Of the three main characters in Shelby Van Pelt’s novel the most unique is Marcellus, an intelligent and highly observant Pacific octopus residing in a Pacific Northwest aquarium! Despite his habitat’s restrictions, Marcellus has a profound effect on Tova, a widow dealing with aging and grief and Cameron, a young man searching for family connections. […]

“Portrait of a Thief” by Grace D. Li is a thrilling heist novel that blends Ocean's Eleven with The Farewell. Inspired by the true story of Chinese art disappearing from Western museums, it explores themes of diaspora, cultural theft, and Chinese American identity.  

“Portrait of a Thief” by Grace D. Li is a thrilling heist novel that blends Ocean's Eleven with The Farewell. Inspired by the true story of Chinese art disappearing from Western museums, it explores themes of diaspora, cultural theft, and Chinese American identity.  

The Trackers is Charles Frazier’s first book set outside the American South. However, the story takes place in 1937, a year shared with many of the artworks in our Southern/Modern exhibition, with multiple connections that can be made between the book and the exhibition. The story follows a young painter from Virginia who receives a […]

Barbara Kingsolver’s Harrison Shepherd takes an epic journey from the Mexico of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. Following a conversation about "The Lacuna," take a docent-led visit to Ancient Americas, Spanish Colonial, and Heritage galleries to see connections to our art. “I only thought […]

Of the three main characters in Shelby Van Pelt’s novel the most unique is Marcellus, an intelligent and highly observant Pacific octopus residing in a Pacific Northwest aquarium! Despite his habitat’s restrictions, Marcellus has a profound effect on Tova, a widow dealing with aging and grief and Cameron, a young man searching for family connections. […]

Sue Monk Kidd’s pre-Civil War story presents two extraordinary women: one an urban enslaved descendant of Fon people of western Africa; the other a planter-class Charlestonian who evolves into a Quaker abolitionist and feminist. Enjoy a conversation about The Invention of Wings, then take a docent-led tour to create connections between the book and works […]

Isabel Wilkerson’s book follows three individuals, representative of the six million Black Southerners who participated in the Great Migration to northern or western destinations. The Wall Street Journal’s review of this work states “Ms. Wilkerson does for the Great Migration what John Steinbeck did for the Okies in his fiction masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath.” […]

Personal memory and cultural history combine in Christopher Benfey’s New York Times Notable Book and connections to the Mint’s ceramic collections abound. Characters and times range from Anni and Josef Albers and their residence at Black Mountain College to Josiah Wedgwood’s quest for Carolina Cherokee clay to the history of Seagrove potters. Enjoy a conversation […]

“Portrait of a Thief” by Grace D. Li is a thrilling heist novel that blends Ocean's Eleven with The Farewell. Inspired by the true story of Chinese art disappearing from Western museums, it explores themes of diaspora, cultural theft, and Chinese American identity.  

The Trackers is Charles Frazier’s first book set outside the American South. However, the story takes place in 1937, a year shared with many of the artworks in our Southern/Modern exhibition, with multiple connections that can be made between the book and the exhibition. The story follows a young painter from Virginia who receives a […]