Random Wonderfulness at The Mint Museum

Vicky and I really did try to see everything at The Mint, and we almost did! There were some truly wonderful exhibits and pieces that don't really fall into a particular category, so I'll include some of those here. For instance, The Mint had a Warhol Marilyn on loan - wow! And a Norman Rockwell. I saw an exhibit of his work when I was a kid at the High Museum in Atlanta. It was so nice to be able to get an up-close and personal look at a Warhol now, as a more (*ahem*) mature artist. I mean, look at those brush strokes!There was an Kehinde Wiley piece ("Philip the Fair") that simply blew my mind. The museum had a sign encouraging museum goers to strike the same pose as the picture to share on social media, so here I am.I also flipped over this screen print with diamond dust of Nina Simone by Russell Young.Vicky was quite excited to see the Romare Bearden exhibit as it was recently at the Carlos Museum at Emory/Atlanta, where she is a docent. They had the work-in-progress for his "Sirens"... and the finished piece.I especially liked that they showed his linoleum cuts with the print and the substrate alongside it. They also had a biography on the man in the gift shop.There was jewelry too, like this chain of silver orbs by Evert Nijland. It's silver-plated, hand-blown glass. Can you imagine!? I also loved this "Honey-Suckle Torque" by Heather White van Stolk.Although, probably my fave of the entire show was this "Bubble Wrap" by Courtney Starett. Isn't this fabulous?There were two sculptures that resonated with me. One was "Continuum" by Thomas Campbell. I wouldn't mind hanging this on my wall!The other resonated simply because while I've seen photos of real-life sculptures like this "Big Mother" by Patricia Picinini, I'd never seen one in person. It's eerie how realistic it is - I kept expecting it to look at me! And while most of the art was done by professionals, the one that perhaps resonate with me the most was part of a student show. This piece was called "These Thoughts on the Wall" by 12th-grader Mason Waite. It says so much about what this generation of kids is experiencing, and what I see every day in my classrooms. Despite all this social media, these kids are stressed beyond belief. (That's a conversation for another day.)