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June Issue 2005
Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, Offers Exhibit with Focus of Artists as Collectors
The Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, is presenting the exhibition, Point of View III: North Carolina Artists as Collectors, featuring the collections of glass artist Harvey Littleton, ceramist Mark Hewitt, and furniture maker and interior designer Randy Shull. The exhibit will be on view through Oct. 9, 2005.
"Building great collections is a journey, a wondrous continuum, often characterized by a collector's curiosity, passion, and an insatiable desire to learn," said Mint Curator Melissa Post.
Harvey Littleton is best known as the Father of the American Studio Glass Movement. In 1962 he and Dominick Labino lead the movement that took glass production out of the factory and into the artist's studio.
Littleton's glass collection began while he was still in high school. In 1958, he began experimenting with glass, trading pieces with Steuben Founder/Designer Frederick Carder, and actively collecting glass. Initially, he decided to build a comprehensive teaching collection that would illustrate the history of glass and glassmaking processes. This historical collection is perhaps his best known.
The collection featured in Point of View III is a lesser-known collection and one that is infinitely more intimate. The works represent Littleton's 50-year relationship with a cadre of international studio glass artists and designers," said Post. "Many are adorned with personal inscriptions from one artist to another."
Mark Hewitt, born into a family of potters, was a geography student before becoming an apprentice with British potter Michael Cardew and American Todd Piker. He received his first pot in 1977 as a gift from fellow potter Svend Bayer; he continues to use this pitcher for glazing to this day. Hewitt's first significant purchase was the Frederick Carpenter jug on display in Point of View III, one which he "fell in love with" and one which he feels "still holds all its original promise." This jug led him to Lincolnton, NC, where he developed an enduring love affair with North Carolina pottery. He since has become a scholar on the subject.
"Hewitt's collection reflects his admiration for various potters' work, his love of alkaline glazes, and the quiet beauty that lies within the noble pot," said Post. "It exudes his passion for pots and a reverence for tradition, form and function. This collection demonstrates one artist's profound respect for the friendships he made while pursuing his own pottery, from those who have inspired him, to those he has inspired. Hewitt's collection can be distinguished from so many others in that the works are functional, meant to be used, and he uses them."
Furniture maker and interior designer, Randy Shull, has built his collection by trading work with fellow artists and purchasing works from others. Shull, along with Hedy Fischer, has built a collection including many different mediums: wood, painting, ceramic, metal and mixed media. As collectors of "works by contemporary artists," Shull and Fischer's collecting reflects aspects of both their individual identities and their shared holistic lifestyle.
Several connections reveal themselves upon regarding this collection of works: most works are overwhelmingly figural, many are rendered in wood, and several are furniture. While Shull finds himself particularly drawn to works whose aesthetic is distinctly different from his own, Fischer tends to be attracted to figurative works that reflect her love of people. It is fitting then, that Bob Trotman's unusual, hyper-realistic figurative sculptures and sculptural furniture, have secured a central place in the hearts of both Shull and Fischer, and in their collection.
For more information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2066 or at (www.mintmuseum.org).
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