Exploring the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte

"Foragers" by Summer Wheat (2020)

Once my niece was happily married and we'd danced ourselves into the night, I rested up and headed out to check out a couple of museums in Charlotte. What a great downtown area! The Mint Museum Uptown and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art are conveniently located right next door to one another. I flipped a coin and headed into the Mint where I was greeted by Summer Wheat's "Foragers." WOW!

First of all, the work is four stories tall and covers 96 windows. All told, it's a 3,720 square foot collage. The hand cut color vinyl takes on the look of stained glass in the space. It is truly spectacular. 

Wheat's intention behind the work is to change the way stories are told. She looked to historical works -- including stained glass -- for her inspiration and substituted women for the men. Often the women are workers, a way of highlighting both the unsung contributions women make and the labor-intensive processes of her own work.  

If you have a few minutes, check out the video in this link about the making of "Foragers." The fact that it came together during the pandemic -- when Wheat didn't have access to the museum space where it would be installed -- makes it all the more remarkable. My visit was off to a spectacular start. (Yes, I realize I've used the word "spectacular" twice in this post. But how did I really feel about this work?)  And for Wheat's website, click here. 

"Selma" by Barbara Pennington (1965)

Barbara Pennington's "Selma" was a much more sobering work. I was surprised to learn that Pennington was primarily an abstract artist. A native of Alabama, Pennington was living in New York during the early 1960s. And so she watched with horror from afar as the unrest took place in Selma. Pennington responded by creating this figurative work about what was happening. But while Pennington was compelled to paint her response to current events, she was not compelled to share it with others. Pennington's niece found the painting rolled up in the artist's studio when she was cleaning things out after Pennington passed away in 2013. 

"Selma" is a composite picture of the events that transpired over the days of the Selma marches, from the violence of the police and the Klan to the peaceful march MLK led from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. An estimated 8,000 people participated in the 50 mile march and more than 25,000 people gathered to hear MLK's "How Long, Not Long" speech. It is very hard to watch given the state of our nation. Apparently the arc of the moral universe is still bending towards justice. Little did Pennington know how relevant her painting would be almost 60 years after she created it. 

"Charlotte's Charlotte" by Ken Aptekar (2009)

Given the Mint's location, I'd feel remiss if I didn't share "Charlotte's Charlotte" by Ken Aptekar. Besides, it's pretty interesting. 

Charlotte the city was named for Queen Charlotte of England, the wife of George III. And so it makes sense that the Mint owns the coronation painting of the young Queen Charlotte done by Sir Allan Ramsay in 1772. (There are also a number of statues around town depicting the queen, but I didn't happen upon any of them during my visit.) 

In 2007 the Museum asked artist Ken Aptekar to create a contemporary rendering of Charlotte. Before undertaking the project he met with diverse groups within the community to find out what Queen Charlotte meant to them. He distilled their responses and included them in his painting; thus the overlay of text such as "Immigrant," "Queen of the Enemy," and "Oh Yeah She Is." The last phrase is a reference to the fact that the Queen Charlotte was of German, Portuguese and North African descent. (Interestingly, Ramsay was apparently asked to lighten her skin color for the coronation portrait. The face of Charlotte in Aptekar's work is taken from Ramsay's painting.) If you were a fan of "Bridgerton," Charlotte might already be known to you as she was a character in the series. For a great news clip about Queen Charlotte, including her depiction in "Bridgerton," click here. 

"Threshold" by Danny Lane (2010)

The Mint Museum Uptown is divided into two sections, with one floor hosting the "art" and another featuring "craft + design" works. I'm using quotation marks here because the distinction is quite porous. But that's a conversation for another day. 

When you enter the Craft + Design section, you are greeted by Danny Lane's gorgeous "Threshold." The work was commissioned by the Mint for the opening of its Uptown location. This picture truly does not do justice to the work, which is made of 800 stacked sheets of glass that change color as you view the work from different perspectives. It is nine feet tall and extends 26' across. Although it weighs more than 20,000 pounds, it seems to almost float with its shimmering effects. It's another showstopper. To hear from Lane about the work and see his creative process, click here. 

There's more I'd like to share, but this post is already running long. Suffice it to say that the Mint Museum Uptown is definitely worth a stop if you're in the Charlotte area. For more information, click here. 

Next up: "Pop to Now: Warhol and His Legacy" at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.