Inspired – Winter/Spring 2023

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds

Explore landscapes through the brushstrokes of Pablo Picasso in this first-of-its-kind museum exhibition

Make your big day a work of art.

Host your upcoming social event at either of The Mint Museum locations. Whether it’s your wedding, rehearsal, anniversary, or a cocktail party to celebrate your birthday; our venues guarantee an experience in a setting your guests will never forget.

PHOTO OF @SLOOTATTOOS AND @LADYSHARKTATTOOS. PHOTOGRAPHY BY: KARA PERRY (@KARA.PERRY.PHOTOGRAPHY). SHOT ON 35MM FILM CAMERA.

FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO

The year ahead is bright at The Mint Museum. Thanks to the hard work of the museum staff, continued generosity of our donors and members, and thoughtful engagement with the community, 2023 is anticipated to be a year of powerful art and opportunities for transformation at The Mint Museum.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds opens February 11, 2023. Let me first extend a huge thank you to the Mint staff that has worked tirelessly to bring this exhibition, curated by the American Federation of the Arts, to life at The Mint Museum. This is the first museum exhibition in Charlotte dedicated to works by Pablo Picasso. An exhibition of this magnitude requires extensive planning and preparation, exceptional care, attention to detail, and the most important, commitment of generous sponsors. As the opening venue for the national tour, and the only museum on the East Coast to host the traveling exhibition, we are ready!

The exhibition is guaranteed to be enlightening, not only in its presentation of mostly unseen landscape paintings by Picasso, but in the programming created around the exhibition. Through collaboration with other arts institutions and local artists, we are continuing conversations outside the museum walls. Look for events planned with other arts and culture organizations, including JazzArts Charlotte, Theatre Charlotte, Opera Carolina, the Charlotte Symphony, and 10 local artists, throughout the exhibition run. We also are glad to welcome school students for free tours, and art teachers and students in grades K-12 can visit the exhibition free of charge.

Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations is an exciting additional narrative to Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds Romare Bearden is the artistic “native son” of the Charlotte region, having been born just two blocks from The Mint Museum. Though he left Charlotte when he was young, the city and the surrounding community remained a fixture in his travels and his art, music, and writing. This special exhibition, curated by the Mint’s Senior Curator of American Art Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, explores the journeys of the two artists with works by both placed in juxtaposition and comparison.

Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW, which opened to grand fanfare in December 2022, celebrates 50 years of the Mint’s fashion collection and the museum’s dedication to the art of fashion and design. The stunning exhibition is drawn from our own renowned collection of historic and contemporary fashion, spanning four centuries, and is on view through July 2 at Mint Museum Uptown.

And if you have not already, be sure to see the two Mark Rothko paintings on view in the contemporary galleries at Mint Museum Uptown, as well as two recently added Salvador Dali watercolors, and the architectural installation of sand paintings created by NY-based artist Cynthia Talmadge.

In the following pages, please enjoy reading about the myriad of arts and cultural programs and projects the staff has in development for the months ahead. As always, I thank you, our members and supporters, for allowing us this creative space to help engage our community and inspire our visitors.

Sincerely,

Todd A. Herman, PhD, president and CEO

Table of Contents

5 | SHOPPING REIMAGINED

Extraordinary items reflective of the exhibition Fashion Reimagined at The Mint Museum Store.

10 | ON THE DAILY

Follow along 24 hours in the life of Charlotte artist Mike Wirth.

12 | UPCOMING EVENTS

Mark your calendar for not-to-miss Mint events.

14 | NOTEWORTHY

Notable mentions, awards, and recognition of Mint people, projects, and programs.

15 | 18 REASONS TO LOVE THE MINT RIGHT NOW

From dynamic programming to artist conversations and exhibitions, there’s a lot to love about the Mint.

48 | AFFILIATES IN ACTION

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

50 | EVENTS AT THE MINT

Snapshots from recent events, exhibition openings, and more.

54 | CROWN SOCIETY PATRONS

57 | CURATOR’S PICK

OUR TEAM

EDITOR

Michele Huggins

CREATIVE DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN

Stephanie Lepore

Shelby McVicker

CONTRIBUTORS

Jamila Brown

Romario Brown

Annie Carlano

Hillary Cooper

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD

Lauren Hartnagel

Rubie R. Britt-Height

Molly Humphries

Page Leggett

Margaret Mauldin

Jessica Gaynelle Moss

Clayton Sealey

Ellen Show

Joel Smeltzer

Shenilla Smith

Hannah Snyder

Leslie Strauss

Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD

Jennifer Winford

Meghann Zekan

ON THE COVER

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). The Village of Vauvenargues (detail), April 29-30, 1959, oil on canvas. Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, Madrid. Image © FABA, Photo: Hugard & Vanoverschelde Photography. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Connect with the Mint @themintmuseum

RIGHT: Rosalia Torres-Weiner (Mexican, active in United States). Untitled (detail), 2022, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

Features

26 | GUIDING WINDS

Rosalia Torres-Weiner’s installation continues the conversation of heritage and community,

27 | PICASSO LANDSCAPES: OUT OF BOUNDS

An inside look at the blockbuster exhibition that explores Pablo Picasso’s deep engagement with landscape paintings.

31 | PLAYING PABLO

Local artists create murals in response to works in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds

33 | BEARDEN/PICASSO: RHYTHMS AND REVERBERATIONS

Explore the connections of two renowned artists in one exhibition.

36 | FRANKLIN FIFTH HELENA

A new architectural installation creates a fantastical imaging of a real-life dwelling of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.

38 | BEHIND THE ‘SEAMS’ OF FASHION REIMAGINED

A conversation with expert fashion conservator Tae Smith about her work and career.

41 | WELCOME TO THE VAULT

A look at the summer 2023 exhibition spotlighting the philosophies of four prominent Charlotte-based collectors.

44 | A CHAT WITH ELDER LUMBEE EDUCATOR BARBARA LOCKLEAR

Recognizing and preserving Native American culture through symbols and art found in the Mint’s collection.

46 | DOCENT SPOTLIGHT

Sidonie Webber shares about her 15-year journey as a Mint docent.

47 | MINT 2 MOVE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS

A look back at 10 years — and 10 million steps — of Mint 2 Move Cultural Dance Night.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection is generously presented in Charlotte by PNC Bank. Additional generous support is provided by The Dowd Foundation and Windgate Foundation. The national tour of American Made is made possible by Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Schoelkopf Gallery, and Sotheby’s.

Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things is generously presented by Müller Corporation and the Craft & Trade Academy. Generous individual support provided by Beth and Drew Quartapella, Mary Anne (M.A.) Rogers, Ann and Michael Tarwater, and Rocky and Curtis Trenkelbach. Craft in the Laboratory is also supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to STARworks Ceramics for hand crafting materials to help enhance this Mint Museum-organized exhibition.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations is generously presented in Charlotte by Bank of America, the City of Charlotte, Duke Energy, Mecklenburg County, M.A. Rogers, Ann and Michael Tarwater, North Carolina Arts Council, and Moore & Van Allen. Additional generous support is provided by: Leigh-Ann and Martin Sprock; Robin and Bill Branstrom, Sally Cooper, Laura and Mike Grace, Marshelette and Milton Prime; Posey and Mark Mealy; Chandra and Jimmie Johnson; Marty and Weston Andress, Mary and Walt Beaver, Betsy and Alfred Brand; toni and Alfred Kendrick, Beth and Drew Quartapella, Rocky and Curtis Trenkelbach, Charlotte and John Wickham; Mary Lou and Jim Babb, and Jo Ann and Joddy Peer. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds is organized by the American Federation of Arts with guest curator Laurence Madeline, with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris. The exhibition is generously supported by Monique Schoen Warshaw. Additional support has been provided by Lee White Galvis, Clare E. McKeon, and Stephanie R. La Nasa. Support for the accompanying publication provided by Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund. Picasso Celebration 1973-2023: 50 exhibitions and events to celebrate Picasso. Bearden/ Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations is organized by The Mint Museum.

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

The Mint Museum’s FREE Party in the Park is generously presented by Principal Foundation.

The STAR (Student Artist) gallery at Mint Museum Uptown is generously sponsored by Duke Energy–Piedmont Natural Gas.

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

Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes, organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, has been supported by the S. Rex and Joan Lewis Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Learning & Engagement and Community Outreach programming for this exhibition is generously supported by Windgate Foundation.

Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760s-NOW is generously presented by Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management and the Mint Museum Auxiliary. Additional generous support is provided by Bank OZK.

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

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

$600,000-$1 million

Albemarle Foundation

Atrium Health

Barings

Duke Energy

Honeywell

JELD-WEN, Inc.

LendingTree Foundation

Lowe’s Companies, Inc.

Novant Health

Red Ventures

Truist

$300,000-$600,000

Ally Financial

Wednesday Night Live is presented by Bank of America.

Free Wednesday Evenings are generously sponsored by Publix Super Market Charities and the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

The Grier Heights Program is financially supported by the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

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

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

Up to $300,000

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

Shopping Reimagined

Not everything is what it seems including these items that reimagine everything from artwork to materials and are reflective of themes in the exhibition Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW on view at Mint Museum Uptown. Find these items and more at The Mint Museum Store or online at store.mintmuseum.org

Pattern

prestige

1. Teal and Orange Gingko Leaf Scarf $68 2. African Print Cat Doll $40 3. Grey and White Zip Pouch with Tassel 4. Recycled Tagua Nut Earrings $40 5. Love Pattern & Colour: The Essential Guide $35

Minimalism

matrix

1. Museum Nerd Snapback $42

2. Neoprene Bag $90 3. Newgate Watch 4. Pantone Fashion Sketchbook $19.95 5. This is Me, Period. $15.99 6. Christina Brampti Large Aluminum Earrings $74

7. Skittle Lamp $68 8. Acquedotto Single Pink Vase $42

Material

1. Cocktails with a Curator $39.95

2. WIRED Stainless Steel, Leather, and Recycled Materials Handbag $380

3. Pomegranate Moon Hand Felted Scarf Red Flower $62 4. Baskets of Cambodia Bags 5. Multi Layer Red Bead Coin Necklace $210 6. Cinco Centavos Coin Bracelet $90 7. “Wings of Pen” Wooden Carved Bird Pen on Stand $120

Mike Wirth, associate professor of graphic design at Queens University of Charlotte, is probably best known locally for his murals. He is a founding member of the Talking Walls Festival, Charlotte’s first annual, citywide mural and public art festival.

He’s known way beyond the city limits, too. His art has been exhibited in New York, Miami, Croatia, Poland and Germany.

Social justice is a frequent Wirth theme, as is his identity as a Southern, Jewish American.

He participated — virtually — in Contemporary Art Week in Paris during the last week in October 2022 where he exhibited with a group called Jada Art ( jadaart.org), or Jewish Dada. “They’re creating platforms and international art spaces for Jewish artists, which is amazing,” Wirth said. “I was part of their digital exhibition. It was great to be selected from among international applicants.”

24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF MIKE WIRTH

BY PAGE LEGGETT

He is one of 15 local artists participating in The Mint Museum’s Picasso mural project. It’s a local tie-in for the Mint’s blockbuster exhibition, Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, organized by the American Federation of Arts

Wirth’s mural is a landscape scene from Freedom Park. “I chose it because every Yom Kippur, hundreds from the Jewish community come out for a ritual called tashlich,” he says. “You toss bread into the water and speak your transgressions at the same time. That’s how you release sin.”

When Wirth is in a creative or emotional low, he’ll wander. “I just go for a walk with no agenda. I don’t have any destination in mind. I’ll just throw myself to chance. And I find that it’s a tremendous way to reset when the need arises.”

He’s a “girl dad” whose oldest daughter, a student at Northwest School of the Arts, is already a budding artist and wants to be an illustrator. His youngest also loves to draw. Artistic talent runs in this family. Wirth’s days revolve around his daughters, his students, and his art.

5 OR 5:30 AM I wake up on my own — no need for an alarm. That’s when my internal body clock dictates that I get up. I say my morning prayers, and have a bagel and coffee.

5:30–6 AM I spend a little time every morning reading on my couch or my porch. I love Jewish folklore and the daily lessons I can take from it. I’ll get some wisdom from

the Oracle, so to speak. All these stories are allegories, so they unpack a lot for me. If I can spend 30 minutes reading in the morning, it’s a miracle. But that’s what I aim for.

6 OR 6:30 AM I wake my daughters up — they’re 13 and 10 — and make them breakfast and get them ready for school. We have to be at the bus stop by 7 AM.

7:15 AM I drive to campus where I teach in the graphic design department — illustration, typography, ideation, animation, and web design. I’ve taught at Queens University for 14 years. When I’m not teaching, I have office hours. The seniors working on their capstone projects often need to consult with me then.

During the day, I try to carve out a little time for my scholarship. As a professor, I have an obligation to stay current in my field and to accrue a certain amount of scholastic achievements. I’m either applying for shows or hunting for the next opportunities and conferences.

4:30 PM I meet the kids at the school bus, get them home and settled with a snack and help them get started on their homework.

5:30ish PM Dinnertime. I’m a one-pot-meal type of cook. My kids know my famous chickens, vegetables and rice dish — one of my go-to’s. Once the kids are fed, clean and educated, we all have our free time.

AFTER DINNER I head to my studio, which is in our garage. Art projects have a way of expanding, and I can’t currently get my car in the garage. When the weather’s colder, I have to scale back the amount of space I have dedicated to art so I can use my garage for its intended purpose.

I turn on some music; get a cold beverage. My cat, Garfield, will come hang out with me. I digitally paint, illustrate, and animate and make my interactive projects. I’ve been concocting a giant interactive installation that explores the “big bang” moment in the Jewish creation story as described in the Zohar — The Book of Radiance. The story describes the moment HaShem (God) poured their essence into a series of glass spheres that then shattered due to being overwhelmed with power. The broken shards of glass then spread across the universe.

My vision is that viewers will enter a room filled with panoramic wall and floor video projections of shards of broken glass that, over many minutes, will spread outward from a center point in the room and then rewind back into a singular sphere. Viewers can interact with the shards while exploring the space.

I don’t have a home yet for that interactive installation. It requires funding because it needs projection, sensors and a larger space.

I also get commissions from individuals or institutions. I’ve been creating a lot of custom hamsas. Those are hand forms that originated in the ancient Middle East.

Once the client has commissioned me, we’ll talk through their wants and needs, the purpose of it — is it purely for aesthetics, or is there a spiritual purpose to it? Then, I’ll send them a mockup and we’ll proceed after they give me the OK. I design each one digitally and then paint the final version with acrylic, spray paint or paint markers.

My girls and I aren’t big TV watchers, and we definitely try to avoid it on the Sabbath, but we will occasionally watch a show together. We also like playing image-based board games.

Usually, free time lasts until it’s bedtime for everybody.

8:30 PM Bedtime for all of us. I’m not very exciting.

Page Leggett is a Charlotte-based freelance writer. Her stories have appeared in The Charlotte Observer, The Biscuit, Charlotte magazine and many other regional publications.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MIKE WIRTH — AND SEE EXAMPLES OF HIS WORK — AT MIKEWIRTHART.COM.

LEFT: Mike Wirth. North Wall of Dilworth Artisan Station. Aerosol on exterior wall. 5,000 square feet. Completed June of 2021. Assistants: Arko & Drew Newpher. ABOVE (from left): Mike Wirth. Yetzirah (Formation). 6 feet by 4 feet. Digital print on fabric. Jewish Futurism Series. Completed 2022; Mike Wirth. When some doors close, others open. 6 feet by 4 feet. Digital print on fabric. Jewish Futurism Series. Completed 2022; Mike Wirth. Tzadik (The highest soul ). 6 feet by 4 feet. Digital print on fabric. Jewish Futurism Series. Completed 2022

UPCOMING EVENTS

FEBRUARY

1 WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Night Live: Fashion Night at the Mint

Presented by Bank of America

Mint Museum Uptown

5–9 PM | Free, cash bar

Join for a night of fashion and design that celebrates the exhibition Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW.

6 PM: Join Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano for a tour of 18th-century fashion in the Fashion Reimagined exhibition. Limited capacity. Registration required. Level 3, Gorelick Gallery.

6:30 PM: Fashion House Ball + Vogue

Performance. Five houses from the regional and local ballroom scene will perform and give a breakdown on the five categories of vogue: catwalk, hands, spins and dips, duckwalk, and floor performance. The performances will serve looks inspired by designs currently on display in Fashion Reimagined. Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium.

6–9 PM: Graphic GarMINT opening reception. Graphic GarMINT installation honors and highlights the creativity and work of locally based Black designers. MacFly Fresh Printing Co. will be screenprinting live on site, plus live DJ and cash bar. Level 5, Mint5pace

1–4 WEDNESDAY–SATURDAY

Free Art Kits: Colorful Cubes

Mint Museum Randolph Terrace Museum hours | Free

Pick up a free art kit to explore color mixing with color pencils and learn to draw a cube, inspired by artist Sam Gilliam’s The Illustrious Kites Made in Boxing Styles

Free Art Kits are supported by the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

10 FRIDAY

Members Only Picasso Preview

Mint Museum Uptown

11 AM–9 PM | Free, members-only event

Be one of the first to experience this world-class exhibition.

11 SATURDAY

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations Opening Celebration

Mint Museum Uptown

10 AM–6 PM, 9-10 AM, members only | $25 for adults; free for students in grades K-12 Celebrate the opening for these two landmark exhibitions with live music, as cash bar and curator presentation. Tickets are available at mintmuseum.org

2 PM: Laurence Madeline, chief curator for French National Heritage and former curator at the Musée Picasso Paris, leads a talk about the works in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds.

17 FRIDAY

Mint 2 Move Cultural Dance Night: Heart, Soul, and Cubism

Mint Museum Uptown

7:30–11:30 PM | $10.50 for members, $14 for general admission with $1 off before 9 PM

Enjoy sizzling salsa, cha cha, bachata, line dancing, live musicians, and DJ Carlos Lebron, plus free dance lessons. In celebration of Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, enjoy tango and a cubism art activity, along with live painting.

22 WEDNESDAY

Mindful Looking: Picasso Landscapes

Mint Museum Uptown

7–7:45 PM | Free with museum admission, registration required Join Mint educators for a 45-minute mindfulness session and discussion about works in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds. Registration required.

25 SATURDAY

Bilingual Stories and Music

Mint Museum Uptown

11–11:40 AM | Free

Children ages 6 and younger and their families are invited to join for music and stories that celebrate culture and diversity.

26 SUNDAY

Family Art Pop Up: Bearden Guitar Collage

Mint Museum Uptown

2–5 PM | Free with museum admission

All ages are invited to join a museum educator to make a collage inspired by the art in the exhibition Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations

MARCH

1 WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Night Live: Queen City New Play Initiative Bake-Off

Presented by Bank of America

Mint Museum Uptown

5–9 PM, 6:30 PM program | Free, cash bar

Three playwrights and four actors present one-act plays in response to works in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds

Curator Tour: 19th-Century Fashion

Mint Museum Uptown

6–7 PM | Free

Join Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano for a tour of 19thcentury fashion in the Fashion Reimagined exhibition. Limited capacity. Registration required. Level 3, Gorelick Gallery.

1–4 WEDNESDAY–SATURDAY

Free Art Kits: Cubist Collage

Mint Museum Randolph Terrace Museum hours | Free

Create your own mixed-media nature collage inspired by the art of Romare Bearden. Free Art Kits are supported by the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

3 FRIDAY

Creator/Destroyer: Why Picasso Matters

Mint Museum Uptown

6:30–7:30 PM | Free, members-only event

William H. Robinson, PhD, Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. Senior Curator of Modern European Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, will discuss the importance of works in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds Registration required.

8 WEDNESDAY

Mint Musica and Poesia Café: Café

Amaretto and the NC Brazilian Project Mint Museum Uptown

6:30–8:30 PM | Free

Enjoy listening to Latin guitar sounds, melodious vocals, and spoken poetic voices, and see Brazilian-themed dances and costumes.

12 SUNDAY

Family Art Pop Up: Cubist Collagraph

Mint Museum Uptown

2–5 PM | Free with museum admission

All ages are invited to join a museum educator to make prints inspired by the art in the exhibition Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations

18 SATURDAY

An Afternoon Salon: Romare Bearden and Modernism

Mint Museum Uptown

2–4 PM | Free with museum admission and ticket to Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds ; $5 with museum admission only

Learn about the life and works of Romare Bearden in a discussion with Richard Powell, PhD, Duke University professor and Romare Bearden Foundation advisor; and Denise Murrell, PhD, curator-at-large at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; moderated by Diedra Harris-Kelley, co-director of the Romare Bearden Foundation.

22 WEDNESDAY

Mindful Looking: Sketching in Picasso

Landscapes: Out of Bounds

Mint Museum Uptown

7–7:45 PM | Free with museum admission, registration required

Join Mint educators for a 45-minute mindfulness session and sketching of works in the exhibition. Registration required.

24 FRIDAY

Opening Celebration for Playing Pablo

Mural Collaboration

Mint Museum Uptown

6–9 PM | Free

Celebrate the work of local artists who created murals throughout Charlotte and at both museum locations in response to Guernica or one of Picasso’s landscape paintings.

26 SUNDAY

Party in the Park

Presented by Principal Foundation

Mint Museum Randolph

1–5 PM | Free

Join us for an artist talk with Rosalia Torres-Weiner and a performance of her play The Magic Kite, plus free admission to the museum, food trucks, family friendly art activities, live music, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting).

APRIL

1–4 WEDNESDAY–SATURDAY

Free Art Kits: Paper Pollinator

Mint Museum Randolph Terrace Museum hours | Free

Construct a colorful floating insect inspired by the psychedelic patterns on view in Fashion Reimagined. Free Art Kits are supported by the Mint Museum Auxiliary.

2 SUNDAY

Family Art Pop Up: Perler Bead

Accessories

Mint Museum Uptown | Lewis Family Gallery

2–5 PM | Free with museum admission

All ages are invited to stop by to arrange and fuse heat-activated beads into a fashionable accessory inspired by Fashion Reimagined

5 WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Night Live: Theater Charlotte

Preview of Picasso at Lapin Agile

Presented by Bank of America

Mint Museum Uptown

5–9 PM; 6 PM performance | Free, cash bar

Theatre Charlotte presents a preview of its adaptation of Steve Martin’s long-running off-Broadway absurdist comedy.

8 SATURDAY

Community Celebration of Picasso

Landscapes: Out of Bounds

Mint Museum Uptown

10 AM–6 PM | Free

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s death, enjoy a community celebration and free admission to the museum and ticketed exhibition Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds

14 FRIDAY

Mint 2 Move Cultural Dance Night

Mint Museum Uptown

7:30–11:30 PM | $10.50 for members, $14 for general admission with $1 off before 9 PM

Enjoy sizzling salsa, cha cha, bachata, line dancing, live musicians, plus free dance lessons and live music.

23 SUNDAY Party in the Park

Presented by Principal Foundation

Mint Museum Randolph

1–5 PM | Free

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, family friendly art activities, live music, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting).

ONGOING

NEW! Every Wednesday Drop-in

Art at Mint Museum Randolph

Mint Museum Randolph

4–8 PM, Wednesdays through April 26 Free

26 WEDNESDAY

Mindful Looking: Bearden/Picasso

Mint Museum Uptown

7–7:45 PM | Free with museum admission, registration required

Join Mint educators for a 45-minute mindfulness session and discussion about works in Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations. Registration required.

29 SATURDAY

Coveted Couture Gala

Mint Museum Uptown

6–11:30 PM | Tickets available online

Celebrate the 10th annual Coveted Couture Gala for the first time ever at Mint Museum Uptown to celebrate the momentous exhibitions Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations. For ticket information, email lauren.hartnagel@mintmuseum.org.

MAY

19–21 FRIDAY–SUNDAY

Closing Celebration for Picasso

Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/ Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations

Mint Museum Uptown

Special exhibition hours

Enjoy a community celebration for the closing of these two monumental exhibitions.

All events are subject to change. For our full calendar and most up-to-date information, visit mintmuseum.org/events or call 704.337.2000.

Explore drawing, clay, collage, and fiber arts activities in this self-directed open studio time. A museum educator will be on hand to introduce the artmaking stations and provide helpful tips. mintmuseum.org

NOTEWORTHY

AWARDS, ACCOLADES, AND NOTABLE MENTIONS

The Mint’s Marketing and Communications team was awarded three awards in the 2022 Southeastern Museums Conference Publication Design Competition: The John Leslie Breck exhibition rack card and Coveted Couture gala invitation, designed by Senior Graphic Designer Stephanie Lepore, each won a gold medal. The museum magazine Inspired, (yes the one in your hands) won a silver medal in the Magazines and Newsletters category. The SEMC Publication Design Competition showcases the best in our profession and provides benchmarks for regional publication efforts in Southeastern museums.

My recent accomplishment: I got to refresh my sewing skills under the guidance of conservator Tae Smith while working on the installation of Fashion Reimagined.

— Sara Renaud, visual resources coordinator

President George W. Bush paid a visit to The Mint Museum during the President’s Cup Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club. Senior Curator of American Art Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, gave the president a tour of American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection.

The Mint’s very own Community Programs Coordinator Kurma Murrain (left) was selected to be in the “I am Queen Charlotte” project and performance. Stories of Black women who have impacted the community were told on the stage of the Knight Theater in October 2022. “To hear my story and perform my Colombian cumbia was otherworldly. And the love and energy of the space fed each one of us,” Murrain says.

Mint Museum Uptown was awarded a 2022 Best in the Nest Award by City Life Readers in QC Nerve for Best Building in the Charlotte Skyline. We tend to agree that the Machatti Silvetti architectural design stands tall amongst all the sleek new skyscrapers.

18 REASONS TO LOVE THE MINT RIGHT NOW

MEMORABLE CONNECTIONS ARE MADE THROUGH

OUR COLLECTION

Rhonda Hornbacher was separated from her father Roger Hicks at an early age. After their separation, she learned that he was a great potter who had worked throughout the world. While researching her father’s life, she discovered that the Mint acquired one of his face jugs in 2006 by way of donation from Jim and Judy Boyd. Hornbacher, who is visually impaired, reached out to the Mint to ask if we could help her experience her father’s work — and of course we said YES! Through touch and verbal descriptions, Hornbacher, who shared fond memories of her father, was able to experience her father’s face jug at The Mint Museum.

Arionna Johnson, digital strategist

THE POTTERS MARKET AT THE MINT CONTINUES ITS

CERAMIC LEGACY

On Saturday, September 24, The Mint Museum held the 16th installment of Potters Market at the Mint. The annual tradition was founded in 2005 by the Delhom Service League, the former ceramics affiliate of The Mint Museum, to provide a platform for top potters throughout the state to showcase their wares and build their businesses. While this event has evolved over the years to become what it is today, Potters Market has stayed true to its original mission and has become a destination for ceramic collectors from across the region. More than 1,200 attended in 2022, enjoying wonderful weather, free museum admission, live music, a cash bar and cafe, and an entire day of shopping and supporting over 50 of North Carolinas most renowned and influential potters. Mark your calendars for the 2023 Potters Market at the Mint on Saturday, September 23, 2023! —Lauren Hartnagel, advancement event manager

RIGHT: Rhonda Hornbacher experiencing her father Roger Hicks’ pottery that is part of the Mint’s collection.

OPPORTUNITIES TO TAKE CREATIVE RISKS IS EMPOWERING AND SOOTHING

Last fall visitors to both museum locations found opportunities to relax, explore, and engage with their families and friends through an assortment of art experiences offered by the Family and Studio Programs team. At Drop-in Art at Mint Museum Randolph, children discovered an art room that was specifically designed to facilitate self-directed artmaking. Feeling empowered to move between stations at their own pace, kids were comfortable taking creative risks, and delighted in the idea that they oversaw their experience.

At Mint Museum Uptown, families, couples, and groups of friends toured the museum and then landed in the Lewis Family Gallery for Art Pop-ups, chatting, and catching up

as they drew, painted, and crafted. And thousands of Free Art Kits made their way to schools, partner organizations, and homes this fall, providing opportunities for artists of all ages to get creative “on the go.”

Beginning mid-January, the art room at Mint Museum Randolph will be open each Wednesday from 4–8 PM for Drop-in Art, and Free Art Kits return in early February. At Mint Museum Uptown, the Lewis Family Gallery is open each Wednesday evening and weekends, with thematic Art Pop-ups once a month on select Sundays. —Leslie Strauss, head of family and studio programs

WE BELIEVE IN NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS

From February to April, The Mint Museum will once again host the juried exhibition Mid-Carolina Region of the Scholastic Art Awards. This year marks 100 years since the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards launched. With an impressive legacy dating back to 1923, it is the longest-running, most prestigious program for creative teens in the United States, and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for young artists and writers. A roster of past winners includes Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Stephen King, and John Updike. This year’s artists include works by students in grades 7-12 from central North Carolina and South Carolina with more than 25 counties represented, including Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, and York. The UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture, an affiliate partner for the Scholastic Art Awards, coordinates this special exhibition. See it in our Mint5pace at Mint Museum Uptown. —Joel Smeltzer, head of school and gallery programs

DIGITAL EXPERIENCES ARE SHARABLE EXPERIENCES

Through the Association of American Museum Curators Digital Leadership Program, sponsored by the Knight Foundation, two curators from 14 institutions in Knight cities, including Minneapolis, Miami, Akron, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, have participated in a program that considers how digital innovations are affecting the museum field and offering new opportunities to engage audiences and present objects.

In addition to the lectures, workshops, and conversations, each institution is creating an experiment to exercise new digital muscles. The Mint’s pilot project is called #MyMintMoment, and is an opportunity for Mint visitors and members to share their own words about art on view.

From January through June 2, 2023, we invite visitors to post a picture on social media of a work on view at the Mint and add their thoughts about the piece with the hashtag #MyMintMoment. At the end of the five months, 10 posts will be selected to add to the object’s wall labels. The goal of the project is to extend dialogue between Mint staff and visitors, as well as diversify the voices and perspectives of the museum’s gallery text.

Please participate! Not only could you have your voice in the galleries, but those selected will also get a year-long membership as thanks. —Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, chief curator and curator of contemporary arts

WE STREAMLINED ONLINE

In February, we will introduce a vibrant new website that will serve up thought-provoking, informative, and enticing content. Visitors to the website can expect a highly reactive website, with bright colors, large pictures, animation, and an intuitive navigation plan when looking for specific information. Accessibility is a key feature to the new site and the website will make it so visitors with visual, hearing, and other impairments can still access information with ease.

A revamped event calendar will allow visitors to filter potential events by location, type of experience, age group, virtual or in-person. The new main website will also been accompanied by an enhanced and expanded Mint collection website.

In addition, visitors and members can expect a more pleasant experience when purchasing general and special events tickets online. — Clayton Sealey, senior director of marketing and communications

RIGHT: A sneak peek at the new website set to launch in February 2023.

ART AND A GOOD BLOCK PARTY GO HAND-IN-HAND

We kicked off an incredible new season of Wednesday Night Live in September with a block party that spanned Levine Avenue for the Arts during the Charlotte International Arts Festival. The night included musical performances by The Barefoot Movement, HipShack, and Coddle Creek. Dances of India was also invited to showcase various ages and styles of dance along with a spirited crowd participatory dance as the finale. Local artist, Ricky Singh, also hosted a live-painting demonstration on the Gantt Center plaza and invited onlookers to try painting with spray paint.

The Mint hosted two musical performances in front of the Tom Joyce sculpture on the museum’s terrace. Fastest Steed, a jazz drumming duo with an electric guitarist, sounded their call over the plaza for one performance; and Jessica Macks sang ‘80s hits, including Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September.” The block party consisted of families and friends gathering around to enjoy the festivities,

couples enjoying beverages from the biergarten, employees stopping in their tracks during their commute home to sway along to a tune. This bridging of worlds through interactive and expressive art and performance is what will guarantee a fruitful new season of Wednesday Night Live and invite more of the Charlotte community to connect deeper with its arts and cultural institutions.

Wednesday Night Live, presented by Bank of America, provides rotating free programming each Wednesday at the Levine Center for the Arts institutions — Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, The Mint Museum, and Blumenthal’s Knight Theater. This year, the group also welcomes Levine Museum of the New South, which recently opened its doors in a new location nearby within Uptown’s thriving Cultural District on South Tryon Street.

—Jamila Brown, curatorial assistant

A NEW TOP-NOTCH TICKETING SYSTEM MAKES THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE EVEN BETTER

With exciting new exhibitions on the horizon, the Mint launched a new ticketing platform that streamlines the admission purchasing process and check-in experience at each location. The online ticketing interface is not only more visually appealing but improves transaction efficiency for guests and members. Going forward there will be no need to print a ticket when purchasing online. A link is sent directly to your phone or email. Guests that are eager to see upcoming special exhibitions can also purchase tickets months in advance, and members can log in with minimal effort to their accounts to receive discounts and renew their memberships. —

Romario Brown, visitor experience manager; and Shenilla Smith, membership manager

DATE NIGHT JUST GOT BETTER AT THE MINT

Mariposa restaurant, centrally located on Mint Museum Uptown’s “front porch,” has been a favorite in Charlotte for world-to-table dining since the day it opened. To make a Friday night at Mint Museum Uptown even more enticing, we created Culture + Culinary Date Night by pairing discounted museum admission during extended hours (5–9 PM every Friday), with a reservation to Mariposa. A Culture + Culinary Date Night ticket can be purchased on the Mariposa website. And Mint members always receive a 10% discount at Mariposa. Show your membership card for a discount and look for more collaborations with nearby restaurants to come! —CS

WE ARE ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET AT THIS YEAR’S COVETED COUTURE GALA

For the first time ever, the Mint’s annual spring fundraising gala will be held at Mint Museum Uptown to celebrate the momentous exhibitions Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations

The spring tradition is a black-tie dinner dance for 400 of Charlotte’s most prominent civic leaders, chic supporters, and museum patrons.

Coveted Couture raises critical funds for The Mint Museum. Picasso works of art and fabulous fashion will be at the forefront of the night and will play out in emotional, innovative, and unexpected ways. The special evening is presented by Bank of America, a loyal and generous corporate supporter of the museum. Bank of America is also one of the major sponsors of Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds and Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations. The amazing Marshelette and Milton Prime are serving as this year’s gala chairs. Milton is The Mint Museum Board of Trustees Chair and former Chair of the Finance Committee. They also are loyal Crown Society members.

We look forward to seeing you at Coveted Couture April 29, the most fashionforward, fun, and elegant event of the year! For more information, please contact Lauren Hartnagel at 704.337.2112.

—Hillary Cooper, chief advancement officer

ABOVE: Guests enjoy an evening of dancing and socializing at the 2022 Coveted Couture gala. LEFT: 2023 gala hosts Milton and Marshelette Prime at the 2022 Coveted Couture gala.

OUR MINT5PACE IS AN INCUBATOR FOR CREATIVE COLLABORATORS

As a cultural hub, the Mint is working toward utilizing all available resources with intention as we open 10,000 square feet (about twice the area of a basketball court) of venue space to local and regional artists and creatives. Located on Level 5 of Mint Museum Uptown, Mint5pace (M5), is awaiting activation of exhibitions and installations by emergent artists and curators. This initiative is integral in making the museum a space that can fulfill a need for heightened visibility of a wider range of artistry, a terrain for creative communal exchange, and an incubator for fresh ideas and innovative work.

Kicking off Summer 2022’s back-to-back installations, DUPP&SWAT and CrownKeepers own Davita and Dion Galloway transformed M5 with immersive decade-specific installations honoring and highlighting Black culture and creativity in FRESH2DEATH. Artist, curator and cultural leader, Carla Aaron-Lopez, presented LOCAL/STREET II exhibiting new works from over 60 local artists, a second iteration of her first successful installment which took place at Mint Museum Randolph in 2021. Yasuke: “The Hidden Ronin ,” curated by Justin Hicks, highlighted Gordon Holliday’s pioneering designs — 10 intricately upcycled kimonos — alongside 14 artists responding to the tale of the first Black Samurai warrior.

The Mint5pace doors are open wide, welcoming innovative ideas and installations to energize the environment. Collaborators will be supported by a Mint staff liaison and physical support for the installation and deinstallation. For more information on submitting a proposal, please visit mintmuseum.org/mint5pace. —

THE DEIA COMMITTEE IS SET AND READY TO ROLL

Ensuring that museum programming is accessible and representative of the entire community is a top priority. To tackle this goal, the Mint appointed 15 staff members representing each department to serve on the museum’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee. Thanks to last year’s Coveted Couture gala paddle raise, the committee received a starting budget of $60,000 to put initiatives in place to ensure we are reaching an audience that properly represents the demographics of the Charlotte community. The committee is actively working on a strategy to give recognition to Native Americans who originally were stewards of the land where both museums are set, and the enslaved people who we believe may have built the Mint at its original uptown location in 1836. —CS

DEIA COMMITTEE MEMBERS (BY DEPARTMENT):

ADVANCEMENT: ROMARIO BROWN, ALEX GUTIERREZ, SHENILLA SMITH, AND AMY TRIBBLE

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS: ARIONNA JOHNSON, SHELBY MCVICKER, AND CLAYTON SEALEY

LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT: RUBIE BRITT-HEIGHT, CYNTHIA MORENO, KURMA MURRAIN, ZOE WHITESIDE

HUMAN RESOURCES: EBONY HOUSE-BRADSHAW AND JUSTIN WILLIAMS

CURATORIAL: JAMILA BROWN AND REBECCA ELLIOT

FRESH2DEATH, organized by Davita and Dion Galloway, featured decade-specific installations highlighting Black culture .

CHARLOTTE’S CREATIVE TALENT IS WORTHY OF MUSEUM REPRESENTATION

Constellation CLT is an exhibition series, now in its fifth year, that connects the Mint’s visitors with creative talent located right here in the city of Charlotte. The most recent installation featured is Softened Scars by artist Quynh Vu. In the past couple of years, Vu has encountered a revelatory rift in her process, making a conceptual shift that affects the marrow of meaning in her work.

Earlier in her practice, Vu was deeply involved with the traumatic residuum caused by French imperialism on her native land and people of Vietnam. As a first-generation Vietnamese American, the scars inflicted upon her ancestors have altered her history and ideations of identity. In processing these inflictions, Vu created work that rebelliously reclaimed, as opposed to rejecting, the aesthetics and visual by-products of Western infringement. An example of this time in her practice, Commie Madonnie, a depiction of an unruly and admirably Communist Madonna will be on view at the escalator base in the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium.

Also on view, are her most recent oil paintings on mylar that sacralize mundane moments in the spaces she is surrounded by each day, and ink drawings of the lighthearted characters and images that take up real estate in her mind. With a deepened commitment to her artistic practice and new territory to roam, Vu imagines fresh subject matter as a salve, calling attention to the ephemeral present. —JB

OUR ‘SHAPE SHIFTERS’ ROOM HELPS BRING FASHION ALIVE

Following the likes of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the exhibition space for Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW was reimagined by renowned architecture firm DLR Group to create spaces that pay homage to the exhibition themes. Swooping arches and translucent tapestries elevate the fashions. The exhibition entry features a gown from each section of the exhibition and is reminiscent of a fashion runway and a stitch in fabric running across the floor. Then, there is the interactive component. Titled “Shape Shifters,” a dressing room with magnetic forms of three of the gowns printed on fabric cut into six shapes, allows visitors to envision themselves in garments worn in the 18th and 19th centuries. —

Meghann

Zekan, chief exhibition designer

Artist Quynh Vu’s oil painting on mylar Home is Where the Heart Is I will be on view as part of the upcoming Constellation CLT installation.

WE HAVE A TREASURE TROVE OF INFORMATION FOR ART ENTHUSIASTS AND LOCAL HISTORY BUFFS

Tucked away at Mint Museum Randolph is the Mint Museum Library where a growing collection of over 23,000 books, 230 magazines titles, 5,500 artist files, and more are housed. With books dating back to the 1600s and magazines that predate the mass circulation of periodicals in the 1900s, the collection is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to research art, craft, design, and even print culture.

In addition to the more historic resources, the library consistently acquires the newest resources available that reflect diverse pieces that the museum acquires, often with the help of the curators.

The library aims to be the primary reference source for the museum’s object collections, artists, and exhibitions. The general focus areas of the library, include decorative arts, contemporary craft and design, American art, modern and contemporary art, and fashion/historic costume. There is also a substantial number of resources on art of the Ancient Americas, Native American art, photography, and African art.

While the library’s main responsibility is to support museum staff and volunteers with their work, it also welcomes members of the public interested in personal research. The

library is open 11 AM–4 PM, Tuesday through Friday by appointment. Appointments can be made by emailing library@mintmuseum.org.

In addition to the library, the Mint Museum Archives was established in 2013 with a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. It preserves the collective memory of the museum, housing records created by the museum’s departments and affiliate organizations like the Docents and the Mint Museum Auxiliary. The archives hold oral history recordings of former staff, artists, and other people related to the museum like Herb Cohen. Additionally, it contains documentation of artists with a connection to the Mint in the Artist Archives collections.

In addition to paper documents, the archives have photographs, reel-to-reel film, and a variety of other objects. Information in the archives is available to staff and members of the community. Unlike the library, the archives collections are not browsable, but Ellen Show, director of library and archives, is available to answer questions via archive@mintmuseum.org or by calling 704.337.2092. Materials can also be used for research onsite by appointment 11 AM–4 PM, Tuesday–Friday. — Jennifer Winford, assistant librarian; and Ellen Show, director of library and archives

WE

ARE

EXPANDING YOUNG MINDS THROUGH STUDENT ART TOURS

Through a partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2,500 high school art students will experience Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds through free, docentled tours. The exhibition tour incorporates a sketching component and inquiry-based learning so that students can connect even further with the works of art. To prepare for these guided tours, Mint docents will engage with Laurence Madeline, former chief curator at the Musée Picasso in Paris, in addition to individual research and tour modeling done by the School and Gallery Programs team and the Docents Teaching Docents group. Through the partnership with CMS, the School and Gallery Programs team is creating and disbursing a teacher guide to help frame student visits. In addition, all K-12 students receive free admission to the ticketed exhibition with an additional 2,000 K-12 students anticipated to join in free tours. —Molly

Humphries, tour programs coordinator

WE FLOW WITH THE ART AT YOGA EVERY WEEK

“I started attending Yoga at the Mint, hosted by Dancing Lotus Yoga, my second or third week working for the museum. The infusion of relaxation and mindfulness into my week is always needed. Yoga at the Mint has brought me closer to colleagues who join me, the fabulous instructor Brie, and art in the Mint. Dancing Lotus provides headphones that feed the instructor’s voice and calming music into our ears while also blocking out the sound of museumgoers. There is something special about the days we get to practice movement and mindfulness in the [Morrison] Atrium. Communing with the works of Sheila Hicks, Sam Francis, and of course Summer Wheat, grows my personal relationship with the art and the institution as a whole.” Join Dancing Lotus Yoga 5:15 PM on Tuesdays at Mint Museum Uptown for a full hour of slowing down and being present. It’s free for members, though advance registration is required. More at mintmuseum.org/join. —

Margaret Mauldin,

assistant head of school and gallery programs

Above: Margaret Mauldin (left), assistant head of school and gallery programs, with Dancing Lotus Yoga instructor Brie.

OUR CONTEMPORARY COLLECTION CONTINUES TO GROW

The new weaving brotherhood is fragile by artist Diedrick Brackens, which he completed in spring 2022 just before the Mint opened its exhibition Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes at Mint Museum Randolph, is now part of the museum’s permanent collection. The large, poignant work continues many of the techniques and thematic explorations present throughout Brackens’ work. The weaving intertwines craft with references to African strip weaving, European tapestry, different fiber-dying techniques, and art history with allusions to Black American painters like Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, and Titus Kaphar. Then, there is the self-conscious reference to the making process revealed by the tied-off strings at the edges of the canvas and the seams connecting the panels, hinting at the size of the looms on which they were woven.

Brackens’ own body served as the model for the silhouettes that pull on the linked gold chain that connects them. As always with Brackens, the poetic title implies many themes:

the strained relationships within Black communities when support and connection are so essential, and the tension and balance Brackens must maintain as a gay man within that culture. The presence of a chain immediately brings to mind the history of enslavement, but it could also connote a tug-of-war within himself as his career has skyrocketed in recent years.

Thanks to supportive donors Lauren Harkey, Laura and Mike Grace, and Mary and Dick Payne, who contributed funds for the purchase in December 2022. The work is already being requested for exhibitions. It will be on view at the Kestner Gesellschaft Museum in Hanover, Germany in spring 2023 and will go on view at the Mint when it returns in the fall. —JSE

ABOVE : brotherhood if fragile by artist Diedrick Brackens is now part of the museum’s permanent collection.

GUIDING WINDS

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION OF HERITAGE, COMMUNITY AND CELEBRATIONS

BY JEN SUDUL EDWARDS, PHD

For the last three years, a local contemporary artist of Aztec or Mayan descent has installed works in conversation with the Mesoamerican collection at Mint Museum Randolph. The most recent chapter, which opened in October 2022, features Charlotte-based artist Rosalia Torres-Weiner.

Entitled Guiding Winds, Torres-Weiner’s installation includes new works that follow her investigation of her Mexican heritage — familial, spiritual, ancestral, artistic — through paintings alongside older works that celebrate the Latinx migratory community and celebrate stories from the children of those communities.

Self-taught, Torres-Weiner started as a mural artist and has since developed a studio practice that encompasses traditional painting, theater performance, arts education, and augmented reality. She balances technological innovation with the ancient symbols of her Latinx heritage, melding indigenous and European traditions. She has developed arts programs specifically to help young people process the trauma that develops from extended periods of anxiety — and for many, the loss of one or both parents because of deportation. TorresWeiner now calls herself an “ARTivist,” the better to encompass her role as artist, muralist, and social activist.

I wanted to bring arts to our community, especially now that people are afraid to go out to buy groceries and bread. My idea is to bring the arts to underserved neighborhoods and provide art workshops, especially for children. Art is powerful and not just to hang on the wall. It’s a weapon to express our stories. —Rosalia Torres-Weiner

In addition to her vibrant murals all over Charlotte, many are familiar with her performance The Magic Kite, which had a production at Children’s Theater of Charlotte and has since been made into an animated film and an interactive, one-person show performed by Torres-Weiner.

As engaging as her work on the walls, the Mint is excited to feature The Magic Kite at two events. Torres-Weiner will perform her one-person show following an artist talk at the official opening for Guiding Winds March 26 at the first Party in the Park of 2023 at Mint Museum Randolph.

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, is chief curator and curator of contemporary art.

PICASSO LANDSCAPES: OUT OF BOUNDS

THE FIRST EXHIBITION TO EXPLORE PABLO PICASSO’S DEEP ENGAGEMENT WITH LANDSCAPES

Pablo Picasso depicted landscapes throughout his entire life. From his earliest days in art school until the year before his death, landscape mediated his perception of the world and jump-started his creative evolution. Within Picasso’s vast oeuvre, however, landscapes have received the least scholarly attention. Yet to ignore Picasso’s landscapes is to omit a crucial dimension of his achievement. Landscapes afforded Picasso the opportunity to reflect upon his personal and cultural milieu while also engaging with art historical traditions.

ABOVE: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). The Village of Vauvenargues, April 29-30, 1959, oil on canvas. Fundación Almine y Bernard RuizPicasso para el Arte, Madrid. Image © FABA,

Photo: Hugard & Vanoverschelde Photography. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, organized by the American Federation of Arts and part of the international Picasso Celebration 1973–2023, will be on view February 11–May 21, 2023 at Mint Museum Uptown. Curated by Laurence Madeline, chief curator for French National Heritage and previous curator at the Musée Picasso Paris, the traveling exhibition includes more than 40 paintings and sculptures spanning Picasso’s full career.

“This is the first time these Picasso paintings will be seen together and is the first time an exhibition of this magnitude will be held at The Mint Museum,” says Todd

Herman, PhD, president and CEO at The Mint Museum. “We also recognize the enormous opportunity to collaborate with other local arts organizations and artists to take the magic and energy around this exhibition beyond the walls of The Mint Museum.”

ABOVE: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). Boisgeloup in the Rain, with Rainbow, May 5, 1932, oil on canvas. Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, Madrid. Image © FABA, Photo: Hugard & Vanoverschelde Photography. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The exhibition positions the genre of landscape as a creative lodestar in his life, inspiring major breakthroughs in his oeuvre and seismic shifts in the painting canon. Picasso Landscapes also charts the artist’s changing sense of place over decades of travel and relocation, spotlighting Picasso’s reactions to the modern city, wartime occupation, and the industrialization of rural France.

As early as 1900, his canvases began telegraphing the powerful forces of nature in contrast with urban growth across Spain, particularly in Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, and Horta de Ebro. The destruction and endurance of French culture define the artist’s cityscapes of Nazioccupied Paris during World War II. Picasso’s grand Côte d’Azur landscapes, completed at the end of his career, reveal the rapid buildout of a region where, a few decades earlier, he had captured the lives of peasants and laborers. The devastation of the Anthropocene and the political rise of the ecological movement in France coincided with Picasso’s last landscape of 1972, an immense work that reads like an epitaph to both his creative and social lives.

Classical landscapes of the 17th century were important touchstones for Picasso; his ambitious, large-scale canvases adopted the formal structure of the ideal vista articulated by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Picasso often used landscape painting to interrogate the work of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, who were the most celebrated artists at the time of his 1901 arrival in Paris.

Van Gogh’s presence can be felt in Picasso’s paintings of the South of France, such as the brushy, dramatic Landscape (February 22, 1965) of Mougins.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds unfolds chronologically, revealing the various phases, approaches, and themes in the artist’s landscape painting, which yield new insights into his creative production and broader involvement with the world of his time. Through this in-depth study of Picasso’s diverse landscapes, it becomes possible to reclaim the genre’s primacy in his work and to affirm his keen focus on the shifting 20th-century cultural backdrop.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds is generously presented in Charlotte by Bank of America, the City of Charlotte, Duke Energy, Mecklenburg County, M.A. Rogers, Ann and Michael Tarwater, North Carolina Arts Council, and Moore & Van Allen. Additional generous support is provided by: Leigh-Ann and Martin Sprock; Robin and Bill Branstrom, Sally Cooper, Laura and Mike Grace, Marshelette and Milton Prime. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds is organized by the American Federation of Arts

ABOVE (from left): Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro, summer 1909, oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller, 81.1991. Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). Snow Landscape, winter 1924-25, oil on canvas. Private Collection, Paris. Photo © Artcurial SAS. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

with guest curator Laurence Madeline, with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris. The exhibition is generously supported by Monique Schoen Warshaw. Additional support has been provided by Lee White Galvis, Clare E. McKeon, and Stephanie R. La Nasa. Support for the accompanying publication provided by Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, organized by the American Federation of the Arts, makes its debut February 11–May 21, 2023 at Mint Museum Uptown. The ticketed exhibition is the first museum exhibition in Charlotte dedicated to works by Picasso. The Mint Museum will serve as the opening venue and the only museum on the East Coast to host the traveling exhibition. After its run at the Mint, the exhibition will travel to the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Picasso Celebration 1973–2023

The Picasso Celebration 1973–2023 is structured around some 50 exhibitions and events that will be held in renowned cultural institutions in Europe and North America, and which together will draw up a historiographical survey of approaches to Picasso’s work. The commemoration, accompanied by official celebrations in France and Spain, will make it possible to take stock of the research and important international symposium in autumn 2023, which also coincides with the opening of the Center for Picasso Studies in Paris. The Musée national Picasso-Paris and the Spanish National Commission for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso are pleased to support this exceptional program.

ABOVE: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). Landscape of Juan-les-Pins, summer 1920, oil on canvas. Musée Picasso, Paris, Donation Pablo Picasso, 1979, MP68. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY, Photo: Mathieu Rabeau. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

PLAYING PABLO

LOCAL ARTISTS CREATE MURALS IN RESPONSE TO WORKS IN PICASSO LANDSCAPES: OUT OF BOUNDS

BY JEN SUDUL EDWARDS, PHD

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds is a major initiative for The Mint Museum. It not only brings major Picasso paintings to Charlotte from all around the world, but also offers an opportunity for the museum to bring together multiple cultural entities in collaborations and partnerships. One of these projects is a mural series enlisting 10 artists and collectives to create murals around the city.

The initiative is a partnership with Carla Aaron-Lopez, curator of the Local/Street exhibition series that was on view at The Mint Museum in 2021 and 2022; and Talking Walls, the organization that has been supporting mural installations across the city for the last five years.

Together with Aaron-Lopez and the Mint’s Curatorial Assistant Jamila Brown, a group of local artists were invited to paint a mural in response to Guernica — Picasso’s powerful,

mural-size antiwar painting — or any of the landscapes included in the Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds. The result is a diverse range of styles and images that will dot Charlotte’s urban landscape and the two Mint museum locations with the first mural unveiling February 1 at Mint Museum Uptown.

Involving Charlotte contemporary artists was always central to the Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds. As Aaron-Lopez and local artist ARKO have pointed out, Picasso continues to be a major influence on contemporary artists both as an inspiration and as a foil. The exhibition allows local artists to study the works up close and in person, to break down the structure, and analyze the compositions and brushstrokes

ABOVE (from left): A mural created by Charlotte artists Frankie Zombie and Garrison Gist (2Gzandcountin) will be on view at Optimist Hall; Response mural design by Kalin Renee will be on view at Optimist Hall.

to further their own education and experimentation. This partnership reminds us that one of the museum’s primary goals is to preserve and present art’s history so that the next generation can push it forward.

The mural project is generously supported by a grant through North Carolina Arts Council and the Thrive Fund.

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, is chief curator and curator of contemporary art.

Playing Pablo mural locations and artists

CAMP NORTHEND

MIKE WIRTH

MINT MUSEUM RANDOLPH BRAND THE MOTH

MINT MUSEUM UPTOWN ARKO AND DAMMIT WESLEY CHD:WCK!

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

In addition to the murals created throughout Charlotte in conjunction with Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, local cultural institutions are presenting performances that coincide with the exhibition, including the Charlotte Symphony, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Independent Picture House, JazzArts Charlotte, Theatre Charlotte, Opera Carolina, and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

OPTIMIST HALL

FRANKIE ZOMBIE AND 2GZANDCOUNTIN

HNIN NIE

KALIN RENEE

QUEENS UNIVERSITY EMILY NÚÑEZ

As part of the April 8 Community Celebration for Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, join Chief Curator and Curator of Contemporary Art Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, for a 1 PM screening of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Mystery of Picasso (1956) at the Independent Picture House. Then take the Lynx light rail to Mint Museum Uptown to join in a 3:30 PM curator-led tour of the exhibition.

ABOVE: See artist Hnin Nie’s mural mock-up in response to a Picasso landscape painting in Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds at Optimist Hall.

BEARDEN/PICASSO: RHYTHMS AND REVERBERATIONS

EXPLORE THE SHARED INTERESTS OF TWO INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ARTISTS IN ONE EXHIBITION

BY JONATHAN STUHLMAN, PHD

On the surface, it might seem odd to organize an exhibition that brings together the work of American artist Romare Bearden and Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, as it would seem the two have little in common. Bearden was born in the South in the early 20th century and rose to prominence in New York in the years following World War II through collages that explored the Black American experience. Picasso, a generation older than Bearden, was born in Spain

and spent most of his career in France, helped pioneer the Cubist style in the early 20th century, and continued to push the boundaries of art over the next six decades. In the vast literature on Bearden, however, there has rightly been some notice of the relationship between the two artists’ works examining some of the more obvious points of intersection. Discussions have primarily centered upon the comparison of their shared subject matter of folk musicians

ABOVE (from left): Romare Bearden (American, 1911-88). The Open Door, 1979, lithograph. Collection of the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC. Gift of Jerald Melberg. 2009.88.1. © 2022 Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). Nature Morte devant une Fenêtre Ouverte sur l’Eau, stencil after a work by Pablo Picasso 1923, gouache on silkscreen on paper. Musée Picasso, donation Pablo Picasso, 1979, MP3505 © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

and, to a lesser extent, harlequins. In addition, the impact of Cubism on Bearden’s approach to collage — a relationship that he himself acknowledged — and each artist’s use of African masks in their art are important and valid connections that have also been considered. The Mint’s exhibition is the first museum exhibition to extend this conversation looking at several additional connections that have not previously been explored in depth.

THE RELATIONSHIP

Bearden was an astute scholar of art history, who wrote about Cubism and even Picasso’s work in the 1930s and 1940s. The two briefly met in 1950 when Bearden visited France. It seems, however, that the meeting had little significance on the direction of either artist’s career. It was for Bearden something akin to a pilgrimage to a tourist destination. He recalled: “It was like going to see the Eiffel Tower.”

Bearden grappled with the stylistic implications of Cubism in his art, however, and he and Picasso also shared numerous other aesthetic approaches and subjects. These overlaps — or reverberations between their work — suggested that it might be fascinating to bring some examples of their art together to complement the museum’s upcoming exhibition Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds, organized by the American Federation of the Arts with the exceptional support of Musée national Picasso-Paris, which also approaches Picasso’s work from a lesser-know and explored angle.

THE EXHIBITION

On view adjacent to Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds in Mint Museum Uptown’s Level 4 Brand Galleries, Bearden/ Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations will be divided into four thematic sections. The first theme considers the two artists’ shared interest in imagery of bulls and bullfighting. The second explores the importance of music and rhythm

as both subject matter and a way of creating a dynamic composition. The third theme considers their shared interest in interior scenes and their use of doorways and windows as compositional devices, and the fourth looks at each artist’s use of black outlines defining simplified, brightly colored forms, called the “stained glass” aesthetic.

The exhibition will feature three works by Picasso, and 17 by Bearden drawn from the Mint’s rich holding, as well as special loans from other museums and private collections. While Bearden’s later collages and prints will comprise a good part of the exhibition, nearly half of the works on view by the artist are of his rarely seen early paintings from the 1940s. During this period, he was immersed in the New York art world, at a time when Picasso was frequently exhibiting there frequently, and was exploring a variety of approaches to creating art.

Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations will be on view February 11–May 21, 2023 at Mint Museum Uptown. The exhibition is generously presented in Charlotte by Bank of America, the City of Charlotte, Duke

Mecklenburg County, M.A. Rogers, Ann and Michael Tarwater, North Carolina Arts Council, and Moore & Van Allen. Additional generous support is provided by: LeighAnn and Martin Sprock; Robin and Bill Branstrom, Sally Cooper, Laura and Mike Grace, Marshelette and Milton Prime. Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations is organized by The Mint Museum.

While

Energy,

Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, is senior curator of American art.

OPPOSITE: Romare Bearden (American, 1911-88). At Five in the Afternoon, 1946, oil on composition board. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman; Purchase, U.S. State Department Collection, 1948. © 2022 Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. ABOVE: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). The Bull Flight, August 1934, oil on canvas. Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Rice 279:1957. © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations is on view in the Brand Galleries, don’t forget to visit the museum’s Romare Bearden gallery to see Unflinching: A Selection of Works by Elizabeth Catlett, featuring two suites of prints by the artist from the museum’s permanent collection and an example of her moving sculpture on loan from a private collection.

FRANKLIN FIFTH HELENA

‘A FANTASTICAL IMAGING OF THE INTERTWINED LIVES OF MOVIE ICON MARILYN MONROE AND HER PSYCHOANALYST DR. RALPH GREENSON’

BY JEN SUDUL EDWARDS, PHD

On November 4, 2022, Mint Museum Uptown opened a new major acquisition to the collection: Franklin Fifth Helena by Brooklyn-based artist Cynthia Talmadge. An 8-by-11-foot room built within the gallery, the installation is comprised of sand-painted wall panels and a ceiling that create a fantastical imaging of the intertwined lives of the movie icon Marilyn Monroe and her psychoanalyst Dr. Ralph Greenson. The result is mesmerizing and surprising in every way: the sand — intricately mixed by hand and meticulously applied to the surface with fine paintbrushes — mimics the precise color studies of 19th-century Impressionists and Pointillists while utilizing a simple commercial material (Talmadge often buys her sand in bulk from wedding supply companies).

The recognizable objects layer and interact to create an imagined narrative about the relationship between Monroe and Greenson, who treated Monroe at the end of her life. While very specific in her references, Talmadge also explores the complicated ramifications of the cult of personality, the patient-doctor relationship, and how all of these affect the limited power and agency granted to women in this country.

Talmadge’s gallery, 56 Henry, arranged for outside donors to support the acquisition of the work by The Mint Museum, but the on-site build was extensive and complicated. The Mint’s architect-of-record, Aubrey Springer, oversaw the construction and permit process, which required additional lights and sprinkler systems to be installed to meet code, as well as extensive coordination with the Mint’s building staff, the Collections and Exhibitions team, 56 Henry, and Talmadge — who came to Charlotte for a week in October to help with the installation.

The Mint is in process of producing a film about Talmadge and her fascinating and complicated process, generously underwritten by Aaron and Marie Ligon who are helping the Mint further build a competitive and compelling contemporary art collection.

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, is chief curator and curator of contemporary art.

ABOVE : Franklin Fifth Helena is an architectural installation within the Contemporary Gallery at Mint Museum Uptown comprised of sand-painted wall panels that create a fantastical imaging of the real-life intertwined lives of the movie icon Marilyn Monroe and her psychoanalyst Dr. Ralph Greenson.

BEHIND THE ‘SEAMS’ OF FASHION REIMAGINED WITH CONSERVATOR TAE SMITH

BY ANNIE CARLANO

Curators and conservators work symbiotically to bring objects to life. Successful outcomes are grounded in mutual respect and a simpatico rapport. The Mint is grateful to have such a professional relationship with conservator Tae Smith. Working throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia, Smith has had a long and varied and career. She dressed the Mint’s Chanel suit for the Gabrielle Chanel exhibition in 2021. Trained in textile science and fashion history, she has worked in the archives of Conde Nast, Ralph Lauren, and fashion preservation for Demi Moore

and Geoffrey Beene’s collections. Serving as a consultant on films such as “The Great Gatsby,” and “Oceans 8” as well as regular projects with the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Smith is a powerhouse of skill and knowledge around costume and conservation. She was integral in bringing the 50 ensembles on view in the exhibition Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW to life. Following is a conversation with Smith about the work she loves to do. —Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Annie Carlano: The field of costume and textile studies is somewhat esoteric. What sparked your interest in textiles and fashion?

Tae Smith: I’ve always had an interest in costumes and textiles. I got my first sewing machine when I was 9 and my undergraduate degree is in fashion design, so I really understand garment construction and pattern-making.

In my 20s, I read an article on the making of Martin Scorsese’s film “The Age of Innocence” and how he hired different experts to make sure everything was historically accurate from how the table was set, to the costumes, to the modes and manners of the time.

I also read “Sex and Suits” by Ann Hollander and her section about the relationship of clothing to women versus men. I’m paraphrasing, but take a formal event. Women are dressed in various colorful garments and men are in tuxedos. You could easily describe a woman by her colorful garment or unique accessory. You couldn’t describe a man by what he’s wearing because they’re all basically wearing the same thing. You need to pay closer attention to the man and glean a personal or physical detail that makes him stand out.

These two points were a revelation and I decided this is what I wanted to do, so I moved to New York City to attend graduate school at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) costume and textiles program.

AC: I’ve worked with conservators and dressers over my career, all highly educated and with much practical experience, but it’s extremely rare to excel at both the evaluation and treatment of fashion and dressing mannequins accurately for presentation. To what do you attribute your extraordinary talents?

TS: My work is all behind the scenes, so it’s difficult for people to understand how much really goes into dressing mannequins, stabilizing garments, and creating an exhibition. Dressing is more than filling out a garment. It’s about breathing life into a garment and to do this, you need to understand the body. How it grows and shrinks, and in what proportions. But just as important, the garment needs to be supported with the correct materials for the duration of an exhibition. Incorrect padding and support materials can do irreparable damage.

Graduate school and 15-plus years of experience have ingrained in me the importance of using the correct materials — inert, stable fabrics and materials that do not change the chemical and structural properties and damage a garment. This can be anything from using the wrong type of plastic or adhesive to dressing a garment with harmful fabric. Many materials used in home sewing are not appropriate to use for conservation and exhibition dressing.

At first glance the theater and museum worlds would seem to be similar, but they are quite different in their approaches and goals. Macro versus micro. At the theater,

Photo by Brian ‘BT’ Twitty

audiences need to see the costume from a distance. The large-scale, overall look and feel is more important than historically accurate details. In museum exhibitions, the audience is only a few feet away from a static object and can see every detail. These details are what make or break the look of an exhibition.

Take the 1924 robe de style dress that is in Fashion Reimagined. The robe de style is a very specific silhouette and if the side panniers are not in the correct position, (low and slightly droopy) the entire silhouette is wrong. Exhibiting costumes incorrectly reflects poorly on an institution and is a disservice to the public who visit museums, rightly assuming that what they are looking at is historically accurate.

And again, the use of nontoxic, safe materials and an understanding of how woven and non-woven materials interact to either create a safe or hazardous environment. This isn’t visible to the public but is so important in preserving historic fashion.

The Mint staff has never made me feel like an interloper and has been so supportive of the skills I bring to a project. They have acknowledged this by affording me the time and budget necessary to help them create a beautiful and scholarly exhibition.

AC: What was the most difficult conservation challenge of this project?

TS: I don’t think it was one specific object — it was prioritizing what could be done within the set time and budget. However, the House of Worth dress is very fragile and showed signs of extensive wear and alterations. Because of the alterations, the garment didn’t fit a standard-size mannequin.

The mannequin had to be made smaller in areas and it took several attempts to achieve the correct fit. Because the garment is in such a fragile state, dressing and removing the garment had to be done slowly and methodically with the help of another person.

One of the most stressful and damaging things you can do to a garment is dress it on a form. Just think about this morning when you got dressed — all the tugging and pulling involved. Now image trying to dress a garment on a form that doesn’t move or bend.

AC: Do you have a favorite fashion designer in the exhibition?

TS: There are so many seminal designers represented in this exhibition, but Geoffrey Beene has always been a favorite of mine. In 2006, I archived his garments and ephemera and came away with a great appreciation for his thoughtful designing and touch of whimsy. He truly designed three dimensionally, understanding that the body is seen in the round and knowing that people don’t just make grand entrances. With clothing today, the decoration and detail is at the front. The sides and back are blank and often ill-fitting because the same attention hasn’t been given to the construction and fit. A lot of this has to do with fast fashion and wanting to save on material and labor, but what you’re really getting is half a dress.

AC: The Mint first contracted you to dress VIVA MOSCHINO! in 2015. You’ve worked on several projects here since that time and now Fashion Reimagined. Based in NYC, you’re a busy professional working worldwide. What keeps you coming back to the Mint?

TS: I loved that exhibition — the fashion was so joyful and playful! The Mint staff is the main reason I keep returning to Charlotte. Exhibitions are such a collaborative endeavor and as the dresser/conservator, I work with so many different departments. I work with the curators to make sure the objects are historically accurate, I work with installers concerning mannequin issues and fabrication/hardware issues, scheduling and object concerns with the registrars, and education/public programming for outreach events.

The Beene dress in Fashion Reimagined is a perfect example of his design aesthetic. The design focal point is the elliptical waist seam and the tension between the knit wool bodice and woven silk skirt. Sewing a knit to a woven is very difficult and the execution of the curved waist had to be perfect, or the silhouette would be ruined. Instead of a straight line at the waist seam, the curved waist goes up to a point at each side seam giving dimension to the dress whether the wearer is standing still or in motion. The contrasting French cuffs and collar are a nod to menswear and add more dimension and detail.

Annie Carlano is senior curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion and curator of Fashion Reimagined.

To correctly fit several historical garments for Fashion Reimagined, mannequin forms had to be restructured by the Collections and Exhibitions team

WELCOME TO THE VAULT

HIGHLIGHTING THE SIGNIFICANT RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE THAT COMES WITH BEING A CUSTODIAN OF BLACK ART

BY JESSICA GAYNELLE MOSS

I came into collecting art as a young artist. In my experience in both undergraduate and graduate school, the act of trading or bartering between friends was routine. I remember the first time I visited a friend’s home and saw my bartered art on the wall. Seeing my work in this way elicited such a tender feeling. I witnessed similar affirming reactions when friends saw their own works of art in my space.

While in graduate school, I was able to subsidize the cost of my growing art collection by working full time. Every month after all my bills were paid, I would put whatever was left into a separate art-buying fund. Although my budget was limited, it was crucial to me that the artists were fairly compensated for their work. My limited budget led me to be more intentional with my selections.

At the time, I was reading a lot of art criticism, theory and philosophy. I was exploring Frantz Fanon, Audre Lorde, Tom Finkelpearl, Eldridge Cleaver, Michel Foucault. I was looking at the work of Ellen Gallegher, Kerry James

Marshall, Kara Walker, and Jenny Holzer. I was developing my graduate thesis centered on themes of power and knowledge, and investigating whether creating and sustaining radical change through the framework of cultural engagement was feasible. I wanted to support Black artists who were making work that asked questions similar to the ones I was grappling with in my own work.

While in school and working as the project manager of The Black Artists Retreat (B.A.R.), an annual convening of Black visual artists initiated by artists Theaster Gates and Eliza Myrie, I was exposed to artists from all over the world. Through studio visits, I learned about their practice. I attended their exhibition openings and events. Relationships ensued and I often would buy works directly from their studios. I began to notice themes emerging from the pieces I selected. Each of the works told a story about who the artists were and where they were on their journey, but when the individual works all came together, they told a story about me.

The Vault, curated by Jessica Gaynelle Moss, will open at the Mint Museum Uptown in early July 2023. This exhibition will explore some of the distinctly different approaches and philosophies of art collecting by prominent Charlotte-based collectors Judy and Patrick Diamond, Nina and James Jackson, Christy and Quincy Lee, and Cheryse and Christopher Terry. This dynamic group will present a range of collector theory, methodology and objects made by Black artists from their private collections. Visitors will be able to explore vintage photography, original paintings, prints, sculptures, furniture, vinyl records, books, and other culturally-specific ephemera. The Vault illustrates the significant responsibility and privilege that comes with being a collector or custodian of Black art. The Vault will be on view July 1–October 1, 2023 at Mint Museum Uptown.

When I buy a work, I know that I am actually making a contribution to the success of an individual artist. I’ve found that more often than not, artist support is not only achieved through the purchase of tangible objects but more so through a demonstration of genuine care. I’ve bought meals, offered transportation, reviewed grant applications, revised contracts, and I continuously extend my home as a space for Black artists to rest. My motivations are driven by their dollars, hours, fears, failures and frustrations; all bound together, present in every piece. I’m not purchasing an object as much as I am making an investment in the individual’s creative journey. It’s my way of saying, “I believe in you. You and your work have value. Please continue.”

As a custodian of Black art, I feel a responsibility to honor, preserve, and protect this part of my history and culture. The art market, however, is made possible due largely to millions of collectors and art buyers. Different collectors are motivated to acquire works of art for a myriad of reasons from historical relevance, pure aesthetic pleasure, and investment strategy to collecting as an act of resistance.

Visitors to The Vault will witness the care and responsibility each collector represented has dedicated to conserve, protect, and honor their moral obligations to the artworks and the artists in their collections. From research to acquisition, these collectors are diligent about building relationships with artists over time, uplifting the narratives of the historically excluded, and utilizing their capital to effectively shift the market for Black artists to thrive.

Jessica Gaynelle Moss is an artist, has her own arts consultancy, manages multiple artists residency programs, curates exhibitions and performances, and is a frequent speaker on panels on the subjects of artist support, advocacy and stewardship. Previous curatorial projects include mood:BLACK at Goodyear Arts (2017), BLACK BLOODED at New Gallery of Modern Art (2018), Southern Constellations at North Carolina A&T State University (2019), Taking Care at Silver Eye Center for Photography (2021), SHRINE at the Mattress Factory (2022) and TEMPLE at PRIZM Art Fair, Miami Art Week (2022).

THE COLLECTORS

In 2018, the National Art Services Executive at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, Evan Beard, published an article called ‘The Four Types of Art Collectors’ on Artsy, the world’s largest online art marketplace. In the article, Beard categorized all art collectors into four general groups: The Connoisseurs, The Enterprising Collector, The Trophy Hunter, and The Aesthete. The four Charlotte-based collectors featured in The Vault have distinctly different approaches and philosophies of art collecting that mirror this framework.

THE CONNOISSEURS JUDY AND PATRICK DIAMOND

What started as a casual hobby grew into a spark for the Diamond’s making them connoisseurs whose collecting has “developed over time through relentless effort and devotion.” The Diamonds have spent the last 48 years amassing a collection of Black art that includes works by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence. They buy methodically, and rarely, as an investment. They are privy to the market, incredibly knowledgeable, and maintain great friendships with the artists whose work they collect. In this exhibition, they will share works by Hale Woodruff, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, John Tweedle, Margaret Burroughs, Elizabeth Catlett, and Nellie Ashford.

Photograph by Carey

J. King

THE AESTHETE NINA AND JAMES JACKSON

THE AESTHETE NINA AND JAMES JACKSON

The Jacksons are very supportive patrons of the arts. They frequent museums for openings and events, but tend to prefer the shop to the galleries. “These unique individuals possess an innate eye and tend to be more aesthetically aware of the world around them.” They are driven by a visceral response to an object. They are not motivated by status or financial gain, but prioritize storytelling and personal histories. For The Vault , The Jacksons will be sharing paintings by Thomas James “T.J.” Reddy, prints by Kerry James Marshall, and a collection of over 50 Black Santa Claus dolls and figures.

THE TROPHY HUNTER CHRISTY AND QUINCY LEE

The Lees have amassed an incredible collection of works by Black artists. Their home is a museum of rare historical, artistic, and cultural interests. When touring their home, I was awestruck by the remarkable talent, history and legacy on every wall, and hearing a detailed account of how each piece was procured. The Lees are active at auctions and hunt as a matter of sport. “This group leverages their art to do big things (like take over a large company) during their lifetimes, and uses their art to create a legacy after death.” The Vault will feature works of the Lees by artists Albert Wells, Charles Alston, Bryan M. Wilson, Juan Logan, Antoine Williams, and J. Stacy Utley.

The Lees have amassed an incredible collection of works by Black artists. Their home is a museum of rare historical, artistic, and cultural interests. When touring their home, I was awestruck by the remarkable talent, history and legacy on every wall, and hearing a detailed account of how each piece was procured. The Lees are active at auctions and hunt as a matter of sport. “This group leverages their art to do big things (like take over a large company) during their lifetimes, and uses their art to create a legacy after death.” will feature works of the Lees by artists Albert Wells, Charles Alston, Bryan M. Wilson, Juan Logan, Antoine Williams and J. Stacy Utley.

THE ENTERPRISING COLLECTOR

THE ENTERPRISING COLLECTOR

CHERYSE AND CHRISTOPHER TERRY

CHERYSE AND CHRISTOPHER TERRY

The Terrys might not have always considered themselves collectors but their research-based archival practice says otherwise. The Terrys are true custodians of the history, culture, and nuanced narratives of the artists in their collections. They feel as though they have a distinct duty and responsibility to protect Black artists and to preserve Black culture. They believe that art history is just too important to be left to art historians. As enterprising collectors, “their goal is to destabilize the canon, challenge the ancient regime and define (and increasingly redefine) art history through collecting.” The Terrys will exhibit their collection of over 30 afro picks, hundreds of magazines, records, toys, advertisements and other culturally specific and historic ephemera in The Vault

The Terrys might not have always considered themselves collectors but their research-based archival practice says otherwise. The Terrys are true custodians of the history, culture, and nuanced narratives of the artists in their collections. They feel as though they have a distinct duty and responsibility to protect Black artists and to preserve Black culture. They believe that art history is just too important to be left to art historians. As enterprising collectors, “their goal is to destabilize the canon, challenge the ancient regime and define (and increasingly redefine) art history through collecting.” The Terrys will exhibit their collection of over 30 afro picks, hundreds of magazines, records, toys, advertisements and other culturally specific and historic ephemera in The Vault

Photograph by DaRemen J.

Photograph by Breonna T. Collier

Photograph by Sancho Smalls

Photograph by DaRemen J.

Photograph by Breonna T. Collier

Photograph by Sancho Smalls

A CHAT WITH ELDER LUMBEE EDUCATOR BARBARA LOCKLEAR

BY RUBIE R. BRITT-HEIGHT

Elder Lumbee educator Barbara Locklear comes from very humble and peaceful beginnings growing up in the Lumbee Indian community in Roberson County, North Carolina. She attended college at UNC Pembroke, has lived in Charlotte for over 50 years, and is one of the founders of the Metrolina Native American Association. She continues to work to keep the Lumbee culture relevant and pass down traditions, dances, regalia, culture, and advocacy. She also worked with the General Assembly that created the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs in 1971 and served on the City of Charlotte’s Community Building Committee (now the Community Building Initiative). Her ongoing work and storytelling help to preserve and create value around the many sacrifices of the Lumbee people and culture.

I recently had an enlightening conversation with Elder Locklear about her roots and community engagement while we visited the exhibition Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes at Mint Museum Randolph, which includes works from the Mint’s Native American collection. —Lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Rubie R. Britt-Height: You are a revered storyteller and Native American trailblazer in the Carolinas. Your knowledge of indigenous peoples sheds light and coincides with findings in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library. The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room holds a great deal on Native Americans, including a map of North Carolina that shows all the tribes and where they were and are located, including Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.

Barbara Locklear: A lot of my knowledge comes from oral tradition; stories being passed down from generation to generation. When I went to UNC Pembroke, much more was within records. Native Americans have been in the Carolinas for centuries. Catawba, Sugaree, Waxhaw, and Saponi are some that covered this region. The North Carolina Museum of History has many artifacts, and the library is a tremendous resource.

RBH: You have taught and been coming here to Mint Museum Randolph for a long time, yes?

BL: I sure have, over 35 years. I enjoy the galleries. I am fixated on and really love this porcelain piece [Vase, see below] with the turtle holding and protecting a leaf. In Native American tradition, the turtle is a symbol of Mother Earth, fertility, and longevity, and its shell symbolizes the 13 moons.

Over the years, I have taught from objects in the Mint’s collection so people can know more about our culture, the land, and the indigenous peoples who have been here for centuries. The Mint’s collection helps tell our story as inhabitants existing in a land from the earliest time, long before the arrival of colonists and the forming of Mecklenburg County and Charlotte.

The basketry collection and utilitarian items are reflective of our culture. Cherokee baskets and vessels are a part of that. I am glad to see this exhibition ark of bulrushes — it really connects to Native Americans with the array of baskets and the weavings pieced together from various cultures and lands.

RBH: As we walk through the galleries, tell me what speaks to you.

BL: Each tribal group has its variation of materials used to make items. For baskets, some use cane, sweet grass, marsh grass, oak tree, white cedar bark shavings, and even horsehair. I remember using similar ones growing up to gather eggs and pick and hold vegetables like cucumbers and squash. River cane was used to make flutes. In Robeson [County], the Lumbee did basket weaving from pine needles instead. My county is known as the “Land of the Long Leaf Pine and of the Dark Water” and we are its people. This tree has the longest needles of all Southern pines.

RBH: I am learning more about this area’s native peoples. Some of our street names and towns are indicative like Tuckaseegee, Sugar Creek, Waxhaw, and Indian Trail. And Nations Ford Road, after the Nation Ford Trail. I read it was a popular trading route for Native Americans years before recorded history, crossing at a rare natural ford just south of Fort Mill.

BL: Usually where you find rivers, you can connect Native Americans who lived nearby, not only for fishing and game but also for trading along trails and paths. The Catawba Indians and Catawba River are an example. The trail was named after their nation and is one of the oldest documented travel routes in the Southeast. All this area was Catawba and other tribal lands. Tryon Street was once an Indian trading path, connecting the Cherokee, Iroquois, and Catawba nations over the hundreds of miles between them. We share stories and artifacts like the baskets and weavings you have here to help connect people and places.

RBH: In storytelling, you share symbols made into objects.

BL: Yes, the Native American talking stick is one. Its wooden stick, feathers (they are earned, and an eagle feather is sacred), beads, and other added elements allow the stick to become a form of parliamentary procedure. Only the one holding the stick speaks until it is passed to another. All listen to the bearer.

RBH: Finally, you connected another insightful similarity in various art forms.

BL: I saw the connection of cultures and spirits when I looked at artist [Diedrick] Brackens weaving: At the end of the linked chain being pulled by the two men [in brotherhood is fragile]; the weaved grass plate with the circular rattlesnake; and the African weaving symbols of the Kuba people. Each one had an opening at the end, a way out, and a point of release for negative spirits because the circle or symbol had a break in it. It is like a code. I also saw the symbol of “God’s Eye” in some woven and quilted patterns. That is powerful as I, and visitors too, can see the cultures and peoples connect.

Purchase:

Rubie R. Britt-Height is director of community relations and co-leader of the DEIA Leadership Advisory Council.

The woven chain in brotherhood is fragile (above) and the turtle, as seen in the Union Porcelain Works vase (left), are both symbolic in Native American culture.

LEFT: Union Porcelain Works (United States, 1863–circa 1922). Vase, 1879, porcelain. Museum

Mint Museums Auxiliary Fund. 2003.97.15

OPPOSITE: Elder Lumbee educator Barbara Locklear and Community Relations Director Rubie R. Britt Height at Mint Museum Randolph.

SIDONIE WEBBER

BY MICHELE HUGGINS

Sidonie Webber has been a part of the Mint Docents for more than 15 years. A Johnson C. Smith University graduate, Webber returned home to Philadelphia for one year before marrying a Charlottean and returning to live in the Queen City. A career educator who worked in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for 32 years, she enjoys the opportunity to lead tours and teach all ages about art in the Mint’s collection. She shares below more about her path as a museum docent. —As told to Michele Huggins. Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

I was always interested in history and art even as a child. Living in Philadelphia, I was lucky to have access to so many cultural institutions. When I started teaching in Charlotte, I learned that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the Mint had a close relationship. When I was teaching fifth grade, my class took a field trip to the museum, and that’s how I became connected to working with arts and history at the Mint.

To me being docent is not just being a guide, or even a teacher, but we are like the face of the museum. When groups come in for an organized tour, it is typically led by a museum docent. The challenge is continuing to figure out how to attract diverse groups of people who represent the community and how to educate visitors that art is not just contained to a museum, but rather all over the city.

It is hard to pick a favorite work of art, but Allan Ramsay’s portrait of Queen Charlotte comes to mind. I love it because it is so historic. When I would bring students to the Mint, it was such a good connection to history and Charlotte’s namesake. I also like the reinvented version of Queen Charlotte by artist Ken Aptekar. He visited Charlotte and met with different groups to get inspiration for the reimagination of Queen Charlotte, and I was able to be a part of those sessions.

Mint Museum Randolph is a hidden gem. Specifically, objects and masks in the Arts of Africa gallery are a fantastic collection that are not only historic but open the discussion of art as part of cultural histories.

If I were to share three must-do things with someone that has never been to the Mint, I would first encourage them to go to both museum locations, starting at Mint Museum Randolph to see the original museum location before heading to Mint Museum Uptown.

Once uptown, I would encourage visitors to take advantage of Levine Center for the Arts, spending time at the Mint and the other uptown museums. It’s such a gem to the city to have three museums (Mint Museum Uptown, the Harvey B. Gantt Center of African-American Arts + Culture, and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art) nearby one another.

Another treasure is the Lewis Family Gallery. I had the assignment to help open the gallery. I was amazed to see children and parents both engage in art-making opportunities. I remember many fathers were so engaged that when children were ready to leave, they wanted to stay and finish their projects.

As an educator, my philosophy is driven by being a lifelong learner. Art can be such a great part of learning for anyone and everybody from preschool children to seniors. I think that learning about art, art history, and art strategies and movements, help children think beyond basics. We are all human beings, and we all learn in different ways. Theater, art, literature, the humanitarian parts of curricula, are important for students. Kids experience those from an early age and learn about actual people that created works for a reason.

Michele Huggins is the associate director of marketing.

MINT 2 MOVE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS WITH MUSIC, LIGHTS, AND DANCING

The Mint Museum Uptown welcomed 400 guests on December 2 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Mint 2 Move Cultural Dance Night. Throughout the past 10 years, thousands of guests have joined in the excitement of the bimonthly dance and arts program, logging an estimated 10 million steps to salsa, cha cha, bachata, merengue, and line dancing. Attendees’ steps now are a part of the Mint’s history. These steps help illustrate culture, community, creative movements, and holistic health with talented musicians, dancers, performers, and visual artists.

A diverse, inclusive, and accessible program that is the only known one of its kind in the Carolinas, Mint 2 Move began in 2011 with promising proposal to Mint leaders and thenCEO Phil Kline. An unchartered concept in Charlotte, the

of the Puerto Rican Society of Charlotte. Community engagement of numerous organizations steadily increased along with the diversity of guests and performers.

Mint 2 Move has showcased hundreds of musicians, visual and performing artists and groups, Latino and African-rooted groups, instrumentalists, and community organizations, as well as a diverse group of artists that have created paintings live on site during the event. Jerry Giraud, Angel Delgado, and Frankie Martinez, known as the Mint 2 Move Trio, play percussion at each event, building energy and joy in the room. Notable artists include Julio Gonzalez, Curtis King, Lillian White, Barbara Ellis, Arthur Rogers, Eliza Lopez Trejo, and Chris Georgalas. Mint 2 Move guests also receive a pair of maracas, Mardi gras beads, and can watch a Power Point loop of dancers captured via photographer Robbie Geyer showcasing Mint 2 Move events held through the years.

Mint 2 Move is a multicultural, multigenerational, energizing art experience that showcases cultural history, visual and performing arts, and health and fitness with guests taking thousands of steps each hour they dance.

— Rubie R. Britt-Height, director of community relations

proposal had a strong foundation connecting to First Lady Michelle Obama’s program called “Let’s Move Gardens and Museums.” With an impressive community reach and great potential for impact, the Mint was perfect to introduce a “Let’s Move” concept to increase not only museum engagement, but diversity, physical health activity, and a connection to wellness and positive energy.

With official approval in 2012 to begin a quarterly pilot program, I worked with former Learning and Engagement Director Cheryl Palmer to identify supportive Latino community partners starting with Maggie and Jerry Giraud

Current community partners include Café Amaretto, C’Leb Entertainment, International-Music DJ Carlos Lebron, Fiestas Patrias, UNC Charlotte African Studies and Dance Departments, ArtSi Art Collective, Soy Latino Como Tu, The Carolinas LGBT and Charlotte Latin American Chambers of Commerce, Manolo’s Bakery, Gelitas, The Visual and Performing Arts Center, and numerous others.

Mark your calendar for Mint 2 Move Cultural Dance Night: Heart, Soul, and Cubism February 17 at Mint Museum Uptown.

Rubie R. Britt-Height is director of community relations and co-leader of the DEIA Leadership Advisory Council.

AFFILIATES IN ACTION

CHARLOTTE GARDEN CLUB

The nation’s gardening boom continues to explode in the Queen City as more than 170 new gardeners joined the Charlotte Garden Club in 2022. Now 350-plus strong, it is the largest garden club in North Carolina! The lineup of nationally known horticultural thought-leaders, garden authors, and daytripper workshops continue to inspire, teach, and delight. The club recently launched its first-ever scholarship for Central Piedmont Community College horticulture students. The club continues to maintain Mint Museum Randolph’s many exterior containers and pocket gardens. Members also decorated the atrium with gorgeous fresh poinsettias for the 2022 holidays.

Save the date for the annual Art in the Garden Tour May 6–7 that will feature six spectacular gardens. Follow us at @CLTGardenClub on Instagram and Facebook; and online at charlottegardenclub.com.

MINT DOCENTS

The docents have been business reimagining tours at both museum locations, and preparing for Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds tours. In continuing to expand knowledge about local artists, the docents recently gathered at Juan Logan’s studio. Upcoming educational trips include a day trip to Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to see artist Beverly McGiver’s exhibition, followed by a visit to Jon Kuhn’s studio. In May, the group is traveling to Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas.

MINT MUSEUM

AUXILIARY

The Mint Museum Auxiliary is looking forward to its annual Spring Symposium featuring home décor designer Suzanne Tucker, April 19 at Charlotte Country Club. Repeatedly honored as one of the AD100 Top Designers of the World, Tucker grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and continued her career in California after a stint in London. Her style evolved while training under the legendary designer Michael Taylor, after which she and partner Timothy F. Marks founded Tucker & Marks in 1986. Known to incorporate romanticism with a sophisticated and elegant approach, Tucker strives to “create beauty and serenity” for every client. In her third book “Extraordinary Interiors,” Tucker introduces a collection of her recent work, including a mountain retreat, a Bay Area pied-a-terre, a Manhattan apartment, a San Francisco townhouse, and Tucker’s own personal sanctuary in Montecito, California. Tickets will be released in early March 2023. Find more at mintmuseumauxiliary.org

YOUNG AFFILIATES OF THE MINT

Young Affiliates of the Mint will host “A Night with Picasso,” an intimate and exclusive viewing of Pablo Picasso’s most notable works. Attendees will hear from Chief Curator Art and Contemporary Art Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, while enjoying Spanish-themed appetizers and beverages. Look for details to come at youngaffiliates.org.

Derby Days returns to Mint Museum Randolph May 6. Derby Days brings together Charlotte’s young professionals to enjoy an afternoon of mingling, live music, signature drinks, lawn games, and a viewing of the Kentucky Derby. Named the “Best Party for Young Professionals” by The Charlotte Observer, attendees are encouraged to arrive decked out in sundresses and seersuckers to celebrate “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports.” All proceeds raised at the event help to sponsor free museum tours for CharlotteMecklenburg Schools students to inspire a new generation of artists, art enthusiasts, and leaders.

Last fall, the Mint Docents celebrated its 65th anniversary with a lovely brunch at Mint Museum Randolph.

Be a PART of ART

INTRODUCING THE MINT’S PARTNERS PROGRAM

PARTNERS (formerly known as Corporate Leadership Circle) is The Mint Museum’s expanded program designed for companies, businesses, foundations, and art-loving professionals. It is a passport to extraordinary and diverse exhibitions, exciting VIP events, engaging educational programs, and many more enticing opportunities.

Why PARTNERS?

• ACCESS and ENJOY VIP invitations to special exhibitions, programs, and events

• NETWORK and DEVELOP relationships like-minded business leaders and professionals who care about investing in our community

• CONNECT and CELEBRATE with fellow patrons of the arts and meet prospective clients

• REWARD and RETAIN clients and employees through one-of-a-kind cultural experiences

• VISIBILITY and RECOGNITION for your role in supporting arts, culture, and education

All PARTNERS will receive:

• Invitations to VIP preview parties and special member events

• Discounted purchases of 20% in both museum stores

• Discount of 20% on the purchase of new personal memberships

• Recognition on digital screens at Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, website, and in the museum’s annual report (name or logo depending on tier)

• In addition to the benefits all PARTNERS receive, PARTNERS also receive benefits tailored to their contribution level for one year

For more information about PARTNERS, please contact Amy Tribble at 704.337.2121 or email at amy.tribble@mintmuseum.org or Jillian Lefler at 704.337.2058 or email jillian.lefler@mintmuseum.org

EVENTS AT THE MINT

AMERICAN MADE VIP OPENING CELEBRATION

Guests at the VIP Opening Celebration for American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection enjoyed hearing from Diane Jacobsen, PhD, distinguished scholar, art collector, and chair of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen, PhD, Foundation, before touring the exhibition that featured more than 100 works of art by renowned American artists.

Guests enjoy viewing the exhibition that included more than 100 works of art by renowned American artists throughout the past two centuries.

Senior Curator of American Art Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, gives a presentation on works in the American Made exhibition.

Left to right: Dany Nisbet, Lucy Hardison, and Hooper Hardison.

Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art, with Diane Jacobsen, PhD, chair of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen, PhD, Foundation.

A TOAST TO PICASSO

In November, Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum, gave a presentation about the life and career of Pablo Picasso in anticipation of the opening of Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds. Guests enjoyed cocktails and socializing before the presentation.

Todd Herman, PhD, president and CEO, welcomes guests for the evening presentation.

Left to right: Patwin Lawrence, Amorette Reid, Mariama Holman, and George McLanahan.

Left to right: Candace Daniels-Sealey, Clayton Sealey, Mary Beaver, and DeeDee Dalrymple.

Left to right: Alli Ashforth, Rose Wittig, Davis Wittig, and Gardie Ashforth.

FASHION REIMAGINED VIP OPENING CELEBRATION

The VIP Opening of Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations, 1760-NOW, presented by Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management and the Mint Museum Auxiliary, was a night filled with fashion, music, and socializing. Many of the local fashion boutique owners and social influencers who participated in TailoredCLT, an extension of the exhibition that gave a nod to the chic and elegant style of Charlotte’s fashion scene, were also in attendance. The exhibition is on view through July 2, 2023 at Mint Museum Uptown.

Ranzeno Razier, left, with Hade E. Robinson Jr. touring the exhibition.

Left to right: Liz Hilliard, Marissa Willinsky, Morgan Shields, Lee Kennelly, Kim Powell, Caroline Diamond, and Ohavia Phillips.

Left to right: Whitley Adkins, Natalie Frazier Allen, Jess Sidhom, and Pam Stowe.

Meredith Dean, right, with Jessica Grace Booker.

MINT FASHION DAY CELEBRATION

The December 10 public opening of Fashion Reimagined included a panel discussion about the making of the exhibition, followed by a keynote address from Nigerian/American filmmaker and artist Walé Oyéjidé. Oyéjidé’s designs have appeared in motion pictures like “Black Panther” and have been exhibited in museums around the globe.

Visitors imagined themselves in historic ensembles in the “Shape Shifters” room, an interactive component of the exhibition.

The team who conceived, developed, and created Fashion Reimagined, (left to right) DLR Group architects Emily Moore and Andrew Gale; Tae Smith, fashion and textile conservator and dresser; Lauren Whitley, co-author of the catalogue; and Annie Carlano, senior curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion and curator of Fashion Reimagined

Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano with designer Walé Oyéjidé.

THANK YOU TO OUR CROWN SOCIETY PATRONS

SAPPHIRE CIRCLE

GWENDOLYN HARRINGTON BLAND

BILL AND ROBIN BRANSTROM

LAURA AND MIKE GRACE

MOZELLE DEPASS GRIFFITH

MILTON AND MARSHELETTE PRIME

MARY ANNE (M.A.) ROGERS

LEIGH-ANN AND MARTIN SPROCK

ANN AND MICHAEL TARWATER

CURTIS AND ROCKY TRENKELBACH

DIAMOND CIRCLE

MR. AND MRS. WESTON M. ANDRESS

JENNIFER AND ALEX BAUER

MARY AND WALTER BEAVER

KELLE AND LEN BOTKIN

BETSY AND ALFRED BRAND

SARAH G. COOPER

HILLARY AND W. FAIRFAX COOPER

MR. AND MRS. JOHN JULIAN CULBERTSON

SUSAN AND DAVID DOOLEY

MR. AND MRS. JAY FAISON

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM J. FOX

TED GARNER

BEVERLY AND JIM HANCE

LUCY AND HOOPER HARDISON

LAUREN A. HARKEY

CHANDRA AND JIMMIE JOHNSON

JILL AND MARK KELLY

ASHLEY AND SCOTT MATTEI

MR. AND MRS. NEILL G. MCBRYDE

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM B. MCGUIRE, JR.

POSEY AND MARK MEALY

AMY AND MATTHEW MOORE

DAVID AND CHARLOTTE MORITZ

MARÍA-JOSÉ MAGE AND FRANK MÜLLER

CELENE AND MARC OKEN

MARY AND DICK PAYNE

BETH AND DREW QUARTAPELLA

PATRICIA A. RODGERS

ALLISON AND RICHARD ROEDER

BETSY ROSEN AND LIAM STOKES

TREY SHERIDAN

POPE AND PEGGY SHUFORD

KATI AND CHRIS SMALL

MAUREEN STOCKTON

CAROLYN AND BRYAN TAYLOR

BETSY FLEMING AND ED WEISIGER, JR.

CHARLOTTE AND JOHN WICKHAM

ROSE AND DAVIS WITTIG

PLATINUM PLUS CIRCLE

SARAH AND TIM BELK

SUSANNE AND RUDOLF BLESS

MARY ANNE DICKSON

LISE AND TRAVIS HAIN

BEVERLY AND MARK LADLEY

STEPHANIE S. LYNCH

SUSAN AND LOY MCKEITHEN

JO ANN AND JODDY PEER

SALLIE SCARBOROUGH

BOBBIE AND THAD SHARRETT

SHANNON G. SMITH

EDITH AND LANDON WYATT

JOAN H. ZIMMERMAN

PLATINUM CIRCLE

HOWARD P. ADAMS AND CAROL B. MCPHEE

NATALIE AND HUGH ALLEN

ANONYMOUS

KIM AND JOHNNY BELK

STEPHANIE AND HOWARD BISSELL

JULIE BOLDT AND DHRUV YADAV

MARY AND CHARLES BOWMAN

JAN AND ED BROWN

ANSLEY AND JOHN CALHOUN

JOHN AND GINNY COLLETT

MRS. JANE CONLAN

AMY AND ALFRED DAWSON

JAY EVERETTE AND BRIAN SPEAS

PATTY AND ALEX FUNDERBURG

DEIDRE AND CLAY GRUBB

MICAH HARDKE AND JOSEPH MILANO

BETH AND BILL HOBBS

SEAN AND JACQUELINE JONES

TONI AND ALFRED KENDRICK

KATHRYN AND LUKE KISSAM

CHELSEA LAWSON

NANCY AND JOHN MALONEY

FRANCIE AND JOHN MANGAN

JILL AND JOHN MILLER

DANY AND CHIP NISBET

CHERYL A. PALMER

AMY AND JOE PITT

GEORGE AND LINDA FOARD ROBERTS

MANUEL RODRIGUEZ

SARA GARCÉS ROSELLI AND DANIEL J. ROSELLI

JASON SCHOEN

STAN SHERRILL AND KAT KING MCENTEE

LIZ AND DAVE SHUFORD

PARKER AND STEPHEN SHUFORD

EMILY AND ZACH SMITH

MELINDA AND DAVID SNYDER

LORIE M. SPRATLEY

BETSY AND BRIAN WILDER

PAT AND BILL WILLIAMSON

GOLD CIRCLE

MR. AND MRS. JAMES G. BABB, JR.

JACOB JOHN AND ALICIA BARNES

BILL AND GEORGIA BELK

ANGELA AND RALPH BREEDEN

DAVID AND TERESA CARROLL

E. COLBY AND LYNNE W. CATHEY

MONICA M. GALI AND ARMANDO L. CHARDIET

MRS. ROBIN COCHRAN

ANN COLLEY

AMANDA AND SHAW CORNELSON

DOUGLAS W. DAVIS

LAURIE AND NED DURDEN

CAROLINE AND JED DYSON

LISA AND CARLOS EVANS

LINDA AND BILL FARTHING

VALERIE AND LARRY GOLDSMITH, JR.

HEATHER AND LARRY GWALTNEY

KATHERINE G. HALL

ANDREW AND JOANNA HAYNES

TODD A. HERMAN, PHD AND HARRY GERARD

DEBORAH AND TODD HINES

AMY AND JOHN HINES

CAROLYN AND JOHN HUDSON

DR. DIANE D. JACOBSEN

CACI AND MAX JAEGER

VIRGINIA M. KEMP

JESSIE J. KNIGHT, JR. AND JOYE D. BLOUNT

BARBARA L. LAUGHLIN

MERRILL BARRINGER LIGHT

AARON AND MARIE LIGON

NOELLE AND MARK MAHONEY

WILL MANNING

SUSAN AND ALEX MCALISTER

LINDSAY AND STANTON MCCULLOUGH

RICHARD I. MCHENRY AND CYNTHIA L. CALDWELL

HUNTER AND JAMIE MCLAWHORN

MARY AND RICH MILLER

VICKY AND BILL MITCHENER

SHANNON AND KARL NEWLIN

DR. KIM NIXON

ROSE AND BAILEY PATRICK, JR.

PAULA AND CHRIS PINK

MR. AND MRS. WALKER L. POOLE

SUSAN AND SAM RANKIN

EDWIN RASBERRY

LESLIE AND J.R. RICHARDSON

RUTH AND TREVOR RUNBERG

THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY

JANE AND CARL SHOWALTER

MATTYE AND MARC SILVERMAN

TIFFANY AND SCOTT SMITH

CHRISTINA AND CASEY M. SMITH

CAROL J. SMITH

MARGARET AND JOHN SWITZER

JOHN A. THOMPSON AND LEE R. ROCAMORA

PATTI TRACEY AND CHRIS HUDSON

AMY AND HAL TRIBBLE

RAD AND ODIE VON WERSSOWETZ

FRANCES AND DUBOSE WILLIAMSON

SILVER CIRCLE

MELISSA AND JOHN ANTON

HON. JOHN S. ARROWOOD

HARRIET BARNHARDT

MARY CELESTE BEALL

TREVOR AND WINSTON BEASLEY

MRS. KATHERINE BELK-COOK

BARRIE AND MATT BENSON

DEBBIE AND GARY BLANKEMEYER

MEGAN BLANKEMEYER LIST AND KEVIN LIST

BETSY AND BILL BLUE

AMY AND PHILIP BLUMENTHAL

LEAH AND DAVID BRADY

DR. LARRY BRADY AND MR. ROMAN MATSO

KATHLEEN AND TERRY BRODERICK

CANTEY AND JEFF BROWN

HILARY BURT AND PETER BOVE

MARY-IRVING CAMPBELL

MEREDITH AND WILL CHAPMAN

DERICK AND SALLIE CLOSE

MELISSA CORNWELL AND BRAD CHRISTMANN

DEEDEE AND ED DALRYMPLE

GWIN BARNWELL DALTON

MELISSA DEL BROCCOLO

CAROLINE AND BEN DELLINGER

NELIA AND WILL DOLAN

ANNE HOWARD DOOLEY AND COLEMAN WRIGHT

DAPHNE DWYER AND TOM O’BRIEN

LEIGH DYER

ANDRES AND SIDNEY LOGAN ECHEVARRIA

DR. JEN SUDUL EDWARDS AND MR. GAVIN EDWARDS

JULIE AND TOM EISELT

KATHY AND TOM EWING

LIZ AND LANE FAISON

BLAIR AND RIP FARRIS

CHRISTA AND BOB FAUT

WHITNEY AND MITCHELL FELD

SARAH AND WILL FISHER

SANDY AND GEORGE FISHER

MOLLY AND HENRY FROELICH

MIKE AND LIBBA GAITHER

D. OSCAR AND HEIDE GROOMES

SUSIE AND TED GROSS

KATHY AND JOHN HAIRSTON

SUSAN M. HAMILTON

MR. AND MRS. WATTS HAMRICK III

MR. AND MRS. JOHN W. HARRIS III

MR. AND MRS. DONALD L. HARRISON

KEN AND SARA HAYNES

CLAUDIA AND ANDY HEATH

ANNE J. HENDERSON

LIZ HILLIARD

LYNN AND CHARLEY HODGES

BARBARA HOLT

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM T. HOUSER

CHIP AND VICTORIA HOWELL

LANIER AND DOUG HOY

COLEY AND TED HULL

MARIA AND JOHN HUSON

MR. AND MRS. JAMES E. S. HYNES

PAIGE AND CURTIS JONES

MARCIE AND MARTY KELSO

JOAN KIRSCHNER

MR. AND MRS. ADAM LANDAU

LORNE E. LASSITER AND GARY P. FERRARO

LIZ AND HAYNES LEA

JANET M. LECLAIR AND JOHN C. BRAGG, JR.

QUINCY AND CHRISTY LEE

DR. A. DAVIS LIGON, JR.

DRS. SIU CHALLONS-LIPTON AND JORDAN LIPTON

OWEN LOCK

NAN AND BILL LOFTIN

MARY AND BOB LONG

VINCE LONG AND CAMERON FURR

ROGER AND DEBORAH LOVELETT

KAIT MARLEY

MELODIE MCABEE

KAREN AND JP MCBRYDE

SAMANTHA AND MARK MCCALL

RENEE AND HUGH MCCOLL III

TOM AND SALLY MCELWEE

DEE DEE MCKAY

MARY AND JERALD MELBERG

NADIA MEREDITH

SALLY MITCHENER

ARRINGTON AND BURCH MIXON

KIMBERLY AND GEOFFREY MIZE

AMY MONTAGUE

In Remembrance

DAVID K. LINNAN AND CYNTHIA LEE MORENO

STEPHANIE AND SAM MUHS

JANET AND LOWELL NELSON

MR. AND MRS. ARTHUR R. NEWCOMBE IV

MARIAN M. NISBET

PATTY AND TOMMY NORMAN

STEPHANIE NOVOSEL

MARC AND WILLIAM OZBURN

RIDGELY AND JOHN PHILLIPS

JOSEPH AND AMANDA PILIGIAN

LARRY AND DALE POLSKY

ALY AND TOM PRIEDMAN

REECE MEALY RAHILLY AND IAN RAHILLY

DEBORAH HALLIDAY AND GARY RAUTENSTRAUCH

PATSY M. REAMES

RENEE AND DAVID REECE

AMORETTE REID

ASHLEY AND KERR ROBERTSON

MICHAEL A. RODRIGUEZ

TIERNAN AND WHITAKER ROSE

PAULA AND DALT RUFFIN

WILLIAM L. AND JANE O. SALTER

AIDA AND GREGORY SAUL

TOMMY AND JAN SHEALY

MORGAN SHIELDS

JUNE SILVER

DOWD AND WEBB SIMPSON

WAYNE SMITH AND INDUN PATRICK

MRS. JOHN A. STEWMAN III

PAM AND HARDING STOWE

ANN AND WELLFORD TABOR

KRISTY AND BILL THOMPSON

MEREDITH AND JIM THOMPSON

KATHYLEE AND KEN THOMPSON

BEN AND SANDI THORMAN

MELISSA AND PAUL TOLMIE

JUDITH AND GARY TOMAN

ANNA AND TROY TOZZI

MARGARET AND CHRIS ULLRICH

CAROLYN AND MATT VANDERBERG

NELIA AND MICHAEL VERANO

PATRICIA COX VISER

CASSANDRA AND DAVID WAGNER

VERA WATSON

JENNIFER AND ALEXANDER WAUGH

JOYCE WEAVER

DONALD G. WENZEL, JR.

DOROTHEA F. WEST

RICHARD “STICK” AND TERESA WILLIAMS

DANA AND JOE WOODY

It is with great sadness that we recognize the passing of three dedicated Mint supporters. Each leaves a rich legacy given their personal contributions to the Mint.

Gwendolyn Bland was a member of Friends of the Mint and a Mint Docent for decades. She served in various leadership positions for both affiliate groups, including president of each, and helped fundraise for the purchase of numerous works of art in the Mint’s collection. She was also a member of the Dwelle-McBryde Society.

Robert Bush was the Mint’s first director of development (November 1984–August 1989). During his tenure, he expanded membership from 1,000 to 9,000 members and increased member contributions by 300 percent! He was also the coordinator of Ramesses the Great: The Pharoah and His Time , the Mint’s largest exhibition to date.

Sally Van Allen was a member of the Mint’s Board of Trustees, a founding member of the Crown Society, and president of the Mint Museum Auxiliary. She and her husband, Bill Van Allen, were ardent and generous Mint supporters. The Sally and Bill Van Allen Terrace at Mint Museum Uptown was dedicated in their honor in 2012.

CURATOR’S PICK

Mark Yang paints the male nude. That practice helps him explore the rigid ideas around masculinity that defined his youth in South Korea; it is also an attempt to balance the overabundance of female nudes filling Western art museums. His figures are often intertwined — a reference to his time spent wrestling in high school — or reduced down to a single body part, such as the feet as seen here. While the maleness is implied, the bodies remain anonymous, even though they are often based on the artist’s own form. Yang says, “I am interested in fiction rather than depicting specific people or things, so it was natural to draw the figures based on my gender and features.”

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, is chief curator and curator of contemporary art.

Mark Yang (South Korean, 1994–). Orange Triplets, 2021, oil on canvas. Gift of Ligon Contemporary Art Foundation. 2022.1 © Mark Yang, 2021

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

Fashion Reimagined exhibition catalogue available in-store and online!