Mint Museum

The Mint Museum, also known as The Mint Museums, is the largest visual arts institution in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the first art museum established in the state. Operating across two locations, the Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, the institution houses hundreds of collections spanning art and design from around the globe. Its holdings range from ancient American artifacts to contemporary craft and haute couture, making it a significant cultural anchor in the southeastern United States.

The museum's origins trace to 1837, when a branch of the United States Mint opened in Charlotte to specialize in gold coinage. After the mint closed, the federal-style building was repurposed and reopened in 1936 as the Mint Museum of Art, becoming North Carolina's first art museum. For decades, the institution operated solely from this historic structure. In 1999, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design opened as a separate entity to house the growing craft and design collection, funded by an $8.2 million donation. This facility initially occupied a building on North Tryon Street. In February 2010, that location closed to consolidate operations into a new uptown facility. The expanded Mint Museum Uptown opened in October 2010 as part of the Levine Center for the Arts, bringing the museum's fine arts and craft focus under one roof for the first time. Leadership transitions have included Dr. Kathleen V. Jameson's presidency, followed by Bruce LaRowe as Interim CEO beginning June 21, 2017, and the 2018 appointment of Todd A. Herman, PhD, former Executive Director at The Arkansas Arts Center, as president and CEO.

The Mint Museum's collections are encyclopedic in scope, encompassing American art, Ancient American art, Asian art, African art, contemporary art, decorative arts, historic costume and fashionable dress, photography, and craft and design. The American Art collection comprises approximately 900 works from the late 1700s to circa 1945, including Federal-era portraiture, 19th-century landscapes, and works by The Eight. The Art of the Ancient Americas holds roughly 2,000 objects from more than 40 cultures spanning over 4,500 years. Contemporary art numbers about 2,230 objects, including works on paper, sculpture, and photography from circa 1945 to the present. The Decorative Arts collection, considered among the finest in the country, contains more than 12,000 ceramic objects from 2000 B.C. to 1950 A.D. The museum maintains the largest and most comprehensive collection of North Carolina pottery in the nation, with some 2,200 objects dating from the 1700s. The Delhom collection, donated in 1966, adds 2,000 pieces of historic pottery and porcelain plus pre-Columbian pieces. Historic Costume and Fashionable Dress approaches fashion as an art form, with almost 10,000 items from the early 18th century to present-day haute couture. The craft and design collection, now exceeding 2,500 works, traces the creative evolution of studio craft from 19th-century utilitarian objects to contemporary art in glass, metal, fiber, wood, mixed-media, and clay.

The Mint Museum holds the largest public collection of work by Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden, a cornerstone of its contemporary holdings. In American art, the collection features portraits by John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, and Thomas Sully; Hudson River School landscapes by Thomas Cole and Sanford Gifford; and works by The Eight, including Robert Henri, George Luks, William Glackens, John Sloan, Everett Shinn, Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and Arthur Bowen Davies. The Ancient American collection includes body adornments, tools, ceramic vessels, sculpture, textiles, and metal ornaments. The Delhom collection's pre-Columbian pieces date more than 4,500 years. The craft and design collection encompasses fine jewelry, fiber arts, narrative ceramic sculpture, and product design. European holdings include paintings and decorative arts from the late 15th century to the early 20th century, many donated by regional families over the last fifty years.

The Mint Museum Randolph occupies a federal-style building designed by architect William Strickland, originally constructed in 1836 as the Charlotte branch of the United States Mint. The building was moved to its present location on Randolph Road in 1936. This historic structure remains open, with renovations and reinstallation scheduled to highlight ceramics, historic costume and fashionable dress, Ancient American art, Asian art, coins and currency, decorative arts, and Spanish colonial art. The Mint Museum Uptown, designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston, opened on October 1, 2010. This 145,000-square-foot facility in the Levine Center for the Arts cost an estimated $57 million and spreads across five floors. The Uptown building provides modern exhibition spaces plus facilities for events and educational programs. The craft and design galleries expanded from 10,000 square feet to 18,000 square feet in the move to the new facility.

The Mint Museum operates two locations in Charlotte, North Carolina: the historic Mint Museum Randolph on Randolph Road and the contemporary Mint Museum Uptown in the Levine Center for the Arts. The Uptown location opened October 1, 2010, with support from grants and the Arts & Science Council. The institution functions as a cultural and educational resource, offering changing exhibitions and events throughout the year. Its website is http://www.mintmuseum.org/.