A guided slow looking experience with mindful breathing and meditation in the exhibition Corey Pemberton: Living Well.
The Mint Museum Uptown is hosting a Mindful Looking session on Wednesday, October 21, from 7 PM to 8 PM. It's a guided slow-looking experience that pairs mindful breathing and meditation with the exhibition Corey Pemberton: Living Well. The session is led by Joel Smeltzer, head of school and gallery programs, and Diane Lowry, mindfulness program facilitator.
Living Well brings together more than 70 works by Corey Pemberton, a Los Angeles-based artist who divides his time between painting, glassblowing, and community outreach with the nonprofit Crafting the Future, which he co-founded and directs. The exhibition was organized by The Mint Museum and curated by the museum's chief curator and curator of contemporary art, Jen Sudul Edwards. It pulls from several mediums—painting, collage, blown glass sculpture, quilts, and fiber arts—to depict the ordinary living spaces of Black, queer, female, and non-binary people, filled with objects that reflect respite, personality, memories, and ambitions.
The glass pieces are where the contrast really comes through. Pemberton mixes carefully crafted replicas of everyday commercial items—a 40-ounce Old English, a liter of Coca-Cola, a can of Black Magic hairspray—with decorative heirlooms tied to the African Slave Trade, including Murano glass and face jugs. It's a lot to take in, and that's exactly why the Mindful Looking format works here: instead of rushing through the galleries, you're invited to slow down and really sit with the work.
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Beyond the exhibition, Pemberton has participated in residencies at The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Bruket in Bodø, Norway, and the Penland School of Crafts, where he was a Core Fellow. He also serves on the boards of trustees at Penland and the Corning Museum of Glass. The session is free, so you can drop in without worrying about a ticket. It runs from 7 PM to 8 PM on Wednesday, October 21, at The Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte.
