Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675-1825 to open January 16, 2016 at Mint Museum Randolph

The Mint Museum, long regarded as holding one of the country’s most comprehensive collections of eighteenth-century British ceramics, is about to celebrate the first major reinstallation of that collection in nearly four decades with the opening of Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675-1825 at Mint Museum Randolph on January 16, 2016. The ongoing exhibition will stay on view for approximately two years, with additional objects rotating in over time. Members of the media are invited to preview the exhibition with a special tour at 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 14 at Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Road.

“The Mint Museum’s collection of eighteenth-century British ceramics is one of its greatest strengths,” said Brian Gallagher, the Mint’s curator of decorative arts. “This exhibition presents the collection in a way that really highlights its breadth and, we hope, helps to make our visitors more aware of these great objects. Not only is the Mint’s collection noteworthy for its encyclopedic representation of British ceramics, but also because it contains a lot of very rare and even singular works of art.”

Portals to the Past is accompanied by a 270-page new scholarly publication, British Ceramics 1675-1825: The Mint Museum, published by the museum in collaboration with D. Giles Limited, London. It is available in the Mint Museum Shops for $79.95 hardcover and $54.95 softcover.

Both the exhibition and catalogue are made possibly by the Delhom Service League, ceramics affiliate of The Mint Museum. Additional exhibition support was generously provided by Moore & Van Allen.

As the Portals exhibition demonstrates, historical objects can reveal much about the people who once owned them and the culture in which they were produced: the popular foods and beverages of the day and how they were served; the prevailing styles of the period; even which public figures were especially admired. These and other aspects of life in eighteenth-century England are explored in this reinterpretation of the Mint’s collection of British pottery and porcelain, which presents more than 225 highlights, including many objects that have never before been on view, as well as contemporaneous works of art from the Mint’s holdings in British paintings, fashion, silver, and works on paper.

Both the catalogue and the installation honor the 50th anniversary of the museum’s purchase of the Delhom Collection of British and European ceramics, and the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the Delhom Service League. “Ms. M. Mellanay Delhom, who assembled the majority of this collection and was fierce about her collection being kept intact, would be so proud of seeing it in its new location along with the many other historic pieces that have been in storage because of the lack of exhibition space,” said Bernie Bowen, president of the Delhom Service League.

Coinciding with Portals, the museum will also unveil Contemporary British Ceramics: The Grainer Collection at Mint Museum Randolph. This survey of contemporary British studio ceramics also goes on view January 16 and will remain as an ongoing installation. Focused on the collection of Diane and Marc Grainer, active members of the Mint affiliate the Founders’ Circle Ltd., it contains functional and sculptural objects made between the 1980s and today, by artists either born or residing in Great Britain. Represented are such “contemporary classics” as Gordon Baldwin and Rupert Spira along with cutting-edge ceramicists such as Julian Stair and Kate Malone.

The scholarly catalogue’s publication will be celebrated with an author signing at the Mint Museum UPTOWN Shop (500 South Tryon Street, Levine Center for the Arts) at 5 p.m. on December 16. Portals to the Past will also be accompanied by public tours and other programming; see mintmuseum.org/happenings for details on upcoming events.

Members of the media may RSVP to the January media preview by contacting leigh.dyer@mintmuseum.org. High resolution images are available upon request.

Above image: William Littler (British, 1724–1784). Sweetmeat Stand, circa 1765–1770, earthenware, lead glaze. West Pans, East Lothian, Scotland. Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary. 1971.3.16. Collection of The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.

“From New York to Nebo: The Artistic Journey of Eugene Thomason” to open November 21 at Mint Museum Uptown

When The Mint Museum opened its doors in 1936, North Carolina native Eugene Thomason was perhaps the most significant artist working in Charlotte, and one of the region’s strongest advocates for contemporary art. As a young man, Thomason’s art caught the eye of industrialist James B. Duke, who sponsored his studies at the Art Students League in New York.

For the next four decades, first in Charlotte and later in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Nebo (about 90 miles northwest of Charlotte), Thomason worked in the vigorous, rough-hewn style he had adopted in New York to depict subjects ranging from the local landscape to his friends and acquaintances. From New York to Nebo: The Artistic Journey of Eugene Thomason is organized by The Johnson Collection, one of the most comprehensive collections of Southern art in the world. Noted expert on Southern art Martha Severens selected approximately three dozen paintings spanning Thomason’s career for the show at Mint Museum Uptown, and will visit for a public event on January 27 at Mint Museum Uptown. The exhibition, which has toured three other Southern museums before concluding its run at the Mint, remains on view from November 21, 2015 through March 27, 2016. Members of the media are invited to preview the exhibition during a special tour at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday November 19 at Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts, 500 South Tryon Street.

“I was thrilled to learn that The Johnson Collection was organizing this exhibition and that we are able to host it at The Mint Museum,” said Dr. Jonathan Stuhlman, the Mint’s senior curator of American, modern, and contemporary art, who contributed a foreword to the exhibition publication. “The timing was felicitous, given that we will soon be celebrating our 80th anniversary and Thomason was one of the most active artists in Charlotte when the Mint opened its doors and one of the first to show his work here.  Our visitors are sure to be inspired and delighted by his vibrant, energetically painted canvases that document the one-of-a-kind people and places of our state.”

The exhibition is presented in Charlotte by the Duke Energy Foundation. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication authored by Severens and co-published by the University of South Carolina Press and The Johnson Collection. It is available in the Mint Museum Shops for $34.95.

Also on November 21 at Mint Museum Uptown, the Mint will celebrate its permanent collection of European art with Modern Musings: European Works on Paper , on view alongside From New York to Nebo through March 27, 2016.

The Mint Museum owns more than 1,000 works on paper created by European artists. Approximately 30 highlights from this collection, all created between roughly 1850 and 1950, will be featured. During this period, European art underwent a series of dramatic changes as artists shifted their focus from an emphasis on naturalism and academic techniques to works characterized by a more subjective response to the natural world. Artists represented include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Käthe Kollwitz, Giorgio de Chirico, and Edvard Munch.

The new exhibition and installation will be accompanied by a full slate of special activities for museum members; tours by curators and docents; Sunday Fun Days; Taste of the Mint culinary experiences; visiting guest speakers; NexGen events for ages 14-18; and more. See mintmuseum.org/happenings for details on public events. Admission to From New York to Nebo is subject to additional special exhibition fees, which also grant admission to the special exhibition VIVA MOSCHINO! at Mint Museum Uptown.

New opening date for Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675-1825

The Mint Museum, long regarded as holding one of the country’s most comprehensive collections of eighteenth-century British ceramics, is about to celebrate the first major reinstallation of that collection in nearly four decades with the opening of Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675-1825 at Mint Museum Randolph on January 16, 2016. The ongoing exhibition will stay on view for approximately two years, with additional objects rotating in over time. Members of the media are invited to preview the exhibition with a special tour at 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 14.

“The Mint Museum’s collection of eighteenth-century British ceramics is one of its greatest strengths,” said Brian Gallagher, the Mint’s curator of decorative arts. “This exhibition presents the collection in a way that really highlights its breadth and, we hope, helps to make our visitors more aware of these great objects. Not only is the Mint’s collection noteworthy for its encyclopedic representation of British ceramics, but also because it contains a lot of very rare and even singular works of art.”

Portals to the Past is accompanied by a 270-page new scholarly publication, British Ceramics 1675-1825: The Mint Museum, published by the museum in collaboration with D. Giles Limited, London. It will be available mid-December in the Mint Museum Shops for $79.95 hardcover and $54.95 softcover.

Both the exhibition and catalogue are made possibly by the Delhom Service League, ceramics affiliate of The Mint Museum. Additional exhibition support was generously provided by Moore & Van Allen.

As the Portals exhibition demonstrates, historical objects can reveal much about the people who once owned them and the culture in which they were produced: the popular foods and beverages of the day and how they were served; the prevailing styles of the period; even which public figures were especially admired. These and other aspects of life in eighteenth-century England are explored in this reinterpretation of the Mint’s collection of British pottery and porcelain, which presents more than 225 highlights, including many objects that have never before been on view, as well as contemporaneous works of art from the Mint’s holdings in British paintings, fashion, silver, and works on paper.

Both the catalogue and the installation honor the 50th anniversary of the museum’s purchase of the Delhom Collection of British and European ceramics, and the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the Delhom Service League. “Ms. M. Mellanay Delhom, who assembled the majority of this collection and was fierce about her collection being kept intact, would be so proud of seeing it in its new location along with the many other historic pieces that have been in storage because of the lack of exhibition space,” said Bernie Bowen, president of the Delhom Service League.

Coinciding with Portals, the museum will also unveil Contemporary British Ceramics: The Grainer Collection at Mint Museum Randolph. This survey of contemporary British studio ceramics also goes on view January 16 and will remain as an ongoing installation. Focused on the collection of Diane and Marc Grainer, active members of the Mint affiliate the Founders’ Circle Ltd., it contains functional and sculptural objects made between the 1980s and today, by artists either born or residing in Great Britain. Represented are such “contemporary classics” as Gordon Baldwin and Rupert Spira along with cutting-edge ceramicists such as Julian Stair and Kate Malone.

Members of the media may RSVP to either the November or January media previews by contacting leigh.dyer@mintmuseum.org. Nebo curator Martha Severens will be onsite and available for in-person interviews on Monday, November 23, if desired. High resolution images available upon request.

Above image: Eugene Healan Thomason (American, 1895-1972). Three Red Roses, 1968, oil on masonite. The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The Mint is embarking on a year dedicated to celebrating our own treasures in the collection of the state’s first art museum.

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.