Mint Museum launches new microsite devoted to Surrealist artist Charles Seliger

Site, an interactive digital exhibition “kid-alogue,” follows recent launch of North Carolina pottery microsite

Following the success of its recently launched microsite devoted to North Carolina pottery, The Mint Museum has launched a new site devoted to the Surrealist artist Charles Seliger, at Seliger.mintmuseum.org. The site serves as an interactive digital exhibition catalogue, following the museum’s highly-regarded 2012 exhibition devoted to the artist, which traveled internationally. Because it is especially useful for reaching younger audiences, the Mint has named the site a “kid-alogue” and hopes to make it a model for similar future projects.

The Mint received international attention for its groundbreaking exhibition “Seeing the World Within:  Charles Seliger in the 1940s,” which was on view at the Mint from February through May 2012. It was one of three simultaneous exhibitions making up Surrealism and Beyond, which was the largest and most significant examination of Surrealism ever presented in the Southeast. After its presentation at the Mint, the Seliger show traveled to museums in Venice, Italy and Utica, New York. The show, which was the first to examine the vibrant, intricate canvases created by Seliger during the first decade of his career, was seen by more than 150,000 visitors. The exhibition was accompanied by a beautifully-designed printed catalogue containing new insights on Seliger’s work, colorful reproductions of the paintings in the show, and striking details of these canvases.

“This microsite will continue to engage local, national, and international audiences long beyond the conclusion of our exhibition,” said Jonathan Stuhlman, the Mint’s Curator of American Art and organizer of the Surrealism shows. “We are proud to once again offer our global community a new way to learn about and engage with the work of an important artist.”

The site’s features include a broad, illustrated overview of Seliger’s artistic development and the context in which it took place, accompanied by high resolution, zoomable images; a digital gallery of Seliger’s work from the 1940s; rare video clips of interviews with the artist; and a series of thought-provoking questions and suggested activities linked to Seliger and his work. Designed in conjunction with the Eastco Group of Orchard Park, New York and with key input from the museum’s department of Learning and Engagement, this project is calculated to appeal to a broad audience, ranging from middle- and high school students to art lovers to educators.

Major funding was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art; The Dedalus Foundation; and The Mint Museum Auxiliary. Additional support for this project was generously provided by Charlie Murray and Welborn and Patty Alexander. The museum is also grateful to Lenore Seliger, Michael Rosenfeld, and halley k harrisburg for their assistance and commitment to the artist.

In November 2012, the Mint launched its first microsite, devoted to its North Carolina pottery collection, the most comprehensive in the country, at NCpottery.mintmuseum.org. Funded by a generous Technology Integration Project grant from the Knight Foundation, that site also contains interactive components that invite visitors to learn more about the creation of art and its relevance to our state’s history and culture. Visitors can search the Mint’s collection by potter, region, or type of object, as well as find full-text versions of Mint exhibition catalogues devoted to North Carolina pottery and curriculum connections that should be of particular interest to educators. Both microsites are available as links from the Mint’s award-winning main site, mintmuseum.org, under “Resources.”

“These microsite projects advance the Mint’s ongoing goal of finding new, innovative ways to make its art accessible to the widest possible audience,” said Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson, President & CEO of the Mint. “We hope our visitors, both in person and online, will leave feeling inspired and transformed by their interactions.”