ‘I’m resilient, I need to move on.’ But I felt it was time to pull it out slowly because of this shift in America, this racial reckoning.”

She doesn’t consider herself a political artist, but rather an artist concerned with social justice.

She hopes viewers see that concern in her work. “I think it’s good to let viewers enjoy the pieces for what they are, but I also like the idea of them reading my artist’s statement to understand why I made the piece. My message is that we need to find a way to share space with each other.”

‘My daughter ate it’ Dinh doesn’t always use food in her art — although she has coated everyday objects in candy conversation hearts — but she was inspired to create an installation last year using a ubiquitous Asian dessert.

“I created a fortune cookie installation the day after six Asian women were murdered [in Atlanta],” she says. “I just made it, held it in my hand and photographed it for social media. And, when Jen [Sudul Edwards] said she wanted to show it, I had to tell her: It was a real fortune cookie, and my daughter ate it. But I can get more.”

There are six fortune cookies in that little installation, she says, one for each of the six women murdered. The fortunes have numbers on them, and they are real telephone numbers to an actual hotline, Dinh says.

With her eggshell art, Dinh is a purist. She leaves the shells the colors nature intended. But she wanted dark brown eggs for several pieces — and went searching.

“There’s a chocolate brown egg that comes from a fancy French chicken called the Marans chicken, she says. “I joined a Facebook group of people who raise chickens and asked if anybody had Marans chickens. They were so responsive; I’ve been getting eggshells in the mail.

Chicken people are really good people.

“You never know where you’ll find your community. And community is really another word for ‘home’.”

Page Leggett’s writing appears regularly in The Charlotte Observer, Business North Carolina and SouthPark magazine. Besides writing, her other great passions are travel and art collecting. The first art lessons she took were at Mint Museum Randolph.

THE ART OF EMPOWERMENT A CONVERSATION WITH MINT BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRPERSON NATALIE FRAZIER ALLEN

Photo courtesy of Natalie Frazier Allen

BY RUBIE R. BRITT-HEIGHT

I met arts advocate Natalie Frazier Allen at Mint Museum Uptown, not long after she founded The Arts Empowerment Project, a Charlotte-based nonprofit that uses art to heal and inspire children affected by violence, neglect, or abuse. The goal: to provide experiences that broaden horizons, foster resilience, and build essential life skills. As the Mint’s director of community relations, I found Allen to be exactly the kind of person I loved meeting in the Mint ecosystem — someone who realizes the power of art to be a catalyst for change.

Allen is now the chairperson of The Mint Museum’s Board of Trustees and the first African American female chair in the Mint’s 85-year history.

Raised in Jamaica, Queens in New York City, Allen graduated with a political science degree from Spelman College in Atlanta before attending The George Washington University Law School. Her distinguished law career included a clerkship for a judge in Washington D.C., work for The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and then a position with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. After moving to Charlotte, she and her husband, Hugh, would often bring their children, Andrew and Chloe (now both in college) to Mint programs.

Allen and I recently had the opportunity to connect on her background and interests. Here are excerpts from that conversation. Edited for brevity and clarity.

How did growing up in New York City, an epicenter for art, African American culture, social justice movements, and a hub of visual and performing arts culture, impact your life?

I came from an arts-focused family. My mother was a classically trained musician in piano and attended Fisk University. She was a choral music instructor in New York public schools for over 35 years. My dad worked in advertising, in retouching. At any early age, I wanted to be an artist, but my parents really didn’t encourage it beyond my primary and secondary school days. I was surrounded, though, so I breathed it and enjoyed all the opportunities of being around art, artists, and culture.

What from your childhood community engagement experiences has impacted your social engagement and advocacy now?

Because my mother taught underserved children in the public school system, including children who were homeless, I was exposed to the reality of people in great need. Some girls didn’t have shoes to walk home in the snow. My mom would donate shoes that I’d outgrown and lead community collections of clothes and shoes for her students. My family was made up of career public servants focused on how to leave the world better than you found it. Harlem born and bred, my dad led by example, doing what he needed to do to improve his life and ours, and part of that was prioritizing family, staying connected to your community, and living by the Golden Rule.

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Mint Board Chair Natalie Frazier Allen and her husband, Hugh, have two college-age children, Chloe and Andrew.

Living in New York City, there was often something going on that involved the law — and it varied with race, class, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. There was uncertainty around what could happen to you going to and from school or work. At the same time, I lived in a bedroom community rich with culture, ethnicities, belief systems, and professions. My neighborhood was primarily African American, and I attended a Catholic elementary school. On Sundays, we attended Calvary Baptist Church.

Our churches were hubs for social direction and discussion of various movements and legal concerns.

“

My family was made up of career public servants focused on how to leave the world better than you found it.

— Natalie Frazier Allen

During the 1980s, there was racial tension, and there were several controversial incidents during this time. One of the most iconic was the Central Park 5, where five young African American boys were wrongfully accused and arrested. Ken Burns and Sara Burns produced and directed a special on that in 2012, documenting the men’s lives after finally being released and fully exonerated. Several highly publicized cases, coupled with my lived experience, gave me a focus on the law, justice, and representing fairness and equity.

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Because I saw difficult childhoods, I wanted to be on the side of preventive measures. As I worked in Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, I saw a cycle of violence from various aspects of people’s lives: home, community, the system, and society. After the Violence Against Women Act passed, I served as Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit. In that role, I helped open and staff DC’s Domestic Violence Intake Center, which helped address and improve the response to violence against women and their children. I also came to understand how preventive measures and interventions help impact change for the most vulnerable.

Tell me about your involvement with the Mint.

My first visit was in 2010, when Mint Museum Uptown opened. I remember museum hopping from the Gantt Center to the Mint to engage in the Romare Bearden Centennial activities. I loved the experience, and Mint Museum Uptown is such a gorgeous building. I attended nearly all the Bearden programs and events, and The World’s Fair exhibit. Near that time, I was a member of the Gantt Center and served on its board for three years.

It feels so strange having spent my first year as the Mint’s board chair encased in a pandemic and not able to engage as much as I’d like. I am leaning in by helping develop the Mint’s latest strategic plan. The Mint’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) is more relevant now than ever. As the first female African American board chair, I’m glad to translate, through my lens, the need for families to feel they belong and are welcome, and for the museum to reflect our Charlotte community through staff, board appointments, programs, and exhibitions. It’s also important to let people know that there are accessible opportunities for emerging Carolina artists.

Photo courtesy of Natalie Frazier Allen

How did those life experiences impact your career choice and commitments to give back?

It’s important to me that the museum has a lot of diverse viewpoints to make the institution stronger and more resilient. Inclusivity is imperative if we want to give back and remain relevant.

Art is a catalyst for change. How do you feel about that?

Art can shape perspectives and guide dialogue. Art can touch on fun and entertaining topics and some difficult topics, including social justice and racial inequity. It can make those situations more acceptable for conversation.

The beauty of visual and performing arts is the power to see things and circumstances from a variety of perspectives, which hopefully leads to conversations that expand people’s understanding and awareness about themselves, others, and the world. Art in this way is art activism.

As a woman community leader, how do you encourage young women of color, especially other African Americans, to see themselves?

I’m doing a lot of this through my nonprofit. It’s especially important for girls because so many women are leading their families, especially in underserved communities.

It’s important for these young ladies to understand how they are perceived and how they are relevant. Many of The Arts Empowerment Project’s programs infuse selfawareness, social-emotional learning, cultural identity, and their power. It is called “Arts Empowerment” for a reason: inspiring students by providing the art tools and instruction needed to really encourage them. We also foresee having a mentorship component to help participants make wise choices.

Seminar,” which has provided 50 students with multi-week, virtual programming. Local artists-educators teach and enlighten through art instruction, motivational speakers, and workshops promoting life skills, visual literacy, and positive self-expression.

How can someone be an everyday philanthropist?

Financial support is critical to sustainability, but all connections are valuable, including social capital. It’s about having a healthy ecosystem: Pay it forward, reach back, connect people to things you are passionate about, and bring people along. Volunteering at the Mint as a docent or community volunteer is philanthropic.

The arts need our voice, our advocacy, and our presence.

Attending — being there to support programs and exhibits, projects, artists, and initiatives — is what I strive to do. It inspires others to lean in to something they care about, be a change agent.

Who’s your favorite artist? And what’s one of your favorite works in the Mint collection?

I admire so many, but I have a love and respect for artists like Elizabeth Catlett. I adore her sketches and sculptures.

Her sculpture Standing Woman was gifted to Spelman College during my time there. It’s one of my favorites. I also have fallen in love with the work of fiber artists like Bisa Butler. One of my favorite pieces from the museum’s collection is Threshold by artist Danny Lane at Mint Museum Uptown.

You also are an artist.

When you ask for and care about a person’s opinion, it’s empowering. Youth we work with value being asked for input on steps to complete a project. If we could have more of that for people, specifically for our youth of color, it could help them grow and develop their minds as thinkers and see beyond their immediate circumstances. It is about hearing self-affirming messages over and over: “You can do this. You have worth and value. You are special.”

I love oils and sketching, using charcoal and various tools.

At one time, I wanted to go to art school. I love to see and appreciate art during my travels. I look forward to going to Florence with the Mint next year — being on an art adventure, immersed in culture elsewhere. It’ll be a great time to do some sketching.

As the Arts Empowerment Project celebrates 10 years, what are some highlights?

Rubie R. Britt-Height is director of community relations and co-leads the DEIA program at The Mint Museum. Like Frazier Allen, she also is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

During the pandemic, we have had to be creative to keep the kids we serve engaged. We expanded our HeART Pack program, where we give backpacks that include a healthy snack, creative books, tactile/fidget toys, a gift card, a personal note of encouragement, age-appropriate creative art supplies, and a link to participate in a virtual art workshop. During social isolation, so many kids were out of school and weren’t engaged with others outside their home, so we are doing all we can to connect with kids in the court system and in foster care. We have been reaching out to vulnerable students through community organizations, such as Mecklenburg County’s Youth & Family Services; Thompson Child and Family Focus; Safe Alliance; Big Brothers, Big Sisters; and Project 658. We’ve engaged with over 400 students. I also love our “Encounters Life Skills

WANT MORE? To read more about Allen’s childhood, her heroes, and The Arts Empowerment Project, check out the extended version of this Q&A on our website: mintmuseum.org/natalie-frazier-allen.

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Miami Art Basel

Venice, Italy

St. Louis

ART ADVENTURES IN STYLE THE CROWN SOCIETY TRAVEL PROGRAM TAKES FLIGHT AGAIN Art captures and portrays time and space, then and now. The Crown Society Travel Program offers our most generous and loyal Crown members art-infused experiences that delight, enrich, and inspire even the most-worldly traveler. Our trips are all about seeing fabulous art in cool places while forging friendships and replenishing with fun.

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From Provence to Tuscany, extraordinary destinations are on the itinerary for 2021-2022. Mint trips feature special access to private collections, behind-the-scenes tours, and studio visits that only the Mint can organize with help from artists and other supporters. Participants stay in lovely accommodations and enjoy fine wine and creative cuisine. For more details, reach out to Kitty Hall at 704.337.2034 or kitty.hall@mintmuseum.org to ask questions, or reserve a spot for the trip(s) of your choice.

Tuscany

South of France September 26 – October 4, 2021 Journey to the South of France on this luxury trip with President and CEO Todd Herman, PhD. See the treasures of Arles, Aix en Provence, Nice, and surrounding areas.

Enjoy deluxe accommodations, extraordinary group dinners, and access to public and private collections.

This trip is currently sold out.

Miami Art Basel November 30 – December 2, 2021 Join the biennial Crown Society trip to the premier contemporary art and design fairs in the United States: Art Basel Miami and Design Miami. The trip includes three nights in deluxe South Beach accommodations, access to the two primary art fairs, as well as visits to many satellite fairs, group dinners, and special behindthe-scenes opportunities.

Platinum Circle+ | $2,500 per person.

Saint Louis, Missouri April 5 – April 7, 2022 Join in a trip to the “Show Me State” and home of the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions Saint Louis Blues. This visit includes a special tour at the Saint Louis Art Museum, a visit to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Saint Louis Zoo, as well as visits to two stunning private collections. Group dinners will be a particular highlight in the hometown of host and the Mint’s Chief Advancement Officer Hillary Cooper — one in the celebrated Wallace Trophy Room at her parent’s home.

Authentic Italy: Unlocking Tuscany’s Rich Cultural Heritage June 5 – June 12, 2022 Join Mint Museum President and CEO Todd Herman, PhD, and renowned Italian foodie, art historian, and travel book writer Elaine Trigiani on a tour of Tuscany that takes you deeper than Botticelli and David to the roots of Tuscan culture, food, and wine. In the hills around Florence, far from tourists and buses, this week-long program, specially designed for The Mint Museum, is an exploration of the art, artisans, and genuine food producers in the countryside villages of Tuscany. This is the Tuscany you have dreamed about but haven’t yet experienced.

Platinum Plus Circle + | $5,560 per person (airfare not included).

Venice to Milan: Splendors of Northern Italy Fall 2022 Join Venetian art expert and Mint President and CEO Todd Herman, PhD, and Chief Curator Jennifer Sudul Edwards, PhD, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience specially curated for The Mint Museum. Beginning in Venice, highlights include an after-hours visit to San Marco, tour of the famous Venice Biennale, and a private tour and dinner at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. In Milan you will have private, after-hours access to Leonardo’s famous Last Supper, a day trip to stunning Lake Como with a private visit to one of the most beautiful villas on the lake, and an exclusive dinner in a house museum in Milan.

Platinum Plus Circle + | Limited space available.

This trip is currently sold out.

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A GIFT, A LEGACY IN HONOR OF NEILL MCBRYDE, THE MINT IS RENAMING ITS PLANNED GIVING PROGRAM THE DWELLE-MCBRYDE SOCIETY The Mint Museum has renamed its planned giving program The Dwelle-McBryde Society, in honor of Charlotte attorney Neill McBryde’s steadfast support of the museum.

publicity committee chair for the 1997 Antiques Show, co-chaired the Antiques Show committee in 1998, and has held multiple committee leadership roles with the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

McBryde was a leader in the Charlotte-based Moore & Van Allen law firm for decades. He was recognized as one of the top-45 estate planning lawyers in the U.S.

by Town & Country magazine and made the list in Best Lawyers in America for decades. A champion of legacy giving, McBryde understands the value of planned giving programs for the long-term sustainability of institutions and nonprofits, whether the Mint or his beloved Myers Park Presbyterian Church and its outreach ministries.

This honor also marks the occasion of McBryde’s retirement at the end of 2021.

The Mint’s planned giving program was originally named for Mary Myers Dwelle, who in 1933 began to raise funds to relocate the Charlotte Mint building to house the first art museum in North Carolina.

McBryde was a driving force behind the establishment of the Mint’s Dwelle Society in 1996 as well as a founding member of the Mint’s Crown Society in 2010. He also served on the Mint’s board of trustees for multiple terms, once as board chair, and is now a member of museum’s advisory board. His wife, Peggy McBryde, served as the

Moore & Van Allen has been a longtime corporate supporter of the Mint and has sponsored many exhibitions, including Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675-1825 (currently on view at Mint Museum Randolph), The Glamour & Romance of Oscar de la Renta in 2018, and Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood and His Contemporaries in 2020.

Interested in joining? Visit mintmuseum.org/dwellemcbryde-society ABOVE: Neill and Peggy McBryde with Todd A. Herman, PhD, at the October 2018 welcome reception for Herman.

A GIFT MULTIPLIED After the announcement of Neill McBryde’s retirement, and Moore & Van Allen’s subsequent gift to the Mint in his honor, a generous local family foundation contributed an extraordinary $50,000 to the museum to further recognize McBryde and the impact he has had on their family for generations. The family hopes their gift — which will be used to help revitalize and expand The Dwelle-McBryde Society — will inspire others to do the same.

An additional $5,000 gift from another of McBryde’s clients outside of Charlotte was also received in his honor.

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STAFF SPOTLIGHT

ERIC SPEER Meet Eric Speer, an associate registrar and 16-year veteran of the Collections & Exhibition department at The Mint Museum. He’s also a pretty serious recreational farmer (with a penchant for hot peppers). Read on for more. —As told to Caroline Portillo. Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

I never expected to work for an art museum. I went to the University of Tennessee at Chatanooga for undergrad and got a degree in history. My graduate degree from the University of South Carolina was in public history, with a museum studies concentration. I expected to end up at a history museum, but there was an opening at the Mint, and I’m glad I ended up here.

My original role was as a registration assistant. Many of my duties revolved around the caring and storage of the more than 30,000 objects in the Mint’s permanent collection.

We worry about scheduling transportation of works of art, compliance of loan agreements, insurance for works of art, maintaining appropriate light levels, temperature, and relative humidity in the galleries, and caring for all of the works of art in the museum’s possession.

Some institutions send couriers with their art to make sure the install or de-install goes safely. But because of the pandemic, we often had virtual couriers who watched via iPads or laptops. You show them what’s happening: “We’re going to take the vitrine off the casework now.

And now we’re going to de-install the mount. And now we’re going to lift up the piece and place it in the crate.”

I’ve been on the other side of courier trips. I’ve ridden on a truck with a painting show from Charlotte all the way to Sante Fe, New Mexico and the Georgia O’Keefe Museum.

Then that show went from Sante Fe to Syracuse, New York, in the middle of the winter. We drove across the country in a day and a half.

As a registrar, you see a lot of things behind the scenes that most people don’t get to see. You see an object’s backside, the underside — more of how it’s constructed. And if it’s an object with a living artist, we may work with them on installation. In July 2010, before Mint Museum Uptown opened, I was involved with Danny Lane’s Threshold. I set up the shipping of that from England. Danny Lane and a couple of crew members came with him. It’s a piece made of 800 sheets of glass and it took us about a week to install.

I tried my hand at farming on the side for three years. I was at the Elma C. Lomax Incubator Farm in Cabarrus County. You rent some land and can use their equipment for small-scale vegetable production. I live in Matthews, so I’d go to work and then would often go straight to the farm afterward. You can’t farm and not think about when almost all of our ancestors farmed in some capacity. You also feel connected to what’s going on around you in a way you don’t when you’re inside, just sitting there in front of your computer.

I grow way too many hot peppers. I make a ton of hot sauce. I also grow typical things like tomatoes, garlic, green beans. I have a small yard but I’ve got Asian persimmon, a couple of sour cherry trees, pomegranates, eight blueberry bushes, two pawpaw trees, strawberries.

I’ve also gotten into growing things for the pollinators, the bees and butterflies.

One reason I attempted farming: I don’t just want to read about something. I want to go out and do it. And there’s nothing more hands on than going out and digging in the dirt and producing something — even just growing something at your house. Last night my wife, Dawn, and I got some basil and tomatoes from my garden and made caprese sandwiches. There’s nothing better than to go out to your garden, harvest it, and be eating it that night.

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EVENTS AT THE MINT

Director of Community Relations Rubie R. Britt-Height looks at works by local artist Nellie Ashford. Ashford did live painting demonstrations in The Mint Museum Store at the uptown location during the Silent Streets Opening Celebration in June.

Visitors to Party in the Park enjoyed complimentary admission to Mint Museum Randolph to see the exhibition It Takes a Village: Charlotte Artist Collectives.

From left: Mike Grace, artist Linda Foard-Roberts, and George Roberts at the W|ALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine opening celebration.

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Families enjoyed art activities at Wild Wednesdays held at Mint Museum Randolph during June and July.

Top: Mint guests enjoy Silent Streets: Art in the Time of Pandemic during the opening celebration in June, and artist Jamil Dyair Steele (above) did paintings onsite during the event.

“A Night at the Movies” on the lawn at Mint Museum Randolph featured a documentary about Diana Vreeland, the former editor of Vogue magazine, and her time covering the fashion industry.

Members of the Young Affiliates of the Mint dressed for the occasion at the annual Derby Days celebration at Mint Museum Randolph.

Proceeds from the event support local school tours at the Mint.

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THANK YOU TO OUR CROWN SOCIETY PATRONS Crown Society Co-Chairs, Mrs. Mary Beaver and Mrs. Posey Mealy

SAPPHIRE CIRCLE

MR. AND MRS. JAY FAISON

CHERYL A. PALMER AND FRANK TUCKER

LAURA AND MIKE GRACE

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM J. FOX

PAT AND BILL WILLIAMSON

MARY AND DICK PAYNE

MOZELLE DEPASS GRIFFITH

BETH AND DREW QUARTAPELLA

BEVERLY AND JIM HANCE

MARY ANNE (M.A.) ROGERS

LUCY AND HOOPER HARDISON

PLATINUM PLUS CIRCLE

LEIGH-ANN AND MARTIN SPROCK

CHANDRA AND JIMMIE JOHNSON

JENNIFER AND ALEX BAUER

ANN AND MICHAEL TARWATER

ASHLEY AND SCOTT MATTEI

MR. AND MRS. ALEX FUNDERBURG

CURTIS AND ROCKY TRENKELBACH

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM B. MCGUIRE JR.

BEVERLY AND MARK LADLEY

POSEY AND MARK MEALY

STEPHANIE S. LYNCH

AMY AND MATT MOORE

MR. AND MRS. NEILL G. MCBRYDE

MARÍA-JOSÉ MAGE AND FRANK MÜLLER

EMILY AND BILL OLIVER

CELENE AND MARC OKEN

JO ANN AND JODDY PEER

LAURA AND TRIP PARK

CAROL J. SMITH

PATRICIA A. RODGERS

EDITH AND LANDON WYATT

TREY SHERIDAN

JOAN H. ZIMMERMAN

DIAMOND CIRCLE MR. AND MRS. WESTON M. ANDRESS KELLE AND LEN BOTKIN BETSY AND ALFRED BRAND MRS. WILLIAM R. COOPER HILLARY AND W. FAIRFAX COOPER SUSAN AND DAVID DOOLEY

POPE AND PEGGY SHUFORD KATI AND CHRIS SMALL

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Fall/Winter 2021

PLATINUM CIRCLE NATALIE AND HUGH ALLEN ANONYMOUS MARY AND WALTER BEAVER JOHNNY AND KIM BELK MR. AND MRS. HOWARD BISSELL III JAN AND ED BROWN GINNY AND JOHN COLLETT JANE AND DAVID CONLAN AMY AND ALFRED DAWSON MARY ANNE DICKSON JAY EVERETTE AND BRIAN SPEAS DEIDRE AND CLAY GRUBB LISE AND TRAVIS HAIN LAUREN HARKEY

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM IRWIN BELK

BOBBIE AND THAD SHARRETT

MARY AND CHARLES BOWMAN

JANE AND CARL SHOWALTER

BILL AND ROBIN BRANSTROM

LIZ AND DAVE SHUFORD

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM BRITTON JR.

MATTYE AND MARC SILVERMAN

DAVID AND TERESA CARROLL

TIFFANY AND SCOTT SMITH

E. COLBY AND LYNNE W. CATHEY

MARGARET AND JOHN SWITZER

MONICA M. GALI AND ARMANDO L. CHARDIET

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM B. TIMMERMAN

MRS. ROBIN COCHRAN MR. AND MRS. JESSE CURETON JR. DOUGLAS W. DAVIS

PATTI TRACEY AND CHRIS HUDSON NELIA AND MICHAEL VERANO BETSY AND BRIAN WILDER DR. AND MRS. JOE H. WOODY

LISA AND CARLOS EVANS LINDA AND BILL FARTHING KATHERINE G. HALL ANDREW AND JOANNA HAYNES

SILVER CIRCLE ANONYMOUS BETH ARENTSEN AND RICHARD PAOLINI

SEAN AND JACKIE JONES

TODD A. HERMAN, PHD AND HARRY GERARD

JILL AND MARK KELLY

JOHN AND AMY HINES

WILLIAM AND HARRIET BARNHARDT

TONI AND ALFRED KENDRICK

BETH AND BILL HOBBS

SARA BAYSINGER AND JERRY LEE

JOE AND KATY KINDRED

DR. DIANE D. JACOBSEN

MRS. KATHERINE BELK-COOK

KATHRYN AND LUKE KISSAM

CALLIE AND WIN KELLY

MR. AND MRS. THOMAS M. BELK JR.

SAMMY AND MELINDA KOENIGSBERG

MARCIE AND MARTY KELSO

KATY AND JOHN BELTZ

FRANCIE AND JOHN MANGAN

VIRGINIA M. KEMP

DEBBIE AND GARY BLANKEMEYER

SUSAN AND LOY MCKEITHEN

MR. ANDREW S. KING AND MR. KELLY S. KING

MEGAN BLANKEMEYER

ANDY MERMANS AND ROBIN PERRIGO-MERMANS

KNIGHT ANGELS

HON. JOHN S. ARROWOOD

BETSY AND BILL BLUE AMY AND PHILIP BLUMENTHAL

ANNE AND CLARK NEILSON

MRS. HENRY C. LANDON III

SHANNON AND KARL NEWLIN

BARBARA L. LAUGHLIN

DANY AND CHIP NISBET

CHELSEA LAWSON

DR. LARRY BRADY AND MR. ROMAN MATSO

AMY AND JOE PITT

AARON AND MARIE LIGON

J. FRANK AND KATHY BRAGG

MILTON AND MARSHELETTE PRIME

VINCE LONG AND CAMERON FURR

LAUREN AND PEIFFER BRANDT

ANNE AND EPES ROBINSON

LINDSAY AND STANTON MCCULLOUGH

ANGELA AND RALPH BREEDEN

MANUEL RODRIGUEZ

RICHARD I. MCHENRY AND CYNTHIA L. CALDWELL

KATHIE AND TERRY BRODERICK

BETSY ROSEN AND LIAM STOKES PARKER AND STEPHEN SHUFORD EMILY AND ZACH SMITH NORA AND MICHAEL SMITH MR. AND MRS. JOHN R. WICKHAM

GOLD CIRCLE HOWARD P. ADAMS AND CAROL B. MCPHEE CATHY AND NED AUSTIN MR. AND MRS. JAMES G. BABB JR.

MARY AND JERALD MELBERG MARY AND RICH MILLER VICKY AND BILL MITCHENER WINDY AND BLAKE O’CONNOR ROSE AND BAILEY PATRICK JR. PAULA AND CHRIS PINK MR. AND MRS. WALKER L. POOLE RUTH AND TREVOR RUNBERG

LAURA AND SAM BOWLES

HILARY BURT AND PETER BOVE MARY-IRVING CAMPBELL KATIE AND WYNN CHARLEBOIS DERICK AND SALLIE CLOSE MR. AND MRS. JOHN JULIAN CULBERTSON GWIN BARNWELL DALTON PONTEA AND JONATHAN DIXON ANDRES AND SIDNEY LOGAN ECHEVARRIA

SALLIE SCARBOROUGH

JEN SUDUL EDWARDS, PHD AND MR. GAVIN EDWARDS

THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY

LIZ AND LANE FAISON

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CHRISTA AND BOB FAUT WHITNEY AND MITCHELL FELD SANDY AND GEORGE FISHER SARAH AND WILL FISHER OLIVIA AND JOHN FORTSON MIKE AND LIBBA GAITHER MICHAEL GALLIS AND BERHAN NEBIOGLU SUSIE AND TED GROSS SPENCER GUTHERY LARRY AND HEATHER GWALTNEY MR. AND MRS. WATTS HAMRICK III MR. AND MRS. JOHN W. HARRIS III ANNE J. HENDERSON LIZ HILLIARD MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM T. HOUSER CHIP AND VICTORIA HOWELL LANIER AND DOUG HOY

DRS. SIU CHALLONS-LIPTON AND JORDAN LIPTON NAN AND BILL LOFTIN MARY AND BOB LONG ROGER AND DEBORAH LOVELETT MOSES AND LORI COLLINS LUSKI NANCY AND JOHN MALONEY WESLEY A. MANCINI LESLIE AND MICHAEL MARSICANO PATRICIA AND DAVID MARUNA SAMANTHA AND MARK MCCALL ANNA AND JOHN MCCOY DEE DEE MCKAY BURT AND PHYLLIS MELTON ARRINGTON AND BURCH MIXON KIMBERLY AND GEOFFREY MIZE LAURA AND RANDY MOORE

PATSY M. REAMES ASHLEY AND KERR ROBERTSON MICHAEL A. RODRIGUEZ SARA AND DAN ROSELLI PAULA AND DALT RUFFIN WILLIAM L. AND JANE O. SALTER WAYNE SMITH AND INDUN PATRICK MRS. JOHN A. STEWMAN III THE STOWE FOUNDATION, INC. ANN AND WELLFORD TABOR REBECCA AND RUFFIN TANNER MEREDITH AND JIM THOMPSON KRISTY AND BILL THOMPSON BEN AND SANDI THORMAN JUDITH AND GARY TOMAN TOSHKOVA FINE ART ADVISORY MARGARET AND CHRIS ULLRICH

MARIA AND JOHN HUSON

DAVID K. LINNAN AND CYNTHIA LEE MORENO

SALLY S. VAN ALLEN

MR. AND MRS. JAMES E. S. HYNES

JANET AND LOWELL NELSON

CAROLYN AND MATT VANDERBERG

DR. MARIE-CLAIRE MARROUM-KARDOUS AND MR. KAL KARDOUS

JENNIFER AND ARTIE NEWCOMBE

PATRICIA COX VISER

PATTY AND TOMMY NORMAN

JENNIFER AND AL WAUGH

MICA AND KEITH OBERKFELL

BETSY FLEMING AND ED WEISIGER, JR.

SONYA PFEIFFER AND DAVID RUDOLF

DOROTHEA FAIRWEATHER WEST

LARRY AND DALE POLSKY

RICHARD “STICK” AND TERESA WILLIAMS

MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL B. RANKIN

ROSE AND DAVIS WITTIG

JOAN KIRSCHNER ADAM AND SHELLY LANDAU MS. LORNE E. LASSITER AND GARY P. FERRARO, PHD JANET M. LECLAIR AND JOHN C. BRAGG JR. DR. A. DAVIS LIGON, JR.

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DEBORAH HALLIDAY AND GARY RAUTENSTRAUCH

CURATOR'S PICK

Notice how the necks and lids of these flower-encrusted vases are perforated.

That's because they were meant to be filled with potpourri, whose fragrance would waft through the holes to scent a room. These vases are often called “frill” vases, because of the frill, or projecting trim, of shell-shaped leaves that encircle the lower section of each vase and form canopies over each vase’s female masks.

Derby specialized in these potpourri frill vases, but complete garnitures, or sets, are rare today. This set is on view in Portals to the Past: British Ceramics, 1675–1825 at Mint Museum Randolph.

Derby porcelain factory (Derbyshire, England, circa 1750–1848). Garniture of Potpourri Vases, circa 1760–65, soft-paste porcelain (enamel decoration, gilding). Gift of the Delhom Service League. 2005.100.1-3

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Mint Museum Uptown

at Levine Center for the Arts 500 South Tryon Street Charlotte, NC 28202

Mint Museum Randolph 2730 Randolph Road Charlotte, NC 28207 mintmuseum.org 704.337.2000

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist

John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist ON VIEW SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 | MINT MUSEUM UPTOWN ON VIEW SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 | MINT MUSEUM UPTOWN

See 70 of John Leslie Breck’s finest paintings with scenes from Giverny, Venice, and America.

See 70 of John Leslie Breck’s finest paintings with scenes from Giverny, Venice, and America.

John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Suzanne Hoschedé-Monet Sewing, 1888, oil on canvas. Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary and courtesy Heather James Fine Art. 2016.25 mintmuseum.org John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–99). Suzanne Hoschedé-Monet Sewing, 1888, oil on canvas. Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary and courtesy of Heather James Fine Art. 2016.25