#LongLiveArts Free Community Festival

Get ready for the 2nd Annual #LongLiveArts FREE Community Festival! The entire community is invited to Levine Center for the Arts to enjoy this special collaboration between the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and Mint Museum Uptown.

All three of the Levine Center for the Arts museums will open their galleries for FREE access during regular museum hours.

Free ArtBreak Tours * Live Entertainment * Food Trucks * Interactive Activities & Lots of Fun!

FESTIVAL HOURS
11:00am – 4:00pm

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SCHEDULE

The festival is made possible by the THRIVE Fund, administered by Foundation For The Carolinas.

Mint, Bechtler, Gantt Center, Knight Theater invite the public to free event

The public is invited to Levine Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 3, 2017. African dancing. A portrait paint-off. Drums. Art-making. Aerial dancing. Jazz. Food trucks. T-shirt screen printing. Hip Hop Orchestrated. Cuban dance. And FREE museum access all day.

The arts come alive at the second annual #LongLiveArts Festival, hosted by the four member institutions of Levine Center for the Arts – the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the John S. and James L. Knight Theater, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown. The public is invited to the 500 block of South Tryon Street between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. for the festival. Interactive art-making workshops for all ages begin on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., with a main stage set up on Levine Avenue of the Arts and emceed by Emmy Award-winning poet and author Boris “Bluz” Rogers.

Community artists are invited to join a #LongLiveArts Festival Multi-Artist Paint-Off, sponsored by Binders Art Supplies and Frames, where local artists compete in a live painting competition. The artwork will then be auctioned off with proceeds going to support the Levine Center for the Arts.

Other performers and activities scheduled as part of Saturday’s activities include Caroline Calouche’s aerial dancers; Drums4Life; Cuban Jazz by Charlotte Repertory Dance Theatre; Roving Puppetry by Drew Nowlins; an art class with Cathay Dawkins; salsa dancing demonstration, as well as interactive art-making activities led by the education staffs of the three member museums. Docents from the three museums will lead free 30-minute “ArtBreak” tours inside each museum at noon, 1 p.m., and 2 p.m.

For a complete schedule, click here or visit our facebook page.

WHAT: #LongLiveArts Community Festival

WHEN: Saturday, June 3

11 a.m.-4 p.m.

WHERE: Levine Center for the Arts, 500 block of South Tryon Street, including Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Levine Center for the Arts is one of Charlotte’s major cultural destinations, home to Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, and Mint Museum Uptown. The Center was made possible through the support of the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Campaign for Cultural Facilities, and The Leon Levine Foundation, one of the country’s largest and most impactful philanthropic organizations, along with the generosity of Bank of America Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and Duke Energy Foundation, among many others.

A generous grant from the THRIVE Fund is enabling the four institutions to work more closely together than ever before to increase visibility and access to the unified center. The $250,000 award from the THRIVE Fund over two years is making possible the center’s first-ever joint marketing campaign, as well as free monthly lunchtime tours and a free community festival. The THRIVE Fund was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. The Mint Museum spearheaded the grant and is managing the project in collaboration with the other institutions. More information at levinecenterarts.org.

Media, hospitality industries invited to hear details of spring seasons

Members of the media and supporters are invited to hear details of the spring arts season for four of Charlotte’s key cultural institutions, including several new collaborations making their public debut.

“See All Three” tours debut April 23: Led by curatorial and creative staff at the three museums, participants are invited to experience special guided tours discussing common threads among exhibitions at the Bechtler, Gantt Center, and Mint. The tours are free for members who have joined any of the three museums at the $250 level or higher. The upcoming tour will focus on the evolution of abstraction during the 20^th century, beginning with Bechtler Collection: Relaunched and Rediscovered; continuing with The Future is Abstract at the Gantt Center; and concluding with the new special exhibition State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, opening that weekend at Mint Museum Uptown.

Yoga at Levine Center for the Arts on May 18: In collaboration with Charlotte Five, the institutions will team up to host a FREE communitywide outdoor yoga class on the plaza at Levine Center for the Arts, followed by an evening of food trucks cash bars, and free gallery access at the three museums. The event will be at 5:30 p.m. on May 18, which is also International Art Museum Day. Look for more information soon at CharlotteFive.com.

#LongLiveArts Festival returns June 3: For the second year, all four LCA institutions are collaborating on a FREE community festival celebrating all the performing and visual arts the institutions offer to the community. The event will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday June 3 and will feature performances, family-friendly activities, food trucks, and more.

ArtBreak tours continue monthly: Now entering their second year, the FREE docent-led tours are offered to the public at noon on the third Thursday of each month at each of the three museums. Themes for the tours shift every three months, allowing visitors to pick a different museum each month and have new experiences all year long. Since their debut in March 2016, the tours have drawn 769 visitors.

Following the presentation to those in attendance at the Mint on March 29, participants will be invited to select one of the three museums and experience an abbreviated “ArtBreak” tour for themselves. Other spring highlights at Levine Center for the Arts to be discussed include:

At Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Celebrating Jean Tinguely and Santana (May 12 – September 10, 2017)

Swiss artist Jean Tinguely’s iconic sculpture Santana, completed in 1966, celebrated its 50th birthday in 2016. To mark the occasion, the museum will offer a survey of Tinguely’s development as an artist through a presentation of his sculptures both from the Bechtler collection and on loan, drawings and prints, and personal correspondence between the artist and the Bechtler family. Additionally, Alberto Giacometti: 45 Drawings Portfolio remains on view through June 5.

At Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater

Charlotte Jazz Festival 2017, April 20-23: Blumenthal Performing Arts’ hit jazz festival returns to the Queen City this spring, once again featuring the critically acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the leadership of musical director Wynton Marsalis. Sponsored by The Leon Levine Foundation, Charlotte Jazz Festival 2017 will take place at Levine Center for the Arts and Romare Bearden Park, with even more to offer than the inaugural sellout year. In a new collaboration, each jazz ticket purchased brings a free pass to the three Levine Center for the Arts museums ($20 value). Visit CharlotteJazzFestival.com, BlumenthalArts.org, or call 704.372.1000 for complete details and pricing.

At Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

Four exhibitions remain on view through July 8: The Future is Abstract; Alison Saar: The Nature of Us; Zun Lee: Father Figure; and Jordan Casteel: Harlem Notes. This summer, the Center will feature private collections of African-American collectors. Additionally, the Center will discuss collaborations to bring art into the community with the Bechtler, Northwest School of the Arts, and the newly opened Renaissance West community.

At Mint Museum Uptown

On April 22, the Mint will debut State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, an unprecedented survey of 75 works of contemporary art from every region of the country. Among the works will be the installation Slow Room by Jonathan Schipper, which will slowly self-destruct in front of visitors’ eyes over the course of four-plus months. Also included will be selections by North Carolina artist Bob Trotman. The exhibition, on view through September 3, is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and presented in Charlotte with generous support from PNC Financial Services, and additional support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Young Affiliates of the Mint.

At Levine Center for the Arts

A generous grant from the THRIVE Fund is enabling the four institutions to work more closely together than ever before to increase visibility and access to the unified center. The $250,000 award from the THRIVE Fund over two years has made possible the center’s first-ever joint marketing campaign, created and administered by local firm Orbital Socket. A Levine Center for the Arts TV Ad, #LongLiveArts, created by Orbital Socket, won a Midsouth Regional Emmy Award earlier this year. The THRIVE Fund was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. The Mint Museum spearheaded the grant and is managing the project in collaboration with the other institutions. More information at levinecenterarts.org. Also, follow @LevineCenterArt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

To RSVP or for further questions, contact:

Leigh Dyer

Director of Public Relations, The Mint Museum

704.337.2009

Leigh.Dyer@mintmuseum.org

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

ABOUT BECHTLER MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to the exhibition of mid-20th-century modern art. It is named after the family of Andreas Bechtler, who assembled and inherited a collection created by seminal figures in modernism. The collection comprises more than 1,400 works. Some works are accompanied by books, photographs, and letters illustrating personal connections to the Bechtler family. For museum details visit bechtler.org.

ABOUT BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS + KNIGHT THEATER

Blumenthal Performing Arts serves the Carolinas as a leading cultural, entertainment and education provider. Blumenthal Performing Arts receives operating support from the Arts & Science Council and North Carolina Arts Council. Blumenthal Performing Arts is also supported by PNC Bank, sponsor of the PNC Broadway Lights. More information: blumenthalarts.org.

ABOUT HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER

Founded in 1974, Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro-American Center) exists to present, preserve and celebrate the art, history and culture of African-Americans and others of the African Diaspora through dance, music, visual and literary arts, film, educational programs, theatre productions and community outreach. Named for Harvey Bernard Gantt, the prominent architect, community leader and former mayor of Charlotte, the Center is housed in an inspired and distinguished award-winning structure and is home to the nationally celebrated John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American Art, which was generously donated by Bank of America. More information: ganttcenter.org.

ABOUT THE MINT MUSEUM

The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative museum of international art and design committed to engaging and inspiring all members of our global community. Established as the first art museum in North Carolina in 1936, The Mint Museum has grown to include two dynamic facilities, Mint Museum Uptown and Mint Museum Randolph, and currently boasts one of largest collections in the Southeast. Mint Museum Uptown houses an internationally renowned Craft + Design Collection, as well as collections of American and Modern & Contemporary Art. The five-story, 175,000 square-foot facility was designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston. Historic Mint Museum Randolph is located three miles to the south. More information: mintmuseum.org.

From October 13-27, enjoy a prix fixe menu at Halcyon and cultural attraction discounts!

Join Halcyon, Flavors from the Earth Restaurant and the Levine Center for the Arts cultural attractions during Center City #Oktoberfeast !

From October 13-27, enjoy a three-course prix fixe menu at the restaurant dubbed “one of America’s best museum restaurants” by Travel + Leisure. Choose a salad, entrée, dessert, and wine for just $42. And combine your restaurant stay with a trip to a cultural attraction! For this two-week period, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown are offering special discounts on shopping and museum admission to anyone who mentions Center City #Oktoberfeast! Enjoy $2 off general admission at the Mint; $2 off general admission at the Bechtler; or a special $5 admission rate at the Gantt Center ($4 off adult general admission). And don’t forget to visit the museum shops – all three museum shops are offering 10 percent off of total purchase to anyone who mentions Center City Oktoberfeast*! Levine Center for the Arts also includes Knight Theater, so you can also combine your visit with a Blumenthal Performing Arts or Charlotte Ballet show during the next two weeks!

Visit the Charlotte Center City Partners event page on Facebook to find other delectable offers at uptown and South End restaurants during the next two weeks. And it all finishes with the inaugural Uptown Crawl on October 27 !

Halcyon, Flavors From The Earth

Center City OctoberFeast Menu

First Course (Please Choose One):

Salad Lyonnaise

Poached Egg. Benton’s Bacon Lardons. Frisee. Mustard Vinaigrette.

Cast Iron Salad

Brussel Sprouts. Onion. Sweet Potato. Walnuts. Gorgonzola. Pomegranate Vinaigrette.

Entrée Course (Please Choose One):

Butter Poached Spanish Sole

Potato Brandade. Smoked Shellfish. Lemon-Dill Butter Sauce

Petite Ribeye

Poached Egg. Trumpet Mushrooms. Roasted Shallots. Hollandaise. Demiglace

Dessert Course

House-Crafted Dark Chocolate Truffle with Daily Ice Cream

To Accompany Dinner, Please Enjoy A Glass Of One Of The Following:

Le Jade Picpoul de Pinet (White)

Nozieres Ambroise de l’Her Malbec, Cahors (Red)

$42.00

taxes and service are additional

*$50 purchases or more at the Gantt Center; no minimum purchase at the Mint or the Bechtler.

Media invited to hear Bechtler, Blumenthal, Gantt, and Mint discuss fall plans

In a new “first” for Levine Center for the Arts, members of the media and key supporters are invited to the 46^th floor of the Duke Energy Center to hear details of the fall arts season for four of Charlotte’s key cultural institutions.

Executives and staff from the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art; Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater; the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture; and The Mint Museum will introduce their fall cultural offerings and updated slate of collaborative events for Levine Center for the Arts. The Duke Energy Foundation has generously allowed the institutions to host the event in the “Vista” space on the 46^th floor of the Duke Energy Center, one of Charlotte’s landmark skyscrapers and a key part of the Levine Center for the Arts campus.

Among the collaborative efforts they will discuss: The cultural institutions are participating in the inaugural “Uptown Crawl” gallery event, opening their spaces to uptown pedestrians and bicyclists in a FREE event on September 22; they continue to collaborate on FREE monthly ArtBreak tours targeting the uptown lunch-hour crowd; in a first-of-its-kind effort, the four young-professional organizations of the cultural institutions are collaborating on a special “progressive” event for spring 2017; and following the highly successful inaugural #LongLiveArts community festival in May, the institutions are planning a second event for June 2017. Details on these and other efforts will be available at the media event. It will be moderated by the “Arts Guy,” local personality Adam Patwa, who recently debuted as the new face of Levine Center for the Arts. The marketing effort was created by Charlotte firm Orbital Socket and made possible by the THRIVE Fund, administered by Foundation For The Carolinas.

Fall highlights at Levine Center for the Arts include:

At Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Upcoming Exhibitions

Bechtler Collection: Relaunched and Rediscovered (September 30, 2016 – April 23, 2017)

This exhibition expands on works from the museum’s collection including modern and contemporary artists. The impetus for the show comes from extensive new research into the collection and the artists in the holdings, many of whom have very little material available in English. Significant findings from the research will be included in the exhibition.

Celebrating Jean Tinguely and Santana (May 12, 2017 – September 10, 2017)

Swiss artist Jean Tinguely’s iconic sculpture Santana, completed in 1966, celebrated its 50th birthday in 2016. To mark the occasion, the museum will offer a survey of Tinguely’s development as a sculptor through a presentation of his sculptures both from the Bechtler collection and on loan, drawings and prints, and personal correspondence between the artist and the Bechtler family.

Programming

Bechtler By Night – In partnership with Bank of America, the museum opens its four gallery floors to the public, free of charge, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. the third Friday of each month.

Jazz at the Bechtler – Mid-century art meets mid-century music on the first Friday of each month. Jazz concerts are performed by the Ziad Jazz Quartet.

Music and Museums – An innovative classical music concert/lecture program that fuses image, music, and conversation to provide a deeper understanding of selected artistic works.

Modernism + Film – Investigates themes in design, engineering, architecture and modern/contemporary art through the lens of film.

Family Day – Learn about the art and artists of Bechtler Collection and engage imaginations.

Community Outreach available to the public

Low to No Vision sponsored by Horizon Eye Care – Partnering with Metrolina Association for the Blind and other local and regional organizations, the museum offers tactile tours of select pieces from the collection to present a more meaningful museum experience for the low-to-no vision community.

Museum Memories – caters to those with early stage dementia and their caregivers.

At Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater

Breakin’ Convention, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2016

Breakin’ Convention, the renowned international festival of hip hop dance, is returning to the Queen City! Direct from London’s Sadler’s Wells theatre, the festival will feature performances by hip hop stars from around the globe and from the neighborhoods of Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. This two-day celebration of hip hop culture will feature Friday and Saturday night shows at the Knight Theater showcasing some of the world’s great hip hop stars. During the day on Oct 1, enjoy Street Jam – a FREE festival at Spirit Square. Free activities and performances for the whole family include: live DJs, workshops, graffiti, and other elements of hip hop culture.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, Nov. 22 – Dec. 4, 2016

Getting away with murder can be so much fun… and there’s no better proof than the knock-‘em-dead hit show that’s earned unanimous raves and won the 2014 Tony Award® for Best Musical. Coming direct from New York, where a most gentlemanly NPR critic said he’d “Never laughed so hard at a Broadway musical,” Gentleman’s Guide tells the uproarious story of Monty Navarro, a distant heir to a family fortune who sets out to jump the line of succession, by any means necessary. The New York Times cheers, “It will lift the hearts of all those who’ve been pining for what sometimes seems a lost art form.”

At Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

The exhibitions Shaping the Vessel, Nellie Ashford: Through My Eyes and Quilts & Social Fabric remain in the galleries through January 16, 2017.

Upcoming programming includes:

Gantt Symposium 2016 with Anna Deavere Smith on September 22.

Acclaimed widely for her roles in “The West Wing,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “black-ish,” actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith uses her singular brand of theatre to highlight issues of community, character and diversity in America and turns her interviews into scripts, transforming herself into an astonishing number of characters in this one-woman lecture performance. A private Youth Symposium at Northwest School of the Arts the following day will serve as the launch of a new CMS partnership.

The Heritage & History Series features nationally noted artists and scholars who preserve Black culture through an array of disciplines. In hosting each culture keeper, the Gantt Center invites public participation in special events and experiences that illuminate important stories and engage audiences. Series programs include The Family Collage with Journalist A’Lelia Bundles on Tuesday, October 11 and 9^th Wonder, the Harvard Hip Hop Fellow on Thursday, November 17.

Continuing the yearlong theme, Redefining Art, the Gantt Center will open three new exhibitions on January 28, 2017:

o The Future is Abstract

o Alison Saar: Bearing Weight. Bearing Witness.

o Jordan Casteel: Harlem

At Mint Museum Uptown

Join the Mint for the “Year of the Woman.” The museum was founded by women; has been led by women; and is celebrating female artists with its fall slate of exhibitions, both of which open to the public on the museum’s 80^th anniversary – October 22, 2016. More information on the fall slate, including a FREE community weekend October 22-23, is available at mintmuseum.org/80th .

Women of Abstract Expressionism (October 22, 2016-January 22, 2016)

This fall The Mint Museum is the only East Coast venue for this groundbreaking exhibition, the first major museum exhibition to focus on the innovative women artists affiliated with the Abstract Expressionist movement during its seminal years between 1945 and 1960. Organized by the Denver Art Museum, it will feature approximately 50 energetic, colorful, large-scale paintings created by 12 artists, including Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Judith Godwin, Perle Fine, Deborah Remington, Jay DeFeo, and Sonia Getchoff. It is presented to the community by Wells Fargo Private Bank. Additional generous support provided by the Mint Museum Auxiliary, Duke Energy, Electrolux, and Davidson College.

Fired Up: Contemporary Glass by Women Artists from the Toledo Museum of Art (October 22, 2016-February 26, 2017)

Fired Up, co-organized by the Toledo Museum of Art and exclusively on view at Mint Museum Uptown, is the first American art museum exhibition about contemporary women artists who work with glass. It presents outstanding glass sculptures from Toledo’s renowned Glass Pavilion as well as recent acquisitions to their collection, on view for the first time in this exhibition. International in scope, over 40 sculptures are included in the exhibition, including works by Emily Brock, Lee Bul, Lisa Lou, Karen Lamonte, Silvia Levenson, Maya Lin, Laura de Santillana, Sibylle Peretti, Sylvie Vandenhoucke, and April Surgent. The exhibition has received generous support from Novant Health and UTC Aerospace Systems.

At Levine Center for the Arts

Levine Center for the Arts, named for local philanthropists Sandra and Leon Levine, was completed in 2010 through the support of the Campaign for Cultural Facilities; the City of Charlotte; and Mecklenburg County. A generous grant from the THRIVE Fund is enabling the four institutions to work more closely together than ever before to increase visibility and access to the unified center. The $250,000 award from the THRIVE Fund over two years is making possible the center’s first-ever joint marketing campaign. The THRIVE Fund was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. The Mint Museum spearheaded the grant and is managing the project in collaboration with the other institutions. More information at levinecenterarts.org .

WHEN: Tuesday Sept. 20 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Duke Energy Center, 550 South Tryon Street, Charlotte – “Vista” space on the 46th floor

WHAT: Enjoy a light breakfast, soaring views, and updates on the fall arts season at the four Levine Center for the Arts institutions – the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art; Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater; Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture; and The Mint Museum

RSVP: No later than 9 a.m. on Monday Sept. 19. E-mail leigh.dyer@mintmuseum.org or call 704.337.2009. PLEASE NOTE: All media who wish to attend must be added to Duke Energy’s admission list 24 hours in advance; no last-minute additions. Please send a “yes” even if you are still a “maybe” – it’s easier to drop off later!

The public is invited to Levine Center for the Arts on May 21

Salsa dancing. Puppets. A portrait paint-off. Drums. Aerial dancing. Jazz. Food trucks. An Arts Guy. An outdoor symphony concert. And FREE museum access all day.

All this and more will be part of the inaugural #LongLiveArts Festival , the first event of its kind to be hosted by the four member institutions of Levine Center for the Arts – the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown. The public is invited to the 500 block of South Tryon Street between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for the festival – and both before and after those hours to enjoy a free “plazacast” of Charlotte Symphony’s Romeo & Juliet, showing from a big screen in front of the Firebird statue at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday evenings. The Bechtler and Mint will also offer special hours of free access on Friday May 20 in conjunction with the plazacast (the Bechtler will offer Bechtler by Night from 6-9 p.m., while the Mint will offer free general admission from 6-8 p.m.).

More fun for all ages begins Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with a main stage set up on Levine Avenue and emceed by Moira Quinn, Vice President of Charlotte Center City Partners. And about that Arts Guy? He’s part of a new marketing initiative jointly launched by Levine Center for the Arts institutions, and he will represent the Charlotteans and global visitors who want to learn more about the cultural offerings of the Queen City. Watch for him to give behind-the-scenes insights to Saturday’s audience.

Community artists are also invited to join a #LongLiveArts Festival Portrait Paint-Off, in which participants are invited to meet local oil painter Gordon James. He will first paint a live model from 10:15 to 11 a.m., and then at 11:30 and 1:45, audience members will be invited to grab some art supplies and paint volunteer models. The paint-off contest will give prizes including gifts from the three museum gift shops and free passes to return to the Levine Center for the Arts museums.

Other performers and activities scheduled as part of Saturday’s activities include the Charlotte Symphony’s Musical Petting Zoo; Caroline Calouche’s aerial dancers; Drums4Life; Africano Campbell; Blue Moon Puppets; an art class with Cathay Dawkins; Dancehall Groove; and a salsa dancing demonstration, as well as interactive art-making activities led by the education staffs of the three member museums. Docents from the three museums will lead free 30-minute “ArtBreak” tours inside each museum at noon, 1 p.m., and 2 p.m.

For a complete schedule, click here or see facebook.com/levinecenterart .

WHAT: #LongLiveArts Community Festival

WHEN: Saturday, May 21

10 a.m.-6 p.m., followed by Charlotte Symphony “plazacast” of Romeo & Juliet

WHERE: Levine Center for the Arts, 500 block of South Tryon Street, including Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown

For further questions, please contact:

Leigh Dyer

Director of Public Relations, The Mint Museum

704.337.2009

Leigh.Dyer@mintmuseum.org

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

A generous grant from the THRIVE Fund is enabling the four institutions to work more closely together than ever before to increase visibility and access to the unified center. The $250,000 award from the THRIVE Fund over two years is making possible the center’s first-ever joint marketing campaign, as well as free monthly lunchtime tours and a free community festival to be held on May 21, 2016. The THRIVE Fund was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. The Mint Museum spearheaded the grant and is managing the project in collaboration with the other institutions. More information at levinecenterarts.org.

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 !

Media, business, and cultural leaders will preview the tours at a special March 10 event

Members of the media are invited to Levine Center for the Arts to have lunch, view a preview of spring cultural events and exhibitions, and experience a new kind of museum tour set to launch FREE to the public on March 17 .

Beginning at noon on Thursday, March 10, members of the media are invited to Wells Fargo Auditorium, accessible via Knight Theater, to join leaders from the business and cultural communities to preview the spring season at the four member institutions of Levine Center for the Arts: the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art; Blumenthal Performing Arts which operates Knight Theater; the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture; and The Mint Museum.

Afterward, attendees will enjoy a “sneak preview” of new “Art Breaks” museum tours which will launch to the public at noon March 17 at the three museums. Each third Thursday of the month, docents at all three museums will offer the public free 30-minute tours designed to be completed during lunchtime. The tours are tailored around a specific theme which will repeat for three months, allowing the public to experience each of the three museums in succession. The tours are the latest example of collaboration among Levine Center for the Arts institutions, which have also launched a common admission pass available at CarolinaTix.org and an upcoming community festival scheduled for May 21.

Other spring highlights at Levine Center for the Arts include:

At Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

The House that Modernism Built (Through September 11, 2016)

This exhibition pairs works from the Bechtler collection with design objects on loan from various institutions and individuals around the country. While the scope of the exhibition is international, it spotlights design innovations in the United States with a regional focus on production in North Carolina. The works date from 1920 through 1980, but the groundbreaking choices of material and manufacturing processes by makers such as Victor Vasarely, Zoltan Kemeny, Kenneth Noland, Roy Lichtenstein, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and Buckminster Fuller remain vital, revealing how these larger principles of modernism continue to resonate in our lives today.

All that Sparkles: 20th Century Artists’ Jewelry (July 1, 2016 – January 8, 2017)

Presenting an array of selected jewelry alongside examples of more conventional artwork, this exhibition celebrates the craftsmanship and creativity of artists who used this medium to explore texture and color while using various materials and techniques specific to jewelry-making to expand their reach into a broader, if still refined and urbane public. Artists from the Bechtler collection include Alberto Giacometti, Alicia Penalba, Rafael Benazzi, and Niki de Saint Phalle. More information on these and other exhibitions is available at .

At Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Knight Theater

Broadway Junior Theater Celebration, April 19-21, 2016

This program returning to Knight Theater offers an enthusiastic, educational environment for students and teachers to interact with hundreds of others who share their passion for musical theatre. It has been created and directed by iTheatrics, a premier creative consultant in educational musical theatre based in New York City, in association with the leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International and the Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Education Department. During the celebration, each school group performs a selection of a musical before a distinguished panel of theatre professionals who provide them with valuable feedback about their creativity, engagement in the performance, understanding of the material, and connection to the lyrics and movement.

Charlotte Jazz Festival, April 21-23, 2016

Blumenthal Performing Arts and The Leon Levine Foundation are proud to present the second annual Charlotte Jazz Festival. A three-day event at Levine Center for the Arts, the festival features two main stage performances by the critically-acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center under the leadership of musical director Wynton Marsalis. Festival goers can catch intimate club performances featuring local and national talent throughout the weekend, as well as a jazz dinner and happy hours. Other events include a second line parade, youth jazz competition, and much more. Visit for a complete schedule.

At Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts (Through June 26, 2016)

With its majestic exhibition of dazzling costumes, set pieces, and video excerpts, this exhibition has offered the Gantt Center an opportunity to highlight the art discipline of dance. In addition to weekly, dancing-room-only workshops featuring different genres – ballet, modern, West African, liturgical – the Center will present an exclusive guided tour of the exhibition on Saturday, March 19 with a former member of the company, Dr. Mel A. Tomlinson. On Thursday evening, April 28, the Gantt Center will host a panel of dance world luminaries: Philadanco founder Joyce Myers Brown, former Charlotte Ballet staff & Alvin Ailey dancer April Berry, and Dr. Tomlinson. The panel discussion, Catch the Dance: An Inspired Movement, will end with 1 Pound/4 Ounces: Humble Beginnings, a performance by tap artist Khalil Munir. This plus the other two current exhibitions at the Gantt Center – Art of a New Deal: African-American Artists in the WPA and 1960Now — will close out the center’s year-long theme, Art as Activism.

Shaping the Vessel: Cummings + Mascoll + Samuel (July 16, 2016 – January 16, 2017)

Local wood artist Charles Farrar serves as guest curator for this exhibition, which will open at the Center on Saturday, July 16. This exhibition of twenty-six exquisite works in wood celebrates three artists, Frank E. Cummings III, John Mascoll and Avelino Samuel. At the pinnacle of their craft, each uses the wood lathe, an ancient Egyptian tool, as a springboard to imagination, flights of fancy, and ingenuity. An African-American quilt exhibition and thirty new works by beloved folk artist Nellie Ashford will fill the remaining galleries. More information available at .

At Mint Museum Uptown

(April 16, 2016 – Sept. 18, 2016)

Here & Now marks the first survey exhibition of photography drawn from the Mint’s permanent collection and comprises approximately 100 photographs. Including recent acquisitions and many never-before-seen photographs alongside signature works, Here & Now offers a fresh perspective on a burgeoning area of strength within the Mint’s collection. It will feature exceptional photographs taken at the turn of the 20th century by such noted masters as Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and W. Eugene Smith, as well as those taken in the last few years by dynamic contemporary photographers including Vik Muniz. This will be the first exhibition at the Mint curated by the museum’s President & CEO, photohistorian Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson.

(May 7, 2016 – October 16, 2016)

This show explores both the cultural history and the meticulous craft of shoemaking, featuring distinctive shoe forms that are notable for their design and construction. Pumped traces the history of shoemaking from the handmade shoes of the eighteenth century, through the technical innovations of the Industrial Revolution, to contemporary shoes made with techniques both ancient and new – all from the Mint’s permanent collection. Venerable traditions such as leather-working are joined by the latest materials and technologies, including 3-D printing.

At Levine Center for the Arts

Levine Center for the Arts, named for local philanthropists Sandra and Leon Levine, was completed in 2010 through the support of the Campaign for Cultural Facilities (led by Bank of America Charitable Foundation; Sandra and Leon Levine/The Leon Levine Foundation; and the Wells Fargo Foundation); the City of Charlotte; and Mecklenburg County. A generous grant from the THRIVE Fund is enabling the four institutions to work more closely together than ever before to increase visibility and access to the unified center. The $250,000 award from the THRIVE Fund over two years is making possible the center’s first-ever joint marketing campaign, as well as the free lunch-hour tours and a free community festival to be held on May 21, 2016. The THRIVE Fund was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. The Mint Museum spearheaded the grant and is managing the project in collaboration with the other institutions. More information at .

Members of the media may RSVP to the March 10 event, which reserves a boxed lunch and a free museum tour, by contacting:

Leigh Dyer

Director of Public Relations, The Mint Museum

704.337.2009

Leigh.Dyer@mintmuseum.org

WHAT: Lunch, spring preview, and museum tours

WHO: Media; invited business and cultural leaders; and representatives of the four Levine Center for the Arts member institutions

WHEN: Thursday, March 10

Noon-12:30 p.m. Box lunches provided

12:30-1 p.m. Presentation inside Wells Fargo Auditorium

1-1:30 p.m. “Art Breaks” docent-led museum tours; media photography welcomed

WHERE: Wells Fargo Auditorium, 430 South Tryon Street. Enter through main Knight Theater entrance and proceed downstairs.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an invitation to members of the media. All others, please join the new public tours on March 17 or every third Thursday after that!

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Levine Center for the Arts is one of Charlotte’s key cultural destinations, comprising Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, and Mint Museum Uptown. The Center was made possible through the Campaign for Cultural Facilities, the support of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and the generosity of The Leon Levine Foundation, one of the country’s largest and most impactful philanthropic organizations, along with the leadership of Bank of America Foundation and The Wells Fargo Foundation.

ABOUT BECHTLER MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to the exhibition of mid-20th-century modern art. It is named after the family of Andreas Bechtler, who assembled and inherited a collection created by seminal figures in modernism. The collection comprises more than 1,400 works. Some works are accompanied by books, photographs, and letters illustrating personal connections to the Bechtler family. For museum details visit bechtler.org.

ABOUT BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS + KNIGHT THEATER
Blumenthal Performing Arts serves the Carolinas as a leading cultural, entertainment and education provider. Blumenthal Performing Arts receives operating support from the Arts & Science Council and North Carolina Arts Council. Blumenthal Performing Arts is also supported by PNC Bank, sponsor of the PNC Broadway Lights. More information: blumenthalarts.org.

ABOUT HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER

Founded in 1974, Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro-American Center) exists to present, preserve and celebrate the art, history and culture of African-Americans and people of the African Diaspora through dance, music, visual and literary arts, film, educational programs, theatre productions and community outreach. Named for Harvey Bernard Gantt, the prominent architect, community leader and former mayor of Charlotte, the Center is housed in an inspired and distinguished award-winning structure and is home to the nationally celebrated John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American Art, which was generously donated by Bank of America. More information: ganttcenter.org.

ABOUT THE MINT MUSEUM

Agency will lead first-ever LCA marketing campaign

Following a competitive selection process, the four member cultural institutions of Levine Center for the Arts have selected Orbital Socket as their creative agency of record. Orbital Socket is tasked with proposing and implementing a plan, including advertising, marketing, and PR initiatives, to build public awareness around exhibitions, programming, performances, events, and resources available at Levine Center for the Arts. A coordinated and strategic marketing plan for Levine Center for the Arts will benefit the institutions and the larger community by bolstering this critical cultural sector.

“The team at Orbital Socket is committed to bold, brave ideas. Their capabilities in advertising and digital media make them uniquely equipped to bring innovative, integrated solutions,” said Hillary Cooper, Director of Advancement & Communications at The Mint Museum, the lead institution for the effort. “Their passion for the arts, highly skilled team of creative strategists, and ability to bring the true personality of this incredible cultural campus to life sold our team immediately. They have mastered the art of innovative storytelling in the most compelling way and we have quite a story to tell.”

“We are very excited to be partnering with the Levine Center for the Arts and telling the exciting story of all the great things going on through this impressive cultural destination,” says Greg Johnson, Orbital Socket founder and managing director. “We started Orbital Socket to bring fresh new marketing ideas to the marketplace and feel that this partnership with LCA will be a dynamic opportunity to showcase this gem within our city through some innovative marketing communications.”

Orbital Socket is a marketing innovations and brand engagement company that leverages the science behind customer development and the art of storytelling to build distinctive communication ecosystems for companies and organizations. The company is located in the PORTAL building on the campus of UNC Charlotte and is part of the support ecosystem of Ventureprise, an innovations-driven entrepreneurial hub.

October 1, 2015, marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of Mint Museum Uptown and the completion of Levine Center for the Arts. In an effort to significantly increase visitation and revenue to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, and Mint Museum Uptown, the organizations will collectively embark on this marketing campaign. “Our goal is to make more members of the Charlotte and surrounding communities aware of how Levine Center for the Arts can strengthen the human connection and offer them an opportunity to take a break and simply enjoy the culture and arts,” said Cooper.

Levine Center for the Arts was made possible through the Campaign for Cultural Facilities, the support of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and the generosity of The Leon Levine Foundation, one of the country’s largest and most impactful philanthropic organizations.

The marketing campaign is made possible by a grant from the THRIVE Fund, which was established in 2013 to provide financial stability for Charlotte’s cultural sector under the leadership of Hugh McColl, former Bank of America chairman and CEO, and is currently administered by the Foundation For The Carolinas. Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson, President & CEO of The Mint Museum, announced the selection of Orbital Socket at a media event Monday morning held in Wells Fargo Auditorium at Levine Center for the Arts.

Media Contacts:

Leigh Dyer

The Mint Museum

704.337.2009

Leigh.Dyer@mintmuseum.org

Greg Johnson

Orbital Socket

503.703.7749

Greg@orbitalsocket.com

ABOUT ORBITAL SOCKET

Orbital Socket is a marketing innovations and brand engagement company. Our goal is to communicate ideas in innovative ways that deeply resonate in the marketplace. Within this, we have various approaches to ensure precision in how we help companies and organizations enter, grow, engage, define and activate their marketplace. The company comprises industry leading expertise in all of the following disciplines: advertising; public relations; branding and identity, direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing; consulting, research and analytics capabilities; branded content and entertainment; and specialist communications. Orbital Socket is committed to providing great marketing services to companies in the Charlotte and surrounding markets. For more information, visit orbitalsocket.com, or follow us on Twitter at @Orbitalsocket.

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Levine Center for the Arts is one of Charlotte’s key cultural destinations, comprising Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, and Mint Museum Uptown. The Center was made possible through the Campaign for Cultural Facilities, the support of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and the generosity of The Leon Levine Foundation, one of the country’s largest and most impactful philanthropic organizations. Learn more at levinecenterarts.org or follow us at @LevineCenterArt .

Progress reports on Mint Museum Uptown’s new neighbor: A 43-story luxury apartment tower

With an anticipated completion date of Fall 2016, we at The Mint Museum are growing excited to welcome as many as 700 new residents to a new 43-story luxury apartment tower taking shape on our roof.

As construction proceeds, we may be subject to temporary disruptions such as noise or changes in traffic flow. We are doing our best to keep updated information posted here and on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as it becomes available. We thank our visitors for their patience as we occasionally experience factors outside our control. If any visitors have questions, please contact the Mint at 704.337.2000 or info@mintmuseum.org ; media inquiries may be directed to leigh.dyer@mintmuseum.org

The apartment tower is being built by Childress Klein , and the tower (originally condos) was part of the original vision for Levine Center for the Arts since its inception. Childress Klein owns the air rights above the Mint, and Batsoon Cook Contractors is the General Contractor for this project. The infrastructure for the tower was put in place inside Mint Museum Uptown as it was constructed in 2009-2010.

LATEST UPDATES

Updated July 30

Pump up the jam! That’s right – concrete pumping is underway. The entire first floor has already been completed and the second is on its way. The hours started out primarily in the evenings from 4:30-9:30 p.m. but the General Contractor has discussed moving them to different times of day and will seek to avoid disrupting Mint special events.

Remember how we told you a few weeks ago to expect some screening to cloak the side of our building and be visible from our windows? Batson-Cook has figured out another solution to keep concrete from spilling on the building from the roof level, so no views from galleries or classrooms will be obscured by screening.

Headsup: Traffic on Church Street near Mint Museum Uptown will be disrupted by construction from 9 a.m. tomorrow (Friday) thorugh Sunday at 7 p.m., but this one’s not our project – they are closing the street to assemble a construction crane for the nearby 300 South Tryon Street development. Please plan to avoid Church on your way to visit us!

Check out new views from the roof below and on Facebook !

UPDATED July 16

View from the top.

Visibility alert:

Another highly visible aspect of the tower construction is about to start. General Contractor Batson Cook will install a protective screen on the side of the Mint Museum Uptown building facing Levine Avenue of the Arts, from the roof down to the newly constructed platform. It will not be visible through the Mint’s atrium windows, but visitors will be able to see it from the classrooms and the gallery windows on that side of the building. As concrete pumping begins, the purpose of the screening is to protect the side of the building from any spillage.

Next milestone:

Concrete pumping is still anticipated to begin July 22. Vibration monitors will be ready!

Safety tip:

Your favorite route to cross Church Street behind the Mint’s building may now be obstructed by the construction. BUT PLEASE DON’T JAYWALK! Please continue to use sidewalks and crosswalks for your own safety, because Church Street drivers have lots of potential distractions in the area!

Did you know? The new platform across Levine Avenue for the Arts is equipped with its own dry sprinkler system and lighting under the platform. Lights will remain on at night to help keep pedestrians safe.

New images:

Please visit the Mint’s Facebook page for a new set of “views from the top.”

UPDATED July 10

Crane Installation:

We are pleased to announce that the initial crane erection is complete! The crane will be jumped twice during the remaining construction of the project as the height of the building continues to increase.

Platform Installation:

The Platform on Levine Avenue of the Arts is near completion. This platform will provide protection for the sidewalks around the project including direct access to the entry of Levant and Starbucks.

Concrete Pours:

The first concrete pour for the columns on level twelve and shear walls is complete. The first slab pour will begin on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company plans to pour approximately one floor of concrete per week.

NOISE:

What’s that noise you’re hearing? At this time, the drilling and other noise is mostly coming from the removal of blocks for access, installing temporary supports for the power lines, and setting plates for the staircase installation. As time goes on, this noise will minimize but then be replaced by the sound of concrete pumping. Pumping is anticipated to concentrate from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for four days each week.

As time goes on, the “activity noise” will get further away as the tower rises – but the concrete pumping itself will be occurring on the Levine Avenue platform.

ANY VIBRATIONS?

Vibration monitoring is ongoing throughout the museum to ensure the safety of visitors and works of art, and not once has the vibration reached the minimal monitoring threshold.

New images:

Please visit the Mint’s Facebook page for a new set of “views from the top.”

Charlotte’s premier cultural destination, Levine Center for the Arts, is celebrating the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) Art Museum Day by offering free admission to museum visitors on Friday, May 18.

Charlotte’s premier cultural destination, Levine Center for the Arts, is celebrating the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) Art Museum Day by offering free admission to museum visitors on Friday, May 18.

Three of the cultural institutions at the South Tryon Street campus, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and Mint Museum Uptown, are joining forces to offer visitors an unparalleled arts experience. The Mint Museum is also offering free admission at its other location, Mint Museum Randolph. (Normal admission is $8 each to the Bechtler and Gantt Center and $10 to the Mint. The Mint Museum offers a $3 discount to Gantt Center visitors and Bechtler Museum visitors showing their receipts to Mint Museum front desk staff within the same 48-hour period. The Bechtler Museum and the Gantt Center will offer a $2 discount to Mint Museum visitors showing their receipts to their respective front desk staff within the same 48-hour period).

Since 2010, the AAMD has encouraged art museums across the nation to participate in conjunction with the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) International Museum Day, dedicated to promoting the value of museums in society. Over 100 AAMD member museums have participated each year. This year’s theme is “museums in a changing world.”

“Art Museum Day brings attention to the important role institutions such as the Bechtler, Mint, and Gantt Center play in maintaining Charlotte’s vibrant cultural life,” said Christopher Lawing, Vice President for Programming and Research at the Bechtler. “This special day of free admittance is a great way to introduce art museums to new audiences or welcome back those who we haven’t seen in a while.”

Visitors who are familiar with one or two of the institutions are encouraged to use the day to experience one they may not know as well.

“We are excited to join our partners on International Museum Day and will open our doors so visitors have the chance to celebrate the art, history, and culture of African-Americans and those of African descent,” said Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture President & CEO David Taylor. “We believe this is an excellent opportunity to recognize the important role that museums and cultural centers play in contemporary society. International Museum Day is a global celebration of the incredible collections and programs at museums and cultural centers around the world, and their commitment to public service and audience engagement.”

The museums are pleased to have an opportunity to highlight Charlotte’s emergence as a national leader on the arts scene. “The Levine Center for the Arts is a jewel in Charlotte’s cultural crown, and each resident of this region has reason to celebrate its presence here,” said Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson, President & CEO of The Mint Museum. “The Mint also welcomes visitors to experience both of our locations, including our beloved historic facility on Randolph Road, which was the state’s first art museum and is currently celebrating its 75^th anniversary year.”

Support your local museum’s annual fund

The Bechtler, Gantt Center, and Mint all rely on a combination of public and private fundraising to offer their world-class exhibitions and programming to the public. Annual fund drives enable the museums to offer benefits such as occasional free admission to visitors. If visitors are inspired during their free-day visits to these institutions, their leaders hope they will make a donation to enable the museums to share that same inspiration with others.

More information about supporting each museum can be found at bechtler.org (click on “Support”); ganttcenter.org (click on “Join & Support), and mintmuseum.org (click here: https://mintmuseumold.wpengine.com/annual-fund.html).

ABOUT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Levine Center for the Arts is one of Charlotte’s key cultural destinations, comprised of Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, John S. and James L. Knight Theater, Mint Museum Uptown, and Duke Energy Center. The Levine Center was made possible through the Campaign for Cultural Facilities, the support of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and the generosity of the Leon Levine Foundation, one of the country’s largest and most impactful philanthropic organizations.

ABOUT THE BECHTLER MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to the exhibition of mid-20th-century modern art. It is named after the family of Andreas Bechtler, who assembled and inherited a collection created by seminal figures in modernism. The museum is located at Levine Center for the Arts, 420 South Tryon Street, Charlotte. Operating hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. The museum is open until 9 p.m. the first and third Fridays of each month. Admission is $8 for adults; $6 for seniors, college students and educators; $4 for youth (11 to 14) and free for children (up to 10). For museum details visit www.bechtler.org.

ABOUT THE HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTS + CULTURE

Founded in 1974, Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro-American Cultural Center) exists to present, preserve and celebrate the art, history and culture of African-Americans and those of African descent through dance, music, visual and literary arts, film, educational programs, theatre productions, and community outreach. Named for Harvey B. Gantt, the prominent Charlotte architect and community leader and former Mayor of Charlotte, the Center is housed in an inspired and distinguished award-winning structure and is home to the nationally celebrated John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American art. Please visit www.ganttcenter.org.

Through generous gift by Target Corporation

The Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts has acquired Sheila Hicks’ monumental bas relief, May I Have This Dance?, through a generous gift by Target Corporation. Originally commissioned by Target for their lobby headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2003, May I Have This Dance? has been recently reimagined, and reconfigured, for exhibitions in Paris and Philadelphia, each metamorphosis informed by
the particular architectural setting.

With a redesign of Target Corporation headquarters, a search for a new, permanent home for the work began in earnest in 2010. Target consulted Sheila Hicks regarding where May I Have This Dance? might permanently reside. Some of the largest and most important art museums in the country were considered for this major gift.

With the new progressive initiative of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, a newly opened facility, new leadership, and a renewed focus on world-class acquisitions, exhibitions, and educational programs, The Mint Museum presented a unique
and compelling case. The Mint committed to install the work for an extended period of time in the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium, the largest public space and principal gathering area of the new museum uptown. In this prime location, Hicks’ powerful sculpture will command tremendous visual impact and set the tone for visitors’ experiences as they enter the museum. Similar to the original architectural setting for May I Have This Dance? at Target, The Mint’smMorrison Atrium provides a distinct opportunity to honor the integrity of the artist’s original intent and design.

“The Mint Museum is deeply grateful for this exceptional gift from Target Corporation,” said Dr, Kathleen V. Jameson, President and CEO. “Our permanent collection offers a strong complement to the themes and craftsmanship present in May I Have This Dance? The Mint Museum and Target Corporation also share the same core values of integrity in all we do, a commitment to excellence and making art and arts education accessible to diverse audiences throughout our
respective communities. We feel extremely proud and privileged to share this work with our city, region, and our national and international visitors.”

Annie Carlano, Director of Craft + Design, states, “While Sheila is a resident of Paris, she is a citizen of the world. The nomadic nature of May I Have This Dance? parallels the extensive global travels that have influenced and inspired Sheila’s work. Sheila finds innovation in tradition and contemporary expression in the hand-made. May I Have This
Dance? is the apotheosis of Hicks’ monumental bas relief creations. Transcendental in both concept and form, this ebullient installation was inspired by the natural light soaked space of the Mint’s atrium, the integration of the outside sky scape and the interior, the energetic vertical sweep to the high ceilings, and the modernity of the building materials and furniture. In fact, Sheila commented that standing in the atrium, reminded her of being inside Le Corbusier’s chapel
(Notre Dame du Haut) in Ronchamp, France. It is not surprising to me that her initial ruminations about the reconfiguration, of May I Have This Dance?, for the west wall were about shapes and patterns from the natural world, for example streaking lightning bolts and a circling hurricane.”

The official unveiling of May I Have This Dance? will occur in unison with the preview of Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, an exhibition organized by The Addison Gallery of American Art, the art museum of Phillips Academy. This comprehensive exhibition, running 1 October 2011 through 29 January 2012, at The Mint Museum Uptown, marks the first retrospective devoted to this pioneering figure. Sheila Hicks is an artist who builds with color and thinks with line. From her earliest
work of the late 1950s to the present, she has crossed the boundaries of painting, sculpture, design, drawing, and woven form, and has been a critical force in redefining the domains of contemporary art-making. While challenging the relationship of fine arts to commercial arts and studio practice to site-specific commissions, Hicks has, above all,
re-imagined the profound, vital connection of artist to artisan.

The Sheila Hicks: FiftyYears exhibition and the long-term installation of May I Have This Dance? will serve as important highlights of The Mint Museum’s 75^th anniversary celebration beginning this October

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years bridges distinctions between artist and artisan

The Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts proudly presents Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, an exhibition organized by The Addison Gallery of American Art, the art museum of Phillips Academy.This comprehensive exhibition, running 1 October 2011 through 29 January 2012, marks the first museum
retrospective devoted to this pioneering figure. Sheila Hicks is an artist who builds with color and thinks with line. From her earliest work of the late 1950s to the present, she has crossed the boundaries of painting, sculpture, design, drawing, and woven form, and has been a critical force in redefining the domains of contemporary art-making. While challenging the relationship of fine arts to commercial arts and studio practice to site-specific commissions, Hicks has,above all, re-imagined the profound, vital connection of artist to artisan.

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years addresses the artist’s conceptual, procedural, and material concerns via five distinct, though intimately related, fields of inquiry: bas reliefs and sculptures; small weavings and drawings; site commissions for public spaces; production textiles; and process works made of recuperated textiles, clothing, and other found objects.

Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson, President and CEO of The Mint Museum, has stated, “The Mint is honored to be the third and final venue for this exhibition, which fulfills the museum’s mission of bringing the most important international contemporary art and design to Charlotte and the region. Astonishingly original, the art of Sheila Hicks deifies
categorization as it engages our intellect and our senses in its exploration of line, form, texture, and color. Choosing thread as her medium, she was a trailblazer, forging the then unknown path of ‘cross over artist,’ straddling the fields of design, craft, and contemporary art. What I find particularly relevant for the Mint, is the artist’s long standing interest in the art of the ancient Americas and other world cultures, locating in them the visual vocabulary for a tremendously
contemporary language.”

Born in Hastings, Nebraska, Hicks received her BFA and MFA degrees from Yale (’57; ’59), studying painting with master teacher and theorist Josef Albers and history of art with George Kubler, a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Mesoamerican art. Hicks’s self-described practice of “linear thinking” and “composing texture” reflects the Bauhaus
tradition of finding the expressive voices of different materials and the dynamic interactions of color. Equally, her work reflects her studies with Kubler, in particular the juxtapositions she first saw in his class of small Pre-Incaic weavings with the colossal structures of Machu Picchu.

From her earliest experiments with woven forms, Hicks has explored processes that skew the traditional grid, incorporating traditional and new materials or integrating found objects, even deconstructing her own works and reusing the elements to create any number of others. She has explored the role of the artist’s hand and the use of technologies to produce works that range from the size of a page to that of a football field. In addition to her studio works and commissions, Hicks is noted internationally as a teacher and mentor of several generations of artists and designers.

Exhibition brings together 100 works from every stage of artist’s career

This fall, The Mint Museum presents a major retrospective of the work of Romare Bearden (1911-1988), widely regarded as one of
America’s most pre-eminent African American artists and foremost collagists, as well as a noted writer and musician. The exhibition Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections surveys 50 years of the artist’s work, from his early abstract paintings to the influential collages that dominated his later body of work. Opening on the centennial of Bearden’s birth, the exhibition will be on view at the Mint Museum Uptown (at Levine Center for the Arts, 500 South Tryon
Street) from 2 September 2011 – 8 January 2012.

“Romare Bearden broke new ground with his innovative collages and left a powerful legacy to generations of American artists,” said Curator of Contemporary Art and exhibition curator Carla Hanzal. “Given the long association between Bearden and the city of Charlotte, the Mint has a special interest in bringing this important career overview to the public.”

Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections will include approximately 100 works of art drawn from The Mint Museum’s extensive holdings, as well as national public and private collections. This exhibition examines how the South served as a source of inspiration throughout his career, a theme which has not been explored previously. Among the large thematic groupings will be selections from the Prevalence of Ritual series, which includes
many works referring to Bearden’s childhood home in North Carolina.

Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Bearden lived there until the age of four. Although his family settled in New York, the artist’s brief childhood in the South and return visits to Charlotte made a noteworthy impact on his art. During these visits, Bearden absorbed stories and observations about the rituals of daily Southern life—the relentless toil of crop cultivation, women tending gardens and mixing herbal remedies, fish fries and other community gatherings, and religious activities. These experiences, which stood in stark contrast to the urban rhythm of his parents’ New York City household, left a lasting impression on him.

The exhibition’s loosely chronological structure traces critical themes in Bearden’s work such as music, religion, social change, and family, particularly informed by an African- American experience. The earliest group of works, from the 1940s, focuses on his memories of the rural South, painted in tempera on brown paper and characterized by strong colors, flattened perspective, and stylized, highly formal compositions. Works such as The Visitation (1941) and
Folk Musicians (1942) depict scenes of agrarian life yet also portray universal emotional bonds.

As Bearden developed his iconic collage technique in the mid-1960s, he made use of a wide ranges of art practices, both Western and non-Western. His use of collage, with its distortions, reversals, and Surrealistic blending of styles, enabled Bearden to convey the dreamlike quality of memory, and was, therefore, a perfect vehicle for recording of his memories of the South. After helping to found an artist’s group in support of civil rights in 1963, Bearden’s work became more overtly socially conscious. One of his most famous series, Prevalence of Ritual, concentrated mostly on southern African American life. Works like Baptism (1964) examined the changing nature of African Americans’ rights. Illustrating the movement of water being poured onto the subject being baptized, Bearden conveyed the temporal flux of society during the civil rights movement. In Carolina Reunion (1975), the subject matter is emblematic of the longing for a better life and the comforting familiarity of home embodied in the northern
migration of African Americans from the South during the early part of the 20th century.

Bearden returned to Mecklenburg County in the 1970s just as his career was beginning to gain momentum. This Southern homecoming proved bittersweet. Charlotte was undergoing urban renewal, and already traces of Bearden’s past had been erased. This nostalgic experience imbued Bearden with a greater sense of urgency to both celebrate and eulogize a lost way of life, a theme that would inform his artwork for the remainder of his days.

During the 1970s, Bearden developed a complex iconography that spoke to these new developments. Drawn to “journeying things”—trains and birds—his inclusion of these
recurring motifs implied a movement from one way of life to another. He increasingly used richer colors and more decorative patterns to mediate ideas about African American community and culture, as in Of the Blues: Carolina Shout (1974), Back Porch Serenade (1977), and
Sunset Limited (Mecklenburg County) (1978).

A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition with contributions by Mary Lee Corlett, Jae Emerling, Glenda Gilmore, and Leslie King-Hammond. The exhibition will tour nationally following its debut at the Mint.

Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections is made possible with generous support from Duke Energy and Wells Fargo. Additional funding is provided by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Event marks closing week of landmark ceramics exhibition

A public symposium organized by the Mint Museum of Craft +Design will be part of a closing celebration for the inaugural exhibition, Contemporary British Studio
Ceramics: The Grainer Collection during its final week on view. Featuring innovative discussions by leading international art scholars and artists on important trends and developments in contemporary British ceramics, the Symposium will be held Thursday, 10 March, 3:00-7:00 p.m. at the Mint Museum
Uptown (at Levine Center for the Arts, 500 South Tryon Street) and is free with museum admission.

Drawn from the collection of Diane and Marc Grainer of suburban Washington, D.C., the landmark exhibition Contemporary British Studio Ceramics is the first to focus exclusively on this subject in the United States and Great Britain. The Symposium will feature talks by art scholar and critic Tanya Harrod
(keynote speaker); artist and scholar Julian Stair; artist Neil Brownsword; and Mint Museum Director of Craft + Design Annie Carlano. Following the talks, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Carlano featuring Harrod, Stair, and Brownsword, as well as Mint Museum Curator of Decorative Arts Brian
Gallagher and ceramic artist Kate Malone.

The schedule of events is: 1:00 p.m. – Exhibition walk-through and discussion with Diane and Marc Grainer in the Mint

Museum of Craft + Design special exhibition galleries 2:00 p.m. – Book signing by the authors of the exhibition catalogue in the Robert Haywood

Morrison Atrium
3:00 p.m. – Symposium begins in the James B. Duke Auditorium
4:30 p.m. – Break and reception hosted by The Founders’ Circle in the Atrium
5:30 p.m. – Symposium resumes; panel discussion begins
7:00 p.m. – Symposium ends

Keynote speaker Tanya Harrod is the principal essayist of the exhibition catalogue, Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection (Yale University Press: 2010), and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art in London. She is co-editor of the Journal of Modern Craft and author of the award-winning study, The Crafts in Britain in the Twentieth Century, and the forthcoming biography, Michael Cardew: A Life (both published by Yale University Press). Harrod will offer a survey of British
studio ceramics over the past 20 years with a focus on the “Englishness” of ceramic production.

Ceramic artist and scholar Julian Stair is the recipient of the 2004 European Achievement Award from the World Crafts Council and a regular contributor to craft journals and other prestigious publications. He holds a Ph.D. in Critical Writing on English Studio Pottery from the Royal College of Art
in London. Stair will be speaking on the topic of funerary ware, from urns to sarcophagi, related to his most recent work, which includes both thrown and hand-built vessels.

Born and raised near Stoke-on-Trent, ceramic artist Neil Brownsword began working at the Josiah Wedgwood factory at age 16. He studied ceramics at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, and received his Ph.D. from Brunel University in London following the completion of his groundbreaking series, Collaging History. Brownsword will be speaking on the development of his contemporary ceramic
installation art in historically significant Stoke-on-Trent.

Annie Carlano is the Director of Craft + Design at The Mint Museum and the exhibition curator of Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a master’s degree in art history from Università degli Studi in Florence, Italy. An internationally recognized scholar, Carlano has published and lectured on textiles, fashion, and decorative arts. Her recent books include Sleeping Around: The Bed
from Antiquity to Now (University of Washington Press: 2006) and Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection. She will speak on the topic of collecting ceramics.

Brian Gallagher is the Curator of Decorative Arts at The Mint Museum and a graduate of the Bard Graduate Center in New York. Prior to joining the Mint, he served as Assistant Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Gallagher is a member of the
Indemnity Panel for Domestic Exhibitions at the National Endowment for the Arts and serves as a board
member of the American Ceramic Circle.

Born in London, ceramicist Kate Malone studied at Bristol Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. Known for her use of shapes inspired by natural forms and vivid crystalline glazes, this Barcelona-based artist is one of the most fearless innovators in the field of international studio ceramics. The Mint Museum of Craft + Design has commissioned Malone to create a ceramic work for the new Mint Museum Uptown as part of its Project Ten Ten Ten series. She will be the guest artist at the upcoming
10th Annual Mint Condition Gala sponsored by The Founders’ Circle.

Mint Museum Uptown opens October 1, 2010 as part of Levine Center for the Arts

Mint Museum Executive Director Phil Kline announced today the inaugural exhibitions to be presented in conjunction with the new Mint Museum Uptown’s grand opening on October 1, 2010. They are New Visions: Contemporary Masterworks from the Bank of America Collection and Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection.

Designed by noted architectural firm Machado & Silvetti of Boston, the 145,000-square-foot Mint Museum Uptown will be part of the Levine Center for the Arts located in the heart of Charlotte’s business district. In addition to the Mint, the cultural campus includes the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, and the John S. and James L. Knight Theater, along with corporate, retail and restaurant facilities.

The Mint Museum Uptown will house the world renowned collections of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, as well as the American Art and Contemporary Art collections and selected works from the European Art collection. The latter three collections are moving from the Mint Museum Randolph. The new five-story facility will include two full floors of galleries, each featuring 12,000 square feet of permanent collection space and 6,000 square feet of changing exhibition space. A dramatic multi-story atrium, named for the late Robert Haywood Morrison in honor of his foundation’s gift to the Museum, will serve as a central hub of activity and features a 60- by 60-foot glass curtain wall offering spectacular views of the urban landscape. The building also includes a café, a Family Gallery, painting and ceramics studios, classrooms, a 240-seat auditorium, a Special Events Pavilion with outdoor terrace, and an expanded Museum Shop specializing in crafts of the Carolinas. These amenities and special features will provide inspiring venues for hosting public programs to reinforce the Museum’s dual priorities of making art and education experiences accessible to the community.

Following the opening of the new uptown location, the Mint Museum Randolph will maintain its current location in the historic Eastover neighborhood and execute a reinstallation plan of its galleries designed to showcase collections of Art of the Ancient Americas, Decorative Arts, and Historic Costume & Fashionable Dress, along with selections of African Art, Asian Art, Ceramics, Coins & Currency, European Art, Native American Art and Spanish Colonial Art.

“The opening of our new facility marks a pivotal chapter in the Mint’s history and in Charlotte’s emergence as a cultural destination,” said Executive Director Phil Kline. “We are thankful to the City of Charlotte, the Arts & Science Council, and our corporate, foundation and private donors who have committed funds and significant works of art towards this historic initiative. When our doors open in October, the public will have the unique opportunity to view never-before-seen works from our permanent collections, in addition to seeing two landmark inaugural exhibitions.”

Inaugural Exhibitions:

New Visions: Contemporary Masterworks from the Bank of America Collection, October 1, 2010 – April 17, 2011

The Mint Museum and Bank of America will collaborate to present an exhibition comprising over 60 works from the bank’s Art Collection. Widely regarded as one of the world’s finest corporate art collections, the Bank of America Collection is noted for its high quality, stylistic diversity, historical depth and attention to regional identity.

The exhibition contains a broad selection of regionally diverse practitioners and presents an extraordinary opportunity to experience significant works by some of the most visionary artists of the past decades. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculptures and works on paper from an array of artists, including Milton Avery, Jennifer Bartlett, Roger Brown, John Chamberlain, Janet Fish, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, John Marin, Elizabeth Murray, Louise Nevelson, Jules Olitski, Edward Ruscha, Miriam Schapiro and Frank Stella, among others.

Beginning with works from 1945, the exhibition highlights the strengths of Bank of America’s postwar collection and reveals a wide variety of philosophies, approaches and movements reaching into the early 1990s. Historically significant works focusing on intense color and geometry as an organizing principle, such as Frank Stella’s Damascus Gate and Ellsworth Kelly’s Black and White Triangle, reveal the monumental scale and rigorous structures of late 1960s through early 1970s Minimalism. Postminimalist works from the 1980s, such as Elizabeth Murray’s Split and Join and Jennifer Bartlett’s In the Garden, present a return to imagery, while still retaining defined formalist structures.

The vibrant and irreverent canvases of Ed Paschke and Roger Brown exhibit the influence of outsider art and Surrealism. This influence was a hallmark of the second generation Chicago Imagists, a regional offshoot of Pop Artists. The influence of popular culture and media fueled diverse works by Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Longo. Masterful paintings by some of California’s most heralded artists—including Edward Ruscha (Clock Speed), James Weeks (Ocean Park Studio) and Wayne Thiebaud (Dark Cake)—demonstrate a surprising and complex relationship between abstraction and realism. Deborah Butterfield’s cast lead horse sculpture, as well as Lynda Benglis’s biomorphic reliefs and John Chamberlain’s steel assemblage, comprise some of the compelling sculptural works within the show.

“We are grateful to Bank of America for this extraordinary opportunity to bring together and share with the public major works by some of the most important artists of our time,” said Curator of Contemporary Art, and curator of the exhibition, Carla Hanzal. “While many corporations boast large art collections, it is rare to see such a comprehensive collection of contemporary and modern art that is both dynamic and historically significant. This show exemplifies the excellence and regional diversity that Bank of America’s collection is uniquely suited to reveal.”

New Visions: Contemporary Masterworks from the Bank of America Collection is organized by The Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C., and provided by Bank of America Art in our Communities™ program. Through this program, Bank of America has converted its collection into a unique community resource from which museums and nonprofit galleries may borrow complete or customized exhibitions. By providing these exhibitions and the support required to host them, the program helps sustain community engagement and generate vital revenue for the nonprofits, creating stability in local communities. From 2008 to 2010, Bank of America will have loaned more than 30 exhibitions to museums internationally.

“Bank of America is committed to strengthening artistic institutions and in turn, the communities we serve,” said Charles Bowman, North Carolina and Charlotte Market President, Bank of America. “Our continued partnership with The Mint Museum is a further extension of our commitment, and we are honored to be part of this resurgence in the Charlotte arts community.”

In addition to this collaboration, The Mint Museum is also part of Bank of America’s Museums on Us™ program. Through this unique program, anyone with a Bank of America ATM, credit card or check card has the opportunity to gain free admission to more than 120 cultural institutions across the country, including the Mint, during the first Saturday and Sunday of each month.

Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection, October 1, 2010 – March 13, 2011

Drawn from the collection of Diane and Marc Grainer of suburban Washington, D.C., this exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Contemporary British Studio Ceramics in the United States and Great Britain. Comprised of functional and sculptural objects made between the 1980s and 2009, the show features work by 100 artists either born or residing in Great Britain, including established “contemporary classics” like Lucie Rie and cutting-edge ceramicists such as Julian Stair, Kate Malone, Neil Brownsword, and Grayson Perry.

The Grainers are well-known in the United States as collectors of Studio Furniture and American craft in general, and as leaders in the craft community through their work with the Americans Crafts Council, the Furniture Society, Museum of Arts and Design, the James Renwick Alliance, and the Founders’ Circle, the national support group of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Their extensive and virtuoso collection of contemporary British ceramics is perhaps their greatest contribution to the field. Over a 30-year period, the Grainers’ keen connoisseurship skills and tenacity led them to acquire some of the very best work.

Rooted in the materiality of clay, a hallmark of studio pottery, the ceramic art featured in the exhibition chronicles the history of Contemporary British Studio Ceramics. Whether a pot or sculpture, the properties of the raw material, from its soft malleable texture to the alchemy of slips and glazes, and its propensity to melt and harden, are at the core of the artist’s passion. The exhibition begins with a recap of the earlier 20th century masters, then moves to works that demonstrate the two different strains of influence that informed contemporary makers—from the historicism of Bernard Leach and his successors to the refugee modernism embodied by Lucie Rie.

A plethora of “honest pots” highlights the straightforward, form-following-function vessels and platters of master potters such as Richard Batterham, Clive Bowen and Bill Marshall. The show then explores the sculptural forms of Gordon Baldwin, Ken Eastman and Nicholas Rena, moving on to the figurative and narrative compositions of Christie Brown, Claire Curneen and Phil Eglin, ending with a look at the most recent intersection of ceramic art, design and social commentary.

“The most thrilling quality of Contemporary British Studio Ceramics is that the field remains free from a defining aesthetic and cannot be tied together by one common visual thread,” said Annie Carlano, Director of Craft + Design and curator of the exhibition. “There has never been a comprehensive exhibition on either side of the pond about these objects. Building on the Mint’s internationally recognized collection of historic English ceramics, this exhibition allows us to explore a wider wealth of riches and continue the story from art pottery to clay art today.”

Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection will be accompanied by the eponymous book, published by Yale University Press. Academic and lavishly illustrated, it features contributions by Tanya Harrod, Glenn Adamson and Michelle Mickey, as well as an interview with Diane and Marc Grainer. Edited by Annie Carlano, this important publication underscores the Mint Museum of Craft + Design’s commitment to scholarly excellence. The exhibition is organized by The Mint Museum and sponsored by Duke Energy.