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October Issue 2004
Mint Museumof Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, Features Exhibit Focused on the Vessel from Museum's Collection
Reflecting the diversity of form, function, materials, ideas and technical execution, Speaking Volumes:Vessels from the Collection of The Mint Museums, on display through April 17, 2005, at Charlotte, NC's Mint Museum of Craft + Design, celebrates the variety of vessels in The Mint Museums' permanent collection, and illuminates the vessel form, bridging cultures, geography, and history. Together, these works connect the maker and the viewer through the concepts of ceremony, decoration, sculpture and utility. Arranged into 4 themes, we hope this exhibition will pique visitors' curiosity, inspire new visual discoveries, and instigate new inquiries within the museum's collection. Many recent acquisitions will be on view for the first time in this exhibition.
From antiquity to present, the vessel has been central to human existence. Compelling parallels can be drawn between utilitarian vessels from a Chinese Neolithic storage jar dating from 2200 BC to a "The Father of Modernism" Christopher Dresser's iconic Tri-Legged Sugar Bowland from a Late Classic Period Guatemalan chocolate bowl from the Late Classic Period (AD 600-900) to an Arts and Craft tankard by Ada Wilt Lonnegan for Newcomb Pottery. These are among the works illustrating how functional containers have been used throughout history to transport, serve, and preserve everything from liquids, foodstuffs, medicines and herbs to precious perfumes and luxurious oils in Speaking Volumes.
Secular and sacred intersect offering interesting comparisons between works displayed in Speaking Volumes such as the circa 11th-12th century Head of Buddha, by an unknown Cambodian sculptor and Amedeo Modigliani's Tête de Femme and two works created for Limoges, including a 19th century porcelain vase depicting The Rape of Europa and Cindy Sherman's 20th century Madame de Pompadour Soup Tureen, which illustrate how the vessel has been used as a canvas to commemorate historically significant figures, events and ideas.
A 12th century Funerary Jar by the Bura Culture of Mali and a mid-20th century Osun Fertility Vessel by the Yoruba Peoples of Nigeria beautifully represent how the vessel chronicles various stages of life, from birth to adulthood to death. Whether physical or ethereal, human or divine, an array of portraits as well as censers from Bolivia, Mexico, and the United States illustrate how vessels and humans coexist as allegorical, or symbolic, ideological and spiritual repositories.
Mouth, neck, belly, and foot are used interchangeably to describe the physical attributes shared between humans and vessels. The body can represent a vessel; the vessel can represent a body. These objects illustrate metaphorical vessels, the human body symbolizing the vessel and likewise, anthropomorphic vessels, or those endowed with human attributes. Throughout the galleries, there are also various manifestations of animal vessels, such as a Costa Rican Deer Bowl from the Late Period V A.D. 500-800 to Preston Singletary's sandblasted glass Wolf Hat and even human blood vessels as seen in Katherine Blacklock's Cross Your Heart #5 and Pike Power's grisly Catch. Long after humans cease to exist, vessels remain as repositories for human artistry, ideas, creativity, and emotion.
Since the beginning of time, nature and man's
desire to ornament his environment have served as primary aesthetic
inspirations. In Mike Shuler's Monterey Pinecone Vases
and Dona Look's birch bark #969 Globe, aspects of nature
are represented in the materials from which the vessels are fashioned.
At the same time, Marvin Jensen's elaborately patterned mixed
metal Interior Structure and Ralph Bacerra's Celadon
Vessel illustrate how craftspeople can ornament virtually
every inch of a vessel's surface with astounding precision, beauty,
and grace.
During the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st,
vessels continue to assume roles in our daily lives, both functionally
and aesthetically. Freed from the constructs of media and technique,
the cup, the basket, and the still life have transcended their
traditional definitions. The vessel has not only entered the sculptural
realm, but also it has emerged as an idea, embracing architecture,
the landscape, and the journey of life.
Jean Blackburn's slipcast and altered stoneware Pierced (Blue)
and William Hunter's spiraling cocobolo rosewood Kinetic Rhythms
#1277 exemplify how ceramics and wood and the negative space
employed therein, are among the materials artists employ to create
visually arresting and intellectually stimulating sculptural and
conceptual vessels. From Kenneth Price's Post Modernist icon Untitled
(Cup) to Peter Voulkos' Pinatubo, these works illustrate
how artists have succeeded in minimalizing and monumentalizing
the vessel, altering our perceptions, and transforming our ideas
of what vessels are and what they can be.
Spanning media including ceramics, fiber, glass, metal, and wood,
this exhibition offers a global perspective of the vessel. These
vessels speak volumes!
For more info check our NC Institutional Gallery listings,
call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or at (www.mintmuseum.org).
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