Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things at The Mint Museum

Visit the Mint Museum Uptown this weekend, May 21–22, for the opening celebration of Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things and the reinstallation of the Craft + Design Galleries. 

Craft in the Laboratory: The Science of Making Things is the first installation in the Southeast to explore how craft artists and designers use science and math concepts when creating works of art. Craft in the Laboratory also celebrates a reinstallation of the Mint’s Craft + Design Galleries—the first since 2010. 

“The reinstallation of the Craft + Design Galleries allow us the opportunity to bring new works out on view and to interpret the collection through new pairings and themes,” says Todd Herman, president and CEO at The Mint Museum. “Craft in the Laboratory examines how investigation, experimentation, and critical thinking are common to both science and art, and the correlation of art with science, technology, engineering, and math that effectively changing STEM to STEAM concepts.”

As a part of the celebration, on Saturday, May 21, from 2–3 pm, join special guests Joseph Walsh, designer, and Hideo Mabuchi, Stanford University physicist and artist, as they discuss how art and the preciseness of science, technology, engineering, and math are combined in their designs. On Sunday, May 22, from 2–3 pm, artist and activist Silvia Levenson, teaching this month at the Craft and Trade Academy, will be on hand to talk about her use of glass and printing techniques to reflect tensions in daily life, violence against women and children, discrimination, and refugee issues.

Co-curated by the Mint’s Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion Annie Carlano and Assistant Curator for Craft, Design, and Fashion Rebecca Elliot, Craft in the Laboratory includes 100 works from the Mint’s collection that are made from precious metals, wood, steel, polymers, and even agricultural waste, that emphasize the preciseness of science used to craft works of art. Made by nationally and internationally renowned artists, the objects are organized by material and subject throughout the galleries.