Feed your soul with a FREE docent-led tour
If you work, live, or visit uptown, or know someone who does, there will soon be a great new way to experience Levine Center for the Arts : FREE “ArtBreak” lunchtime museum tours offered by docents of The Mint Museum, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.
Beginning on March 17—Saint Patrick’s Day—these 30-minute tours , free and open to the public, will be guiding visitors through the galleries every third Thursday of each month at noon.
Whether it’s an introductory experience for a first-time visitor or a deeper cultural experience for those already familiar with Levine Center for the Arts
institutions, the tours will provide a brief but focused encounter with art with people who have a limited amount of time—and will allow time to grab
lunch as well.
This collaborative effort, the first of its kind in Charlotte, originated with the Mint docents and is just one of several new initiatives underway to improve
public tours. Support is provided by the THRIVE Fund, established to provide financial stability to Charlotte’s cultural sector and currently administered by
Foundation For The Carolinas.
Visitors can choose one of the three museums for each date, and experience a tour structured around a common theme reflecting the nature
of permanent collections or special exhibitions on view. (Each theme lasts for three months—enough to experience all three institutions!)
Themes include:
“Trending Now,” March–May, will examine how contemporary issues may become an aspect of an artist’s work, the use of new materials
and processes in creating art, or simply what is new on view. At the Mint, works discussed will include Hoss Haley’s White Ripple, Susan
Point’s Salmon Spawning Run and Tom Joyce’s Thicket.
“Zoom In, Zoom Out,” June–August, will challenge tour participants to look at selected works of art in an unconventional manner.
“Labels: Do We Need Them?” in September–November will ask visitors to consider text and reference materials provided by curators as
well as issues of identity and labels in society today.
“Out of Place,” December–February 2017, rounds out the tour themes for the year and will focus on the quirky and unexpected in the
galleries.
Article by Renee Reese, a Docent of The Mint Museum since 1988, who was recently named Director at Large for the National Docent Symposium Council. This article originally appeared in “INSPIRED,” the member magazine of The Mint Museum. To receive a copy, call 704.337.2009. Click here to become a member today !