THE VOICE OF A VILLAGE BY ANNIE MCGOWAN

from Queen City Nerve - June 16, 2021

PUZZLES

THE VOICE OF A VILLAGE

New Mint Museum exhibit continues institution’s efforts to highlight local artists

BY ANNIE MCGOWAN

roots all over, representing the transplant nature of the city and its reliance on immigrants. The artists also work in a multitude of mediums, from ceramics to metal to fibers, representing a diverse array of backgrounds and cultures through art. Jen Edwards, curator at Mint Museum and cofounder of Goodyear Arts, worked as a go-between for centering local artists in Charlotte’s oldest arts museum. “One of the reasons why I find Charlotte so extraordinary is that the artist collective community here is so strong and dynamic, and supporting such a diverse range of work that’s being made,” Edwards

In a sign of how Charlotte’s oldest arts institution told Queen City Nerve. “I genuinely lived and is shifting focus to support more local and diverse traveled through a lot of places, and that network of artists, The Mint Museum-Randolph in June opened artist collectives in Charlotte is quite extraordinary. an expansive exhibit featuring work from local indie And so, it is a great opportunity to highlight the artist collectives Goodyear Arts, BLKMRKTCLT, and work being done here.” Brand the Moth, featuring more than 40 artists from The exhibit will bring together three of the Charlotte area. Each collective claims a room at Charlotte’s most innovative artist collectives, the museum to display their respective works. combining into a celebration of the Charlotte art

The exhibit, titled It Takes a Village, follows the scene. lead of a recent three-day pop-up exhibit at the museum’s original location on Randolph Road that also showed the works of around 40 local artists, with a focus on artists of color and underground street artists. While LOCAL/STREET lasted just three days, It Takes a Village will last three months, and while the art isn’t quite as packed in as it was during LOCAL/ STREET, the more spread out nature of the exhibit allows the viewer to zero in on what has been included. Running from June 12 to Sept. 12, It Takes a Village features artists that overlap with the LOCAL/STREET exhibit, as well as some who worked on the Black Lives Matter mural painted between East 3rd and East 4th streets in June 2020 during nationwide protests that followed the police killings of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. The local artists featured in the new exhibit have ‘For us, by us’ BLKMRKTCLT is based in Camp North End and made for people of color by people of color, said co-founder and studio manager Will Jenkins. With events focused to introduce Charlotte to the next big artist, BLKMRKTCLT also serves as a safe space for artists of color to create. “BLKMRKT as a collective came into fruition mainly because there was no safe creative space for African Americans to just authentically make the art that represents them,” Jenkins told Queen CIty Nerve. “The mission of BLKMRKT is not only creating that space, but pushing the idea of what is authentic Black artistry.” BLKMRKTCLT co-founder Carla Aaron-Lopez served as lead organizer and curator of the LOCAL/ STREET pop-up in late March. She cites the lack of A PHOTO COLLAGE BY BLKMRKTCLT’S WILL JENKINS. minority voices within the Charlotte art scene as The Goodyear platform inspiration for her work. Goodyear Arts, another collective in the exhibit,

“If you really want to know, BLKMRKT is the is a nonprofit artist residency and events program ‘now’ version of a Black arts collective in Charlotte, focused on visual, performing, and literary arts. the only other one that we can trace back to is God The Goodyear Arts collective is made up of more City in the early 2000s,” Aaron-Lopez told Queen City than 40 artist-in-residence alumni and current Nerve. “And there may have been more prior to that, leadership, and with each year it expands as they but that is because coverage of the arts in Charlotte support more artists. has lacked so much. It Takes a Village I believe is Amy Herman, co-founder and co-director of going to be a powerful exhibition.” Goodyear Arts, emphasizes the importance of

The BLKMRKTCLT room includes an empowering retaining artistic talent in Charlotte. collaborative wall mural-turned-collage, photos by “To really give artists an opportunity by working Carey King Jr., multimedia pieces by Dammit Wesley together to sort of find them and create them is a and video content in which local Black creatives define how they view the term “Black Southern royalty,” among other works.

During LOCAL/ STREET, the works of Black and brown creatives were featured over a weekend, during which Aaron-Lopez wanted those viewing the art in that specific building — the foundation for which was built by enslaved people in Charlotte to serve as the country’s first branch mint — to fully view the history of minority creatives in Charlotte.

“There are so many GOODYEAR ARTS’ HOLLY KEOGH’S FEATURED WORK WITH FINE POINT MARKER. people in Charlotte who have not visited the Mint Museum on Randolph big part of what we do,” she said. “Part of being a or Uptown,” she continued. “And a lot of those collective is that we do have the use of the facilities people are Black and brown people, because when that get your art. You know, for me, having the use spaces are created to exclude groups of people, they of those facilities has been important in my practice. do not feel comfortable returning to those spaces, And I know that the other active members cite and that can stay that way for generations.” Goodyear as being a reason that they have stuck

Aaron-Lopez saw great success over just three around Charlotte instead of seeking out a bigger days of LOCAL/STREET at the same location, and city. Just retaining that talent that we have in the hopes to see that popularity extend through the city; it’s very important.” months that the new exhibit is on display. Goodyear’s room at It Takes a Village features

“The highlight of being in It Takes a Village perhaps the widest range of mediums, from fabric proves and seals that we are a part of Charlotte’s art to installations to wall paintings to an incredibly art history, because we’re doing the hard work of detailed drawing done on a skateboard with pen. supporting Black and brown artists of color here in Herman said Goodyear fits well into the new the city, whether they are from here or not,” she said. collaborative exhibit, as the collective prioritizes diversity in a similar way to BLKMRKTCLT and Brand the Moth, if operating in a different way.

“Goodyear is extremely diverse in its residents, as well as its art forms, and this builds community over competition, and that helps further our personal pursuits as well as the art in Charlotte,” Herman said.

The Brand is strong

Rounding out the exhibit, Brand the Moth is another nonprofit dedicated to building a stronger community by lifting up unheard voices in Charlotte’s arts community.

With a strong focus on local history and community, Brand the Moth pushes to uplift artists in Charlotte through public art with residency mural programs, workshops and the like.

Like moths, the nonprofit claims to work “in the background” to create installations that not only make Charlotte a beautiful place, but also bring together artists from around the city in collaborative efforts.

“As a nonprofit organization, Brand the Moth is a bit different from your traditional collective,” the collective’s curation director Hannah Fairweather wrote to Queen City Nerve in an email. “We are a group of artists who, simply put, believe in our artist community here in Charlotte. Alongside our own personal work, on display in this exhibit, we put to practice the art of collaboration and seek to share this practice with as many artists as we can reach, to uplift the arts by and for our communities to make them sustainable and accessible”

Brand the Moth’s room at the exhibit heavily features three artists, with popular street artists Arko and Owl taking up nearly an entire wall each, and founder Sam Guzzie displaying a large-scale art piece that includes visuals and a poem. Brand the Moth’s work also includes a collaborative installation, an intimidatingly spooky physical piece by Jay Watson and other works. “At the root of it all, we believe that it is through collaboration that community rises,” said Fairweather, who serves as partner as well as director of curation at Brand the Moth. “We do not need the same background, the same interests or even the same beliefs; in fact, it is through our differences that we thrive. As artists we all share the same goal, to inspire those around us through art and allow voices to be heard. Brand the Moth serves our artist community to do just that.”

BRAND THE MOTH HOSTS A COMMUNITY PAINT DAY AT MCGILL ROSE GARDEN.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MINT MUSEUM

The It Takes a Village exhibit is open to all starting June 12. In September, Goodyear Arts plans to organize an event featuring live literary readings and other performance art. Learn more at mintmuseum.org.