charlotte streets

I really enjoyed the time spent in Charlotte, NC these past couple of weekends. Between the many museums, walking the streets of NoDa, and just enjoying the weather, I found out about so much that existed in this growing city.

We did not expect to arrive downtown and see the St. Patrick's Day festival blocking the streets. The streets were flooded with green and beer but there was one thing I really enjoyed about the celebration. We could hear the sound of drums from one end of the street (at an irish festival I was expecting more bag pipes) and couldnt wait to find out what was going on. All that noise and we finally came up to two young men, they called themselves the "Buk It Headz," making music using random buckets and objects. They sounded awesome! I got a chance to talk to them afterwards. They had traveled to Charlotte from Richmond, Virginia just for this festival by themselves. They seemed so young but I really admired their determination to do what they love.

While driving through downtown Charlotte I noticed several very unique buildings. I had to Google them to figure out what they were. They turned out to be apart of the Levine Center for the Arts on South Tryon Street. The unique architecture of The Mint Museum and The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts+Culture caught my eye. Not to mention Mint's newest exhibit Halston and Warhol: Silver Suede. This might be one of the best exhibits I've been to right after Hirshorn's ongoing Barbara Kruger's Belief+Doubt exhibit in DC (which I highly recommend going to see). Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures in this exhibit, so dont miss out! It will be in Charlotte March 7 - June 14.There were other pieces that I really enjoyed for example Six Prisons by Peter Halley, which directly references prison cells and other spaces of incarceration. The harsh geomety and synthetic colors and texture suggest the manmade world that is divorced from anything natural/ The Harvey B. Gantt Center's current exhibit is called Venturing Out of the Heart of Darkness, which examines the impact of colonialism on societal attitudes that define black culture in America. I was able to get pictures of a few other interesting exhibits.