Kuba weaver and embroiderers. Man’s Prestige Cloth, raffia. The Wesley Mancini Textile Collection. 2020.24.21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE

UPDATED JANUARY 26, 2026

The Mint Museum proudly presents Designing Dynamism: Kuba Textiles from the DR Congo, The Wesley Mancini Collection

On view February 21–August 23, 2026 at Mint Museum Randolph

Charlotte, North Carolina (December 11, 2025) — The Mint Museum announces Designing Dynamism: Kuba Textiles from the DR Congo, The Wesley Mancini Collection, on view February 21–August 23, 2026, at Mint Museum Randolph.

Designing Dynamism celebrates the intricate visual language and extraordinary craftsmanship of the Kuba people from the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through labor-intensive techniques, Kuba artists transform natural materials, such as palm fibers and tree bark, into complex textile designs.

Kuba design, known for its distinctive asymmetrical patterns, has inspired generations of modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition highlights outstanding examples of Kuba artistry, examining both the influence of these motifs on global design trends and the enduring creativity of contemporary artists working in the DR Congo today.

The exhibition space is designed by Stephen Burks Man Made, recognized for elevating handmade traditions through global and industrial collaborations. The exhibition space is designed as an immersive journey organized into three interconnected sections—Past, Present, and Future.

Included in the Future section is a craft-driven short film, “In Search of Kuba, created by Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper, co-founders of Stephen Burks Man Made. The film follows a collective of contemporary Kuba artisans carrying forward the traditions of their ancestors and highlights the vital role the Kilubukila workshop plays in preserving and sustaining traditional Kuba textile practices.

All works in the exhibition are recent gifts to The Mint Museum from Wesley Mancini, a Charlotte-based textile designer who has assembled one of the region’s most significant collections of Kuba textiles.

“This exhibition honors a powerful artistic tradition that continues to influence contemporary design worldwide,” says Annie Carlano, senior curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion at The Mint Museum and curator of the exhibition. “We are thrilled to share the richness of Kuba creativity with our community, and we are grateful to Wesley Mancini for gifting his collection to the Mint.”

A central focus of the exhibition is a remarkable selection of prestige cloths—square or rectangular embroidered weavings made from raffia vinifera, a palm-leaf fiber native to the DR Congo. These cloths feature imaginative geometric patterns created through flat and cut-pile embroidery, the latter producing a plush, velvety surface.

Traditionally created for the Kuba king, dignitaries, or funerary rites, prestige textiles are distinguished by their complex graphic design, asymmetry, and discontinuous patterns. During the 17th and 18th centuries, wealth from the ivory trade enabled the Kuba to commission opulent regalia and ceremonial textiles. By the mid to late 1880s, Belgian colonial encroachment threatened their sovereignty and access to resources. As a result, Kuba textiles increasingly entered European markets, where they captivated modernist artists such as Henri Matisse, Suzanne Valadon, and Sonia Delaunay.

In addition to prestige cloths, the exhibition presents intricately decorated women’s overskirts, beaded belts, and a film by Stephen Burks Man Made that reflects the continuing vitality of Kuba aesthetics—demonstrating the cultural significance, ceremonial depth, and artistic innovation of Kuba textile traditions.

A scholarly, richly illustrated catalogue published by D. Giles Ltd. accompanies the exhibition. Edited by Annie Carlano, it features a major essay by independent scholar Vanessa Drake Moraga and contributions by Malika Leiper and Stephen Burks.

Designing Dynamism: Kuba Textiles from the DR Congo, The Wesley Mancini Collection is generously presented by Wells Fargo. Individual sponsorship is provided by Hillary and Fairfax Cooper and Lauren Harkey. The Mint Museum is supported, in part, by the City of Charlotte and the North Carolina Arts Council.

“Wells Fargo is honored to provide underwriting for this this exhibition that not only focuses on the design and history of these incredible textiles but also has compelling community engagement programs incorporated into the visitor experience,” says Jay Everette, head of community relations at Wells Fargo public affairs.

OPENING EXHIBITION EVENTS

Curator Conversation with Designers Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper
February 19, 7:30–8:30 PM | Mint Museum Randolph | FREE

Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano welcomes Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper, design partners in the studio Stephen Burks Man Made, to discuss Kuba textiles and their design of Designing Dynamism. Burks and Leiper are known for their globally collaborative work uniting industrial design with craft, community, and social engagement with artisans worldwide. Burks is an acclaimed industrial designer, while Leiper is a researcher, urban strategist, and cultural director for the studio.

Patterns of Influence: A Talk with Vanessa Drake Moraga
February 21, 2–3 PM | Mint Museum Randolph | FREE
Vanessa Drake Moraga, author of “Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa,” presents a talk that traces the history of the western adaptation, appropriation, and appreciation of Kuba surface design and textile artistry from the turn of the 20th century. Moraga is a curator and scholar known for her study of African textiles.

CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE + DESIGNER SERIES

Accompanying the exhibition is a design lecture series featuring renowned designers representing international innovations across a wide range of design disciplines. Scheduled speakers include Kyle Spence, Kim Mupangilai, Ini Archibong, and the duo Dimitri Zephyr and Florian Dach. The series kicks off in early spring 2026. Check mintmuseum.org/events for details to come.

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ABOUT THE MINT MUSEUM

Established in 1936 as North Carolina’s first art museum, The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative cultural institution dedicated to international art and design. With two locations—Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts—the Mint houses one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.

ABOUT STEPHEN BURKS MAN MADE

As partners in the award-winning studio Stephen Burks Man Made, Malika Leiper and Stephen Burks have forged a unique approach to design at the intersection of craft, community, and industry. Their nomadic workshop-based practice embraces the challenge to advocate for hand production as a strategy for innovation, which has brought them to over 20 countries on six continents. Spanning the disciplines of art, architecture, and industrial design, they have distinguished themselves through socially engaged partnerships that contribute to a more inclusive and pluralistic vision of design.

ABOUT WELLS FARGO

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $2.1 trillion in assets. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 33 on Fortune’s 2025 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories

For more information, contact:

Michele Huggins, associate director of marketing and communications
michele.huggins@mintmuseum.org | 704.564.0826

Clayton Sealey, senior director of marketing and communications
clayton.sealey@mintmuseum.org | 704.534.0186

Image courtesy of The Mint Museum

Skateboarding has always been more than a sport. Each deck tells a story of creativity, rebellion, and connection.

With over 9 million skateboarders in the United States, the sport is now ranked as the sixth fastest growing in the country by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, and skateboarding continues to shape and reflect American culture in dynamic ways.

Central Impact: Skateboarding’s Art and Influence, on view September 19, 2025 through January 4, 2026 at Mint Museum Randolph takes a closer look at one of skateboarding’s most powerful forms of expression: the board itself. The exhibition brings together rare and iconic decks, original artwork, and archival media spanning from the 1970s to today. It highlights how skate graphics have evolved alongside cultural shifts and technological advancements, offering a visual timeline of the movement’s growth.

Featured in the show are works by influential artists, including Sean Cliver, Marc McKee, and Andy Jenkins. Their graphics helped define the look and attitude of skateboarding through decades of change. These pieces are displayed alongside selections from private collections, including contributions from Tim Anderson, Josh Frazier, Andrew Thomas, Patrick Lowery, and others who have dedicated themselves to preserving this rich visual history.

While the exhibition spans global and national narratives, it places special focus on the Southeast and North Carolina’s skateboarding community. From pro skaters to local pioneers, these individuals shaped the region’s skate culture through passion, grit, and imagination. Charlotte has built a scene known for its independent spirit. With spots like Central Avenue, Eastland, and Kilborne Park serving as cultural landmarks, the city’s skaters have long organized their own events, supported local artists, and built places to ride when none existed. Central Impact recognizes the moments and people that helped put Charlotte on the skateboarding map. It documents the local scene’s role in a much broader story, showing how a homemade ramp or a spray-painted deck can carry meaning far beyond the street it was built on.

The exhibition pairs seamlessly with Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, also on view this fall at Mint Museum Randolph. Together, the two exhibitions explore how design, identity, and street culture continue to push boundaries—whether through footwear or four wheels. The exhibition is presented in partnership with Deckaid, a volunteer-led nonprofit that collaborates with artists, collectors, and skateboarders to showcase and create awareness of skateboard art history with an emphasis on supporting marginalized youth. Central Impact also serves a greater purpose. Proceeds from the exhibition will support the Charlotte Skate Foundation, which works to expand access and resources for young skaters across the region. This is more than a celebration of skateboarding graphics. It is a look into the culture, people, and places that continue to shape one of the most creative and inclusive communities in the world. Central Impact invites visitors to see skateboarding not just as a sport, but as a powerful form of self-expression with stories worth telling.

–Clayton Sealey is senior director of marketing and communications at The Mint Museum.

Jeff Staple x RTFKT
Meta-Pigeon K-Minus, 2021
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum, gift of RTFKT
Image courtesy of RTFKT

The oldest works of art at Mint Museum Randolph may stretch back thousands of years — but this fall, the spotlight is on what’s next.

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks explores the evolution of shoes — from 19th-century industrial breakthroughs to today’s boundary-pushing designs built for both the real world and the metaverse. Curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Future Now features approximately 60 revolutionary pairs of footwear, drawing from the Bata collection and private loans. Expect creations from icons like Salehe Bembury, RTFKT, Zaha Hadid, Mr. Bailey, Nike ISPA, SCRY, and more.

From factory floor to fashion frontier

During the 19th century, the traditional craft of shoemaking in the West was transformed by industrialization and the development of new synthetic materials. Early innovations gave rise to affordable, durable footwear — but they also limited consumer options for sizes and styles and led to the exploitation of workers and environmental waste. The designers represented in Future Now grapple with this complex history, prioritizing sustainability and style in equal measure. Although Future Now includes many kinds of footwear, the emphasis is on sneakers, highlighting the ways designers have met the performance and aesthetic needs of athletes and sneakerheads alike. The exhibition, organized into five sections, begins with an overview of new technologies and materials from the 19th and 20th centuries and includes some of the earliest sneakers, made in the 1890s, and evening shoes with celluloid heels from the 1920s.

Innovation unleashed

The “Innovation” section features 21st-century avant-garde styles like the NOVA platform shoe by the late Iraqi British architect Zaha Hadid. The cantilevered fiberglass platforms share the curvaceous lines and futuristic look of her building designs. The shoe is the first to use rotational molding to create its vinyl uppers and also includes vacuum-cast fiberglass platforms and heel wedges. It is made by United Nude, a company founded by Rem D. Koolhaas, who also studied architecture and believes that “shoes that don’t look like shoes can be the most exciting shoes.”

Projecting into the future

The shoe industry churns out over 20 billion pairs of shoes each year, contributing an estimated 2% of global carbon emissions. But visionary designers are combatting these problems through waste-free production methods and materials. In the “Sustainable” section of the exhibition, Designer Zixiong Wei and his company SCRY (the verb “scry” means to look into the future) created his otherworldly Undercurrent shoe in a fully digital process, from design to 3D printing, avoiding the material waste of offcuts in manufacturing. Footwear design today is more diverse — and more digital — than ever. In the “Transformative” section, view designs by creative disruptors like Daniel Bailey, aka Mr. Bailey. Bailey, founder of Conceptkicks, is a champion for the next generation, sharing the design process with emerging creators around the world through digital platforms. Mr. Bailey’s Octopus Shoe reinterprets the high-top sneaker through the lens of Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami. Inspired by Murakami’s Dobtopus sculptures, a variation of his recurring animated character Mr. Dob, Mr. Bailey’s design thoroughly reimagines the form of a high-top sneaker with sucker-laden tentacles reaching up from around the sole and tongues featuring Mr. Dob’s Mickey Mouse-like, round ears and toothy open mouth.

Into the virtual realm

In a world where our identities live both online and off, the final section — “Virtual” — dives into the fascinating realm of digital fashion. Enter RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”). The trailblazing company founded by Benoit Pagotto, who previously worked in e-sports marketing; Chris Le, a game designer; and Steven Vasilev, a customizer of sneakers, fuses gaming, crypto, and culture, producing NFT sneakers with a real-world counterpart. Much like works of art or custom-made products, NFTs are unique digital assets. RTFKT created a new model where consumers who purchase sneaker NFTs are also entitled to a matching pair of physical sneakers made on demand. The consumer can then wear them as an avatar, a physical version in real life, or sell them for profit. New York streetwear legend Jeff Staple joined forces with RTFKT. Staple rose to fame in 2005 when he was commissioned by Nike to design a shoe that represented his home city. Staple took inspiration from the pigeon, a creature he sees as a “hustler” and a “warrior” that follows its own rules. He created the limited-edition Nike Dunk Low Pro SB Pigeon—aka the cult-classic Pigeon Dunk. With only 30 pairs made to sell, the drop caused a frenzy in lower Manhattan on release day February 22, 2005. When Staple saw RTFKT’s NFT sneakers, he sensed a similar cultural inflection point and approached them about collaborating. The result: a futuristic digital-physical hybrid known as the MetaPigeon and another instant sneaker icon.

–Rebecca Elliot is associate curator of craft, design, and fashion at The Mint Museum.

Kat Sanchez

By Page Leggett

Katrina Sánchez’s fiber art lures you in with its vibrant colors. Its highly tactile nature makes you want to touch it, hold it, handle it. It just looks playful.

But unless Sánchez has created a piece specifically labeled as “OK to touch” — as she often does for exhibitions since “the interactive piece is a core part of my work” — it’s better to hold it in your gaze instead of your hands.

“Fiber tends to show the amount of touch it receives,” she explains.

Sánchez makes each piece with a hand-operated knitting machine. “I like pointing that out,” she says, “because the average person might think it’s an easy, automated process — and it’s not. I’m feeding the yarn in and controlling the tension, the speed of the machine, the amount of knots happening in the yarn. It’s a dual process that includes made by hand and machine-made.”

The art world has taken notice. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including a recent showing at the VOLTA Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland. Corporate giants including Lowe’s, Credit Karma, and Truist have commissioned her, and she’s currently preparing for a solo exhibition at a Los Angeles gallery.

Sánchez’s soft sculptures will be on view at Mint Museum Randolph beginning in October as part of the Mint’s Interventions series. A limitless palate of color, Sánchez’s colors are rich, saturated, eye-popping and varied.

A maker since childhood

The Panama native, born to an American military father and a Panamanian mother, says that love for color is in her DNA. “When thinking about color, I always think back to my home country and how colorful it is.”

Images courtesy of Kat Sanchez

As a child, she would visit Panama every summer and be each visit she was struck by the contrast between the United States and Panama. “There’s a big cultural difference,” she says. “The houses there are neon yellow and pink and green. I’d come home and see gray and white houses and complain to my mom about how boring that was. I’ve always been extremely drawn to color and naturally incorporated it into my work.”

She loves all colors, but there’s one that pops up (and out!) often in her work. Although green dominates her wardrobe and home décor, she says, “There’s something about hot pink. You’ll almost always see it in my work. It can go well with everything, while also giving a pop. It’s almost like the way a lot of painters use red in their work as a focal point — something your eye gravitates toward.”

Sánchez, who goes by “The Fiberess” on social media, has always been a maker. But “artist” wasn’t her career ambition: “Growing up, I never knew anyone who was a working artist. It just didn’t seem within the realm of possibility.”

Sánchez comes from a long line of seamstresses, each of whom passed down needlework traditions to the next generation. Her mom, grandmother and great-grandmother all sewed. Her mom taught her to crochet when she was 10, and her first project was a blanket for the little brother her mom was expecting.

Art’s healing power

Professional recognition came early for Sánchez. While still in college at UNC Charlotte, she started exhibiting in local art shows. Soon after earning her bacherlor’s degree in fine art, she was selected for a residency at Goodyear Arts, which she says, “propelled me into being an active part of the Charlotte art scene. I got to be part of a community and meet professional artists, which gave me a foundation and a nudge to keep going once I no longer had the structure school provides.”

In the first couple of years after college, she had a series of creative roles — pastry chef, jewelry designer, seamstress — before devoting herself full-time to fiber art. Her studio is in the same place where her career began — at Goodyear Arts.

During that residency, she honed her unmistakable style. She’d developed what she calls the “knitted noodle” — oversized, plush linear forms that have become her signature. But she increased their scale and found new meaning in the work when, she “decided to look inward and create work about healing.”

She started by mending old clothing and creating tapestries in the process. She began pondering the reciprocal relationship between humans and the things, like clothing and our homes, that “shield and shelter us,” she says.

A message woven into her art

There’s almost always more to a work of art than meets the eye. Sánchez’s colorful, playful work belies the deeper meaning behind it. Even she didn’t immediately realize why she felt compelled to explore healing.

“I’ve always been empathetic and sensitive,” she says. “And I’ve always been prone to anxiety and stress. I think there’s been a need to self-soothe through the process of making.

That’s been my form of therapy. But if I think about what occurred right before my Goodyear residency, that’s when the shooting happened at UNCC.”

It was April 2019 when a former Charlotte student walked into a classroom and opened fire. Sánchez was on campus at the time. A professor led her and other students into the clay studio where they sheltered together “with no idea what was going on, no idea where the [shooter] could be,” she says.

The fear, the hiding, the uncertainty — it “was really traumatizing, of course, for everybody,” but she didn’t deal with it immediately. Delayed trauma response is common.

“I thought what I was feeling around that time was the stress of having to create a body of work for my residency,” says Sánchez. “I’m a perfectionist, and I put a lot of pressure on myself. It wasn’t until a year or so ago that I made the connection that it deeply affected me and my peers.”

Her soft, puffy, tactile work — often in the colors she recalls from childhood summers in Panama — looks almost child-like. There’s a playfulness to it, but also innocence. No adult can fully hold onto the sweet naivete of childhood, but we can work toward healing the wounds life deals all of us.

That is what Sánchez’s artmaking does for her. Her finished pieces bear no trace of pain, fear, or trauma. They simply exude joy. 

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.

Jeff Staple x RTFKT, Meta-Pigeon K-Minus, 2021, Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum, gift of RTFKT. Image courtesy of RTFKT.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | IMAGES

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

On view September 20, 2025–January 4, 2026 at Mint Museum Randolph

Charlotte, North Carolina (August 8, 2025) — Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks explores the evolution of shoes, from 19th-century industrial breakthroughs to today’s boundary-pushing designs built for both the real world and the metaverse.

Organized in collaboration with the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum, Future Now brings together approximately 60 cutting-edge footwear designs from the Bata Shoe Museum’s renowned collection—home to more than 13,000 pairs of shoes—as well as loans from institutions, private collectors, visionary designers, and inventors around the globe.

Featured designers include trailblazers such as Salehe Bembury, Steven Smith, RTFKT, Mr. Bailey, Zaha Hadid, Nike ISPA, Safa Şahin, EKTO VR, Saysh, Benoit Méléard, SCRY, and many more. Their work explores the intersection of technology, sustainability, fashion, and virtual innovation.

The exhibition, organized into five sections, begins with an overview of new technologies and materials from the 19th and 20th centuries and includes some of the earliest sneakers, made in the 1890s, and evening shoes with celluloid heels from the 1920s.

Mr. Bailey, Octopus Shoe, 2018. Collection of Mr. Bailey. Image courtesy of Mr. Bailey.

The historical context of the show traces the shift from artisan shoemaking in the 19th century to mass production—driven by industrialization and new synthetic materials—highlighting the resulting cultural, social, and environmental challenges. The contemporary designers reflect on this legacy while imagining more inclusive, eco-conscious, and technologically advanced futures.

“Incredible and innovative new footwear designs promise to transform what we will wear tomorrow,” says Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator of the exhibition and director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum. “From sneakers created to address sustainability and inclusion to shoes that blur the line between the real world and the metaverse, this exhibition explores how forward-looking creators are helping us step into the future.”

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum. This exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum. The exhibition is generously sponsored in Charlotte by PNC. Individual sponsorship is kindly provided by Kati and Chris Small, and Ann and Michael Tarwater. The Mint Museum is supported, in part, by the City of Charlotte and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Special Events:

Party in the Park | Sneakspeaks
October 26, 1–5 PM
Mint Museum Randolph | FREE

To celebrate the exhibition, the Mint will host a community celebration on October 26 during Party in the Park at Mint Museum Randolph. The event will include free museum admission, custom sole station in collaboration with Shoedio, a panel discussion about sneaker concept and design, a sneaker stroll, and sneaker battle, plus food trucks, a live DJ, and cash bar.

Public talk with Elizabeth Semmelhack
November 16, 2–3 PM
Mint Museum Randolph | FREE

Bata Shoe Museum Director and Senior Curator Elizabeth Semmelhack is one of the best-known shoe historians today. Hear directly from Semmelhack about why shoes matter, what they say about us as wearers, and how designers are revolutionizing what we will put on our feet tomorrow. Semmelhack has curated over 20 exhibitions and authored more than 30 articles and books, including the acclaimed “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” Her work has been featured in “The New York Times,” “Vogue,” “National Geographic,” and on NBC’s “Today Show.”

Exhibition catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by a visually rich catalogue published by Rizzoli Electa. Originally developed for the presentation at the Bata Shoe Museum (May 2022–October 2023), the book includes in-depth interviews with designers such as Allyson Felix, Salehe Bembury, Mr. Bailey, and more, offering insights into the creative processes and inspirations shaping the future of footwear.

About the curator
Elizabeth Semmelhack is internationally recognized as one of the leading voices in fashion curation. As Director and Senior Curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, she has curated over 20 exhibitions and authored more than 30 articles and books, including the acclaimed “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” Her work has been featured in “The New York Times,” “Vogue,” “National Geographic,” and on NBC’s “Today Show.”

About The Mint Museum
Established in 1936 as north Carolina’s first art museum, The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative cultural institution and museum of international art and design. With two locations — Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts — the Mint boasts one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.

About the American Federation of Arts
Founded in 1909, the American Federation of Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the public’s understanding of visual arts through international traveling exhibitions, scholarly publications, and educational initiatives.

About the Bata Shoe Museum
Established in 1995 in Toronto, Canada, the Bata Shoe Museum houses one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive footwear collections. The museum is recognized globally for its innovative exhibitions and material culture research, all housed in its iconic Raymond Moriyama-designed building.

For more information or to schedule interviews, contact:
Michele Huggins, associate director of marketing and communications
michele.huggins@mintmuseum.org | 704.564.0826

Clayton Sealey, senior director of marketing and communications
clayton.sealey@mintmuseum.org | 704.534.0186

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Portrait of Hugh McColl by Annie Leibovitz now on view at The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA (April 28, 2025) — A stunning new portrait of Hugh McColl, former chairman and CEO of Bank of America and one of Charlotte’s most influential civic leaders, is now on public view at Mint Museum Randolph. The portrait was taken by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz on McColl’s Texas ranch and commissioned by close friends to honor his 90th birthday in June.

Hugh McColl looking at his portrait by Annie Leibovitz on view at Mint Museum Randolph.

In a departure from his iconic business attire, McColl is shown in jeans with a belt and his favorite belt buckle, a casual black button-up shirt, a jacket he purchased in Scotland in the 1960s, and a black cowboy hat. He stands tall against a sweeping, windswept landscape beneath drifting clouds. The portrait was unveiled at the Mint’s Coveted Couture Gala April 26.

“This is the rare case of an icon photographing an icon,” said Todd Herman, president and CEO of The Mint Museum. “Annie has captured both the strength and humanity of one of Charlotte’s favorite sons.”

The portrait was commissioned specifically for The Mint Museum in celebration of McColl’s milestone birthday and in conjunction with the exhibition ANNIE LEIBOVITZ / WORK, on view at Mint Museum Uptown through August 31. The portrait is currently displayed at Mint Museum Randolph and will be relocated to Mint Museum Uptown later this summer.

About The Mint Museum
The Mint Museum is a leading art institution in the Southeast known for its rich collections, engaging exhibitions, and commitment to education and community engagement. With two locations—Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown—it continues to serve as a cultural cornerstone of Charlotte.

For more information, press inquiries, or media access, please contact: 

Clayton Sealey, senior director of marketing and communications
clayton.sealey@mintmuseum.org | 704.534.0186

Michele Huggins, associate director of marketing and communications
michele.huggins@mintmuseum.org | 704.564.0826

Rose B. Simpson (United States, Santa Clara Pueblo, Kha-’Po Owingeh,1983–). Two Selves, 2023, ceramic, steel, grout, twine, and hide. Museum purchase: Funds provided by MMCDF Collections Council Acquisition Fund, Windgate Fund, Finish Line Fund, Charles W. Beam Accessions Endowment, and Laura and Mike Grace. 2024.24

Two Selves on view at Mint Museum Randolph beginning March 5, 2025

By Annie Carlano

Rose B. Simpson is one of the most visionary artists of our time. She is the granddaughter of distinguished architect, potter, scholar and activist Rina Swentzell, daughter of the pioneering figurative ceramicist Roxanne Swentzell, and descended from generations of matriarchal ceramicists. Simpson still lives in Santa Clara Pueblo, a Tewa tribal community in northern New Mexico.

Two Selves is made of coiled red and yellow clay and is about duality. The two figures — an adult-sized armless character with firmly planted feet and a childlike creature with outstretched arms and restless legs — represent the difference between the centered and accepting state of being, and the frenetic and grasping state of doing. Both lie within us in an ongoing struggle for dominance.

Simpson has said that the making of her mixed-media works is a spiritual act, a healing process from centuries of colonial trauma and life in the post-colonial postmodern world. Once each sculpture leaves her studio, she believes it will find its intended home, a place that needs that specific work and the message it carries. To protect this sculpture on its journey from her studio to its destination, Two Selves is adorned with talismanic jewelry.

Simpson received a master’s degree in fine art from Rhode Island School of Design and a master’s degree in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her works are in many museum collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art; Guggenheim, New York; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and LACMA, Los Angeles. She was included in the 2024 Whitney Biennial and in 2023, she was appointed to the board of trustees of the Institute of American Indian Arts by President Biden.

Annie Carlano, senior curator of Craft, Design & Fashion

Mint docent Susan Catterall gives a group tour at Mint Museum Randolph.

By Michele Huggins

Having spent much of her career in law school and law firm libraries, Susan Catterall knew that she wanted to do something different when she retired. With an undergraduate degree in art history, she wanted to be more involved with arts. Thanks to a friend who was already a Mint Docent, she was introduced to Joel Smeltzer, head of school and gallery programs and docent liaison. She joined the Mint Docent program in 2017 and also volunteers in the library and archives department. Read on to learn more about her experience as a volunteer at the Mint.

How has volunteering at the Mint enriched your life?

I consider art to be fundamental to our lives. As it happens, in an unexpected way, my involvement at The Mint Museum has permitted me to fulfill my original goal of working in an art library. I think of this whenever I volunteer in the archives or encourage members of the Docent Research Committee to ask librarian Jennifer Winford for research assistance.

As a docent, I can share my passion for art and history with others. I have been fortunate to have formed firm friendships with other docents, especially with those in my entering class, and have learned much from seasoned docents and from the enthusiasm of new docents. We inspire each other.

I enjoy researching artists and art movements and have served on the Docent Research Committee for several years. Pursuing research put me in frequent contact with The Mint Museum librarians, including Joyce Weaver, Ellen Show, and Jennifer Winford. Eventually I eventually began volunteering for Ellen Show, director of library and archives, to learn more about archival work.

I have been honored to have had a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how long and how hard a curator works in bringing an exhibition to life and to observe the support that the library and archives department provides. I was privileged to assist in the processing of the Robert Ebendorf archives memorabilia and to have become better acquainted with Assistant Curator of Fashion, Craft, and Design Rebecca Elliot.

What is your favorite tour to give?

There are a number of tours which I enjoy, and I like being able to lead tours at Mint Museum Uptown and Mint Museum Randolph. Some of my favorites include: “The African American Experience Through Art,” “Learning to Look: Every Picture Tells a Story,” and the “Highlights Tour.”

Whenever I lead a tour, I feel as if I am encouraging individuals to appreciate and respond to different cultures and to perspectives that have been expressed through art. The learning and engagement staff, especially Joel Smeltzer, Maggie Mauldin. and Kassidy Childs, are continually developing creative tours and improving processes. Docents add to the success of a tour, not only by being prepared, but by our ability to read the audience, and adjust and cater the tour to them.

Do you have a favorite work in the Mint’s collection? If so, what makes it your favorite?

I enjoy the story behind the work of art, whether it’s the life of the individual artist, the process of making the piece, or the historic setting in which it was created. So, I have many favorites. However, I have two “go-to” pieces to which I frequently turn when engaging the tour audience. One is Hoss Haley’s White Ripple on view in on Level 3 in Craft + Design galleries. We discuss blacksmithing skills, environmental concerns regarding the recycling and repurposing of “white goods,” as well as the science behind the craft. I will often ask for a volunteer who has a strong, steady voice to walk the length of the piece. The remaining group can hear how the metal ripples shorten and lengthen the soundwaves, which begin to resemble a French police siren.

I also use Lonely Vigil by William Herbert Dunston by having the tour participants look carefully and tell me what is going on in the painting. I begin by having them stand on the other side of the room and describe the “big picture.” Then I ask the group to move forward and observe how other details emerge. We also discuss how artists’ fascination with the Old West helped shape American Art.

What do you wish more people knew about volunteering at the Mint?

What I most wish that people knew is that the docent corps is made of up of so many amazing and talented individuals. We are artists, professors, art educators, teachers, writers, editors, actors, gardeners, lawyers, librarians, bilinguists and so much more. We learn from each other and enjoy sharing our experiences and engaging our audiences.

Several years ago, a docent colleague and I created an acronym based on the word “MINT” to illustrate museum manners and rules for school students. For me, the “T” stands for “teaching each other.”  I tell students that I may know about the art within the museum, but I depend on them to teach me new aspects through their eyes and experiences. I feel the same way about my docent colleagues.

Michele Huggins is associate director of marketing and communications at The Mint Museum.

Maya Goded (1967- Mexico City). “Iquique, Chile,” 2022, digital print. Museum purchase with funds provided by Allen Blevins and Armando Aispuro, and Betsy Rosen and Liam Stokes.

Documenting the lives of women lost in the shadows

By Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD

For the past three years, the Mint has been building a significant portfolio of works by Mexico City-based photographers Graciela Iturbide and Maya Goded. Over the decades, the two photographers have created revealing, poignant, and powerful images that examine the intersection of contemporary life and centuries-long practices throughout North and South America.

The artists, who are a generation apart in age, both grew up in Mexico City and have worked in various places throughout the world. Their primary focus, however, has been indigenous communities stretching from Los Angeles to Chile. Over decades of exploring communities, whether urban or isolated, Iturbide and Goded have found women as the consistent force holding these fragmenting societies together.

The exhibition Women of Land and Smoke: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide and Maya Goded (Las Mujeres de Tierra y Humo: Las Fotografías de Graciela Iturbide y Maya Goded), opening November 23 at Mint Museum Randolph, includes over 50 photographs that present an overview of Iturbide and Goded’s careers that span the Americas.

The exhibition is primarily drawn from The Mint’s collection, and celebrates a recent gift from Allen Blevins and Armando Aispuro, and Betsy Rosen and Liam Stokes that allowed the museum to purchase significant portfolios by both photographers.

Maya Goded

Born in Mexico City in 1967 to political activists (her mother immigrated from New York City), Maya Goded has long sought out the unseen or actively ignored people in our spaces: prostitutes, the missing, laborers, healers. Goded’s photographs feature women whose essential roles are supporting and sustaining communities but are considered dispensable when it comes to their care and protection. 

Over the last decade, Goded noticed that the healing practices women traditionally used on the sick in their communities were increasingly turned to the land on which they lived. Decades of strip mining, nuclear testing, and chemical dumping had poisoned the earth and water in many Central and South American countries Goded documented. As a result, the portfolio of images the Mint has collected includes many ways in which women’s bodies move through the world with the attempt to heal.

The photographs featured here are an overview of Goded’s work that will be included in Women of Land and Smoke.

Learn more about Graciela Iturbide and her portfolio in the next issue of Inspired.*

Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, is chief curator and curator of Contemporary Art at The Mint Museum.

*This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Inspired magazine, the Mint’s member magazine.