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FEATURE STORY
by Margaret Marchuk The opening of the new Mint Museum of Craft & Design marks the newest addition to the “New South” Photos courtesy of the Mint Museum of Craft & Design | 
Sherri Markovitz's Bear's Lair of beadwork and mixed media. |
 rriving in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a reception celebrating the opening of the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, I was curious about this “new Southern city.” Known nationally for its rank and wealth as a banking industry hotbed, from what I saw and heard it may well become known as a place that puts its money where its art is.
Indeed, history is repeating itself as the five-story Montaldo Building, which for more than 40 years presented the latest New York and Paris fashions, has been reborn as a showcase for international craft. On January 10, to much fanfare, this building reopened its doors as the Mint Museum of Craft & Design (MMCD). Intended as the uptown sister to the Mint Museum of Art on Randolph Road, outside center city, this facility's ambition is to join the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the American Craft Museum in New York City as a national crafts resource through its permanent collections, original exhibitions, and scholarship.
MMCD Director Mark Leach points out, “We are a work in progress because we have a great way to go in meeting our collection goals. The principal selection criterion is artistic excellence ‹ works of unusual quality produced by established and emerging artists that delineate historical, technical, and stylistic innovation.” It seems appropriate that such a museum would emerge here in the South in a region so rich in the crafts tradition, both Native American and European. The nearby Penland School of the Arts, Jugtown, Seagrove, and John C. Campbell Folk School exemplify that crafts have long been, and still are, an important and vital component of life in this area. North Carolina has an incredibly rich hand-made heritage, especially pottery and furniture, and there are a number of organizations located in the state focusing on various aspects of the field. It was the desire of these craft-related organizations to collaborate on projects that served as impetus for a focus group of 40 collectors, curators, and craft professionals to meet in December of 1997 to help develop MMCD's mission.
Currently there are about a dozen works representing jewelry making and design and metalsmithing on exhibit in the permanent collection. This area of the collection may expand, according to Mary Douglas, MMCD Curator, after they have set formal reviewing procedures in place. In viewing two of the jewelry pieces, it is evident that selection of work for the museum must be a tough process. Tom McCarthy's necklace, which was gifted to MMCD, represents the exceptional craftsmanship on display. This Florida artist created a reversible necklace incorporating 14-karat gold, white gold, and diamonds, with a centerpiece pendant which can be detached and worn alone. A beaded necklace, Hunger, by Maryland artist Joyce Scott (see “A World Bead,” October, 1995), is an unconventional treatment of jewelry that incorporates her social commentary on the food shortage in Africa. Her elaborate neckpiece of glass beads, thread, photographs, and plastic presents an interesting dichotomy as it draws one in with its beauty of handcraft, yet it gives beadwork a new application as the purveyor of ugly social realities.
In addition to such a rich foundation, the new museum was gifted with a collection of 403 ceramic objects from retired real estate developer Alan Chasanoff. The MMCD also received 120 wood-turned objects from Washington, D.C., collectors Jane and Arthur Mason, who have what is widely considered the finest private collection of turned-wood pieces in America. The Masons also donated eight glass, ceramic, and metal works by such masters as Dale Chihuly, Stanislav Libensky, and Michael Lucero.
The MMCD opened with two inaugural exhibitions: The White House Collection of American Crafts, organized by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art, and Harvey K. Littleton Reflections, 1946-1994, a retrospective of the work of the founder of the American studio glass movement. The White House Collection, assembled in 1993 at the request of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, makes the final stop of its national tour at MMCD, running through May 30. Featuring 72 works by America's leading contemporary craft artists, the collection does not pretend to be a broad survey of all facets of modern craft. Rather, the criteria for inclusion was determined by the architecture, historical settings, and furnishings of the White House period rooms. That said, the backgrounds of the craft artists included are diverse. The artists represent all regions of the United States, and all media, from established masters to emerging talent.
The Harvey K. Littleton exhibition leads the visitor through 63 artworks and documentary photographs, exhibition catalogs, and correspondence on loan from the Archives of American Art. This exhibition presents Littleton's achievements as a teacher, glass artist, and studio craft advocate in the context of his glass production. Although he started his career as a potter, by 1960 he was carving lumps of cullet (waste glass used for remelting) into monoliths, as seen by Glass Pieces in the show. His signature works are bars of encased color that look like they have been pulled like taffy. His latest effort is vitreography - producing prints from glass plates. Techniques used in preparing the plates include sandblasting, hot glue resists, etching, and caustic solutions applied freehand or even by computer design. Included in the Littleton exhibition are glassworks by his role models and colleagues in studio and international glass, such as Jean Sala, Erwin Eisch, Frederick Carder, and Raoul Goldoni. In a state which has an incredibly rich heritage in the crafts, it is appropriate that the goal of the new museum is “to give more visibility to the craft field and complement the kind of programs that are being done nationally and to offer some of our own originality to that mix,” as Mark Richard Leach, director of MMCD says. Leach feels a responsibility to do something that makes a difference, both for the artists who create and for the public, in terms of developing an awareness and appreciation for what's so very special about things made by hand. In an age when we find ourselves ever more reliant upon computer technology, the personal quality of a well-designed and well-crafted handmade object has special appeal.
Yet with all this change taking place, Charlotteans have not lost a sense of their city's roots and graciousness. From the garage attendant where I parked my car, to the pedestrians I passed along my way, there was always a nod of the head, a smile, and sometimes a “hello.” One grows accustomed to such simple courtesies here in North Carolina. And it seems it is this humanist quality of the southern business and civic leaders as well as the public that prompted their affirmative nods to spending millions over the years on their cultural assets. The results of the attention and expenditure are very visible: Mint Museum and Discovery Place expansion, Spirit Square renovation, Charlotte-Mecklenburg main-library expansion, the Museum of the New South, and the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center - all within blocks of one another. And while MMCD has its own vision of what this museum in progress will do in terms of America's crafts, civic and business leaders focus on the long-term economic benefits to the city. Indeed, the Bank of America turned down offers from developers wanting to convert the building into offices. Located in center city, this gem of a building would have turned a tidy profit on the bank's investment. Instead, the bank's leadership had a grander vision, seeing beyond their own bottom line to a sound investment from which the entire city would profit. As McColl says regarding the Montaldo gift to the Mint, “The arts community is important to the economic vitality of our city.” Mint Museum executive director Bruce Evans says it another way, “Banking put Charlotte on the map, but the arts will keep it there.” The Mint Museum of Craft & Design is located at 220 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC; (704) 337-2000. |
ELCOMING VISITORS into the lobby of the museum is an extravagant, blown-glass sculptural chandelier commissioned from glass artist Dale Chihuly. The chandelier, weighing one ton, is suspended from four thin, seemingly delicate, metal cables. Serving a role both functional and artistic is a 40-foot wall created by Massachusetts studio glass artist Tom Patti, interpreting North Carolina's textile heritage in a far different medium. These initial artistic impressions serve as an indication of the awe-
inspiring craftwork of ceramics, glass, fiber, metal, and wood that awaits within.
