Charlotte: Art, art, and more art

While visiting my paternal grandparents over Martin Luther King weekend, my uncle and I went into the city to take part in an MLK celebration and the variety of public art in Charlotte. First stop: the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. We really enjoyed the "Instill & Inspire: Selections from the John & Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American Art" special exhibit. The quasi-sculptural works were a combination of 2- and 3D pieces made with a wide variety of materials. For instance, the first piece below is made of the hard covers of old books with the leather bindings removed. I was struck by what it seems to be saying about memory, history, and the traces left behind. The second piece is made of panty hose. Looking back over my photos of particularly striking pieces, I see that most are variations on browns and black/white palettes, demonstrating that all colors can be beautiful, striking, interesting, and emotive. We stayed long enough to listen to the live jazz music being played in the atrium, but we were unable to get seats to hear the speakers, so we walked around Uptown in the bitter cold until it was time for lunch.

Above left: Niki de Saint Phalle, Firebird, Museum of Modern Art

The Green next to St. Peter's Catholic Church is home to multiple literature-themed sculptures--including directional signs like this one for Mark Twain--and hosts performances of Shakespeare and other plays.

Last stop: the Carillon Tower to see Cascade, a kinetic sculpture by Jean Tinguely, husband to Niki de Saint Phalle. The moving, clanking contraption was installed in 1991, shortly before the Swiss artist's death.