Gather together with more than 300 of Charlotte’s young professionals and dress in your derby best for a day of fun, philanthropy, and fabulous memories. Enjoy an afternoon of Mint Juleps, lawn games, and horse racing. 

All proceeds benefit the Student Art Gallery (STAR) and support school tours for local students. Help us inspire a new generation of artists, art enthusiasts, and leaders in our community.

Tickets: $45-$75

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.

An artist showcase and conversation with artists Komikka Patton, Davita Galloway and DaRemen hosted by Young Affiliates of the Mint in celebration of Black History Month.

This one-night only exhibition will feature works by Patton, Galloway, and DaRemen, and cultural experiences to celebrate Black History Month, including a Q&A with the three artists.

Tickets are $10 and include access to this unique experience and (1) beverage ticket. Additional drinks will be available for purchase at the cash bar.

Purchase tickets here.

Join Robert Ebendorf, Ron Porter, Joe Price, and curator Rebecca Elliot for a discussion of Ebendorf’s jewelry and the experience of collecting it. Ebendorf will describe his development from a midcentury-modernist metalsmith to an artist who creates collages and jewelry using found objects. Porter and Price will share how they built a collection of hundreds of works by Ebendorf and other contemporary jewelry artists.

About the artist:

Robert Ebendorf was born and raised in Kansas and earned Bachelor of Fine Arts (1961) and Master of Fine Arts (1963) degrees from the University of Kansas. He received further training in metalsmithing in Norway through a Fulbright Fellowship (1963–64) and a Tiffany Foundation Grant (1966–67). Ebendorf was a professor of metalsmithing at Stetson University (DeLand, Florida, 1964–67), the University of Georgia-Athens (1967–71), the State University of New York at New Paltz (1971–89), and finally East Carolina University (1997–2016). He has also taught hundreds of jewelry and found-object assemblage workshops across the United States and abroad. Ebendorf has received numerous awards, including induction into the National Metalsmiths Hall of Fame (2004), a Master of the Medium award from the James Renwick Alliance (2005), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths (2014).

All ages are invited to drop by the Art Room at Mint Museum Randolph between 4-8 PM for self-directed, creative fun. Explore drawing, clay, collage, and painting stations. A museum educator will be on hand to provide encouragement and helpful tips.

For more information or to inquire about booking a group visit to the Art Room, contact Leslie Strauss at leslie.strauss@mintmuseum.org or by phone at 704.337.2050

*No program on November 22

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “The Lacuna,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Learn more about Native American culture through storytelling, drumming, and works of art by Mahed Wayanka, and enjoy a look at American Indian ribbon skirts and how cultural women use them to symbolize their identity.

Be sure to visit the museum’s Native American gallery while there.

A Mint Community Relations collaboration with the Metrolina Native American Association.

More about Mahed Waynka

Mahed Wayanka, also known as John Behler, is a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and currently resides in Charlotte. Mahed Wayanka is the Dakota name he received from his grandmother who understood the importance of “looking within” to paint the world more beautiful. Beheler grew up on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota and has been painting since childhood. Beheler’s favorite medium is acrylic painting but he also enjoys traditional forms of art, such as hide and drum painting, featherwork, staffs, shields, and powwow regalia.

A Beheler acrylic original reflects Native American symbolism and surrealism of ceremony that provides a medium for storytelling. “Our greatest gift to mankind is our relationship with nature and through the language of Art, ancestral windows are opened for understanding.”

Beheler has served as a teacher or school administrator over the past 30 years and recently obtained his Education Specialist Degree. “Art teaches us attention to detail and importance of nurturing talent that helps us find success in other areas of life.” Beheler illustrated his adopted father’s book, “Mitakuye Oyasin – We Are All Related, by AC Ross. “He shares the oral history theory of the Sioux who came from the Carolinas instead of the Bering Strait.”

Members are invited to join Mint President and CEO Todd Herman, PhD, for a special meet-and-greet and opportunity to learn about upcoming exhibition and programs planned for the year ahead. RSVP is requested.

9–9:30 AM: Mingle while enjoying bagels and coffee.

9:30–10:30 AM: Introduction and presentation.

10:30–11 AM: Q+A. Galleries open.

Celebrate the opening of the newest Interventions installation Buscando la sirena. Artist Jackie Milad will join Jen Sudul Edwards, chief curator and curator of contemporary art, for an artist talk about her inspiration and process.

Jackie Milad makes paintings, collages, and sculptures that explore global migration, inspired by her identity as a first-generation American citizen. A daughter of immigrants—her father is Egyptian, and her mother is from the Gulf of Fonseca, a small region that is now part of Honduras—Milad’s work mines archaeological traditions of reading and trading cultural artifacts both by outsiders and those whose heritage is imbued within the artifacts.

“Buscando la sirena” delves into her mother’s heritage through created works and selected objects from the Mint’s permanent collection that connect to the Gulf of Fonseca.

Mint members can enjoy a lecture and gallery conversations in the Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek exhibition with exhibition curator and Senior Curator of Decorative Arts Brian Gallagher. The exhibition presents the elegance of America’s Gilded Age and the artistic influence of Walter Scott Lenox through 80 objects on loan from notable public and private U.S. collections and the Mint’s own holdings.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “Pride and Prejudice,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “Pride and Prejudice,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “The Lacuna,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “The Lacuna,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion on “The Invention of Wings,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that help to bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion on “The Invention of Wings,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that help to bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion on “The Invention of Wings,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that help to bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “The Lacuna,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion of “Pride and Prejudice,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted in the book. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

This program will create connections between a work of literature and the visual arts. After a brief discussion on “The Invention of Wings,” Mint Docents will present works of art in the galleries that help to bring to life historic events, social customs, and lifestyles of the time period depicted. All programs are 90 minutes.

Cost: Free with museum admission.

LOCATION CHANGE! This event has moved to Mint Museum Randolph. Parking is free and film screening will begin at 7 PM.

The Southern premiere of a new 4K restoration of Harry Smith’s pioneering short animated films created between 1946 and 1952. Inspired by Native American cultures, jazz, the Kabbala, and surrealism, Smith assembled his own cinematic universe of shape, color, light, and time. Lecture and discussion by Rani Singh, director of the Harry Smith Archives, following the screening.

About Harry Smith
Keenly attuned to the changing technologies of the day, Smith embraced innovation and used whatever was new and of the moment. At the same time, he was always in dialogue with history, and his lifelong interests in abstract art, metaphysics, spiritualism, folk art, and music from around the globe came to the fore as he devised ingenious ways of collecting sounds and creating films. These concerns make his practice increasingly prescient, as collecting, consuming, and sharing media continue to shape culture in the twenty-first century. Read the recent “NY Times” article about Harry Smith.

Wednesday Night Live is presented by Bank of America.

Museum admission and event are free. Galleries open until 9 PM.

Join Brian Gallagher, senior curator of decorative arts, for a tour of Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek and then stay for a screening of the classic “Hello, Dolly.” Registration required. Free with museum admission.

1 PM curator-led tour

2–4 PM film screening

Join Senior Curator of Decorative Arts Brian Gallagher for a tour of Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek and then stay for a screening of the Martin Scorsese film “Age of Innocence.” Registration required.

1 PM: Curator-led tour with exhibition curator Brian Gallagher.

2–4 PM: Film screening of “Age of Innocence.”

Free with museum admission

Whether it was tea for two or an well-appointed tablescape set for 20, Lenox ceramic porcelain has been a generational staple of American soirees. See 80 examples of American Belleek — the origin of this elegant porcelain —and learn how designer Walter Scott Lenox built a lasting legacy through manufacturing of the art-ceramic porcelain.

Mint members can enjoy early access to the exhibition Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek that features 80 works from the Mint’s collection, as well as other notable public and private collections, that solely focus on the earliest decades of American Belleek production.

All ages are invited to drop by the Art Room at Mint Museum Randolph between 4-8 PM for self-directed, creative fun. Explore drawing, clay, collage, and painting stations. A museum educator will be on hand to provide encouragement and helpful tips.

For more information or to inquire about booking a group visit to the Art Room, contact Leslie Strauss at leslie.strauss@mintmuseum.org or by phone at 704.337.2050

*No program on November 22

Visit Mint Museum Randolph Wednesday through Saturday during museum hours to pick up a fun all-ages project to create at home (while supplies last).

Free Art Kits are supported by Mint Museum Auxiliary.

Ulysses Grant Dietz, retired senior curator and curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum of Art, examines how high-end ceramics like those in the exhibition Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek would have fit into the fashionable interiors of America’s Gilded Age.

Celebrate the opening of Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek. Featuring 80 works from the Mint’s permanent collection, as well as other notable public and private collections, this exhibition focuses solely on the earliest decades of American Belleek production and the role Walter Scott Lenox played in its development as an art form.

1 PM–2:30 PM | VIP Opening Afternoon Tea

2:30 PM – Museum opens to public

2:30–3:30 PM | Brian Gallagher, senior curator of Decorative Arts, presents an overview of the exhibition, discussing its central themes and highlighting some of its remarkable works of art.

The annual Potters Market returns to Mint Museum Randolph. See works by more than 50 of North Carolina’s top potters together under one tent on the lawn. Other activities include: live pottery demonstrations, bluegrass music, a beer garden, and raffles. Tickets include FREE admission to Mint Museum Randolph for a first look at the exhibition Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek!

Potters Markets is generously sponsored by Principal Foundation.

Be the first to see and purchase works by the more than 50 North Carolina potters selected for the 2023 Potters Market. Ticket includes dinner, beverages, and live music.

Potters Market is generously sponsored by Principal Foundation.

Drop by the lawn at Mint Museum Randolph to meet an animal from the Stevens Creek Nature Center, participate in nature-themed art experiences, and go on a self-guided scavenger hunt through the museum. Contact Leslie Strauss at 704-337.2050 or leslie.strauss@mintmuseum.org for more information.

Animal encounter 6:30-7:30 PM

Presented by Young Affiliates of the Mint, Derby Days brings together Charlotte’s young professionals to enjoy a day of live music, lawn games, Mint juleps, food trucks, and a viewing party for the Kentucky Derby, and best dressed and best hat contests. Proceeds support school tours at the museum.

Celebrate the opening of the installation Buscando la Sirena by artist Jackie Milad with free museum admission, food trucks, live music from the Mike Strauss Band, a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting).

In honor of Emotional Wellness Month, three local artists will also be onsite offering mindful painting exercises.

At 3 PM, Milad will join Jen Sudul Edwards, chief curator and curator of contemporary art, for an artist talk about her inspiration and process.

Presented by Principal Foundation.

This month check out a puppet-making station, go on a scavenger hunt, and explore many forms of creativity through artist demonstrations and artmaking stations as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Guild of Charlotte Artists!

Enjoy free admission to the museum, a food truck contest, live music and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting).

Party in the Park is presented by Principal Foundation.

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, live music from the Mike Strauss Band, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting). Discover and learn about the work of remarkable American artists on view at the Mint in honor of National American Artist Appreciation Month. Presented by Principal Foundation.

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, live music, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting). Bring a friend or make a new one in honor of International Day of Friendship, and connect with an artist who serves and celebrates the diversity of the Charlotte community. Presented by Principal Foundation.

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, live music from the Mike Strauss Band, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting). In honor of Great Outdoors Month, pick up an Outdoor Sketching Kit and draw the natural surroundings of the park. Presented by Principal Foundation.

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, live music from Guitar Travels, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting). Draw a mandala and go on a creative gallery tour of New Acquisitions: Hardscapes and Dreamscapes to celebrate Creative Beginnings Month! Presented by Principal Foundation.

Enjoy free admission to the museum, food trucks, family friendly art activities, live music, and a cash bar on the front terrace (weather permitting). Explore the museum pocket gardens and grounds in honor of National Garden Month. 
Presented by Principal Foundation.

Kick-off the first weekend of spring with a Sunday afternoon of art and music at Party in the Park. The lead-off event of the third-annual event series, presented by Principal Foundation, celebrates the installation Guiding Winds by local artist Rosalía Torres-Wiener on view at Mint Museum Randolph. Enjoy live music by Café Amaretto and a cash bar on the terrace at the museum, plus food trucks and free museum admission.

From 1- 4 p.m., all ages can make shakers, noise makers, and paintings in the Rose Garden.

At 3:30 PM, enjoy an artist talk by Rosalía Torres-Weiner, plus see a clip of her film “The Magic Kite.”

Guiding Winds is part of the Interventions series, on view in the Art of the Ancient Americas gallery at Mint Museum Randolph.

Diedrick Brackens (American, 1989–). survival is a shrine, not the small space near the limit of life, 2021; cotton and acrylic yarn, 92 x 98 inches.

‘Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes’ retells African American histories and connects American craft traditions through powerful woven art

For Immediate Release 

Charlotte, North Carolina (June 23, 2022) — The Mint Museum is pleased to present Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes, displaying large-scale textiles, handwoven basket boats, and performative photography by internationally recognized artist Diedrick Brackens. Originally curated by Lauren R. O’Connell for the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, The Mint Museum iteration installs the SMoCA exhibition alongside works from The Mint Museum’s collection of quilts and weavings, many of which are on view for the first time, and a survey of contemporary North Carolina weavers. ark of bulrushes will be on view July 16–December 11, 2022 at Mint Museum Randolph. 

Brackens is best known for his weavings that explore narratives about queerness, masculinity, and the Black experience in the United States. His work incorporates elements of West-African weaving, American quilting, and European tapestry-making, as well as histories associated with craft. 

In ark of bulrushes, colorful weavings are encoded with patterns, constellations, and Black figures to form a mythology that combines past stories about liberation, from the Bible to the Underground Railroad, with current narratives of freedom and remediation. Additionally, Brackens first basket boats consider how craft can activate narratives for self-deliverance.

“I really started to think about how I could employ baskets as a tool for self-liberation. For me the question was: Could you make a basket big enough to float away, and is this something that one could do in a clandestine manner or in plain sight? I want the baskets to make some of these myths feel possible, that these aren’t just stories we tell ourselves, but that there is possibility through making, through craft, to actualize these things,” Brackens says.

In the performative photography, Brackens brings the baskets back into nature. “It speaks to how folks have been dispossessed from nature. I think there is so much power in it and so much peace,” he says.

Brackens and O’Connell worked with the Mint’s Chief Curator and Curator of Contemporary Art Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, and Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano to expand the original SMoCA version with related objects from the Mint’s collection of quilts, weavings, and Native American baskets.  

“The sensation of feeling lost and the yearning for guidance — physically, spiritually, emotionally, historically — is a state of existence humans have felt for as long as they have wandered the Earth, and Diedrick Brackens gives us an entirely new way to consider this experience through his poignant, potent imagery that Lauren O’Connell has assembled into this powerful constellation of works,” Sudul Edwards says.  

Contemporary regional artists who have works in the exhibition, include Charlotte-based artists Renee Cloud, Katrina Sanchez, and Andrea Vail, along with Edwina Bringle of Penland, North Carolina, Andrea Donnelly of Richmond, Virginia, and Martha Clippinger of Durham, North Carolina.

Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes is organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) and curated by Lauren R. O’Connell, curator of contemporary art at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Support is provided by the S. Rex and Joan Lewis Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Learning & Engagement and Community Outreach programming for this exhibition is generously supported by Windgate Foundation.   

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. 

Media 

For interviews, digital images, or additional information, please contact: 

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

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

For Immediate Release | Images available here

Charlotte, North Carolina (May 13, 2022) —  For more than 200 years, members of the Cole family have been potting in central North Carolina — Randolph, Moore, Lee, and Montgomery counties. Six generations of Coles, and no fewer than 18 individuals, are represented in The Mint Museum’s permanent collection. More than 60 highlights of their wares are included in the new installation The Cole Family: A Dynasty of North Carolina Potters, on view at Mint Museum Randolph.

From crocks, jars, and jugs to pitchers, candleholders, and vases, “turning pots” is one of the oldest and richest craft traditions in North Carolina. The deep-rooted legacy of the Cole family of potters began with Raphard Cole, born in 1799. He and his sons produced utilitarian stoneware, such as crocks, jugs, and urns, that were needed in an agrarian economy. Following generations distinguished themselves from their forebears by training their daughters, as well as their sons, on how to “turn pots.”

As the North Carolina tourist market for decorative ceramics evolved, the Cole family produced an impressive variety of colorfully glazed vases, pitchers, candleholders, and other ceramic pieces. Examples of all these wares also are on view in the installation.

“In a state filled with multigenerational families of gifted potters, the Coles stand out as one of North Carolina’s most enduring and prolific. For more than two hundred years, they have contributed enormously to the state’s ceramic traditions through their well-potted objects and their exceptionally beautiful glazes,” says Brian Gallagher, senior curator of decorative arts at The Mint Museum.

The Cole Family: A Dynasty of North Carolina Potters presents a visual history of “turned pots” and the family that helped turn North Carolina into one of America’s centers for handmade, traditional pottery.

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.

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

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