It’s Wednesday October 9th, 2024 at the Mint Museum located in Charlotte North Carolina. My previous experience with American Art Museums had been limited to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta Georgia. Unlike the High Museum where free entry was given every second Sunday, the Mint offers free admission every Wednesday, so I went in with the expectation that there would be many people. As I entered the Mint, I was surprisingly met with a meditative silence. The only sound was the typing of the lady at the front desk and Alana’s quiet conversation with her as she gathered the information we needed to enter. I noticed the stained glass and colors spilling onto the floor around us, which made me excited for what was to come once we started our travels upwards through the exhibits. I quickly learned that The Mint Museum was originally founded in 1936 and is split into two separate locations, the Charlotte location being the smaller of the two. This also meant that they alternated different floors depending on the day. Today the second and fifth floors were open.
The first exhibition I entered was called Craft in the Laboratory:The Science of Making Things. This exhibit explores the connection between science and art as overlapping processes rather than separate practices. I found this exhibit to be very timely, due to the push of STEM within educational environments. There have been many times throughout highschool where presenters and teachers would push the narrative that STEM is the future, and in that future art wasn’t as important or valued. So to be in a space where creators are commenting that they exist codependently was a different narrative.
The Joy of Transformation by Ayala Serfaty, which was a part of a bigger collection of light sculptures called SOMA (the Greek word for body) quickly caught my attention. There was no way for me to prepare to approach this piece. It presents itself as a dimly lit structure installed in the connection of two walls. There are spikes erupting from all sides of the artwork, not aggressively but softly as if someone had been pulling pieces outward on a playdough ball. It was captivating, as it emanated a soft glow and the sound of low frequency vibrations. The sculpture gave the impression that darkness engulfed the entire room, before it burst through and light appeared. Serfaty describes these pieces as metaphors for her spiritual and perceptual encounters. I contemplated this perspective and considered how this piece interacted with the world based on her intention for the meaning of the sculpture. As a spectator I feel that I received her message, the sculpture is ambiguous and that’s how I imagine our souls, so the world around us shapes us and who we are. This sculpture is Serfaty’s way of sharing a piece of who she is in a physical format.
Understanding a little more about the artist’s perspective, I now had a better understanding of how this work fit into the exhibition as a whole. The science behind Serfaty’s collection was a mix of glass and polymer, which required constant measurements and calculation when mixing the elements in order to get the desired effect. The work behind this piece felt so precise that it almost feels contradictory to the meaning and expression that Serfaty was trying to convey, yet the piece couldn’t exist without both sides. This beautifully deepens the understanding of the artwork as whole, because as a representation of the human body and soul the mix of science and art is the only way we exist, the perfect harmony of our bodies cells, veins, etc in tandem with our mentalities, relationships, and interest come together and make us people.
I continued throughout the Mint and I found many pieces of art created from organic materials such as clay and wood, but I was surprised by one piece in particular. There was a glass orb sitting in a case towards the back of the museum and it drew me in. This piece was called Verdant Ceres, part of a larger collection named Mega Planets by John Simpson. Picture a transparent glass orb, and on the inside there is another orb, that is greenish blue in hue. Scattered across the inner orb are 3 dimensional details of rivers, marshes, and trees, even extra terrestrial details like spaceships. It is as if I discovered a tiny universe that I can’t touch or explore, but am left to imagine. Simpson only allows spectators a chance to see this miniature world, providing commentary on how our world is only part of a more expansive network of life, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful or worth being appreciated. Like many of the glass works in this exhibit Simpson had to be very knowledgeable about the process of glass building, Mega planets take months to layer in order to achieve the intricate details and desired size. Verdant Ceres had to cool for forty days before it could be displayed. As I further reflected on this piece and thought about the transformation of one’s views when they look out of the small bubbles that are our lives, I can only imagine how differently I would feel if I had the opportunity to view the Earth from the outside in.
I left the Mint Museum feeling introspective and transformed in my own ways. I not only learned a lot about the connections of science and art but that we as humans exist as melding of the two. I’d recommend going to see this exhibition, and reflecting on what it is to be a person in a world where we are surrounded by the mingling of art and science.
Work Cited
Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things, 2010, Mint Museum Charlotte North Carolina