Apprentice Circle members will create their own Raku pottery. In Raku, pottery pieces are quickly fired to red-hot temperatures, removed from kilns, and placed in a variety of reduction materials and containers to produce an amazing number of colors, textures, lusters and patterns. Because of the dynamics of the firing process, no two pieces are ever the same, but the process is always exciting. After a couple of hours you will have a completed piece of Raku pottery with a finish that you created yourself.

Group 1, 9 to noon. Combined lunch for Group 1 & 2 from noon to 1. Group 2, 1 to 4:00. If capacity warrants only one session, the single session will be held from 10:30 to 1:30 and will include lunch.

Crosscurrents: Art, Craft and Design in North Carolina explores the diverse artistic achievements of artists residing in this state. Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art and The Mint Museums, Crosscurrents features 67 works by 28 artists from North Carolina. Of the 550 artists who applied to be in the exhibition, these 28 artists were chosen for the variety and breadth of their work, which includes works on paper, paintings, photography, ceramics, sculptures, video and books.

The Supporting Members' Reception on Thursday, January 26, 2006 is reserved for upper level Mint members and will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. City casual attire.

Joint reception with Winter 2006 Artist-in-Residence Exhibition: Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin, wife and husband, work together in Nonfoux, Switzerland, a French-speaking region of that country. Their work fuses Scandinavian hot glass techniques with Venetian cold glass cutting techniques. The vessels of blown glass often incorporate incised designs and beaten, hammered surfaces. Their work explores the pleasures of simple geometry and color. The textured variations of cellular patterns are created on the glass surfaces, using a variety of differently shaped tools. Since 1979, their work has evolved into a look that is exclusively their own, with a fusion of cultures allowing them to explore a new world of patterning in glass. Curated by Ce Scott, Director of Programs, McColl Center for Visual Art.

The reception will be held from 6:00 until 9:00 PM. The works will be on view through March 11, 2006

The Sixth Annual Art With Heart auction benefits United Family Services' domestic violence programs. This year nationally renowned artist Andy Braitman has been named the Featured Artist for the auction. For the second year, the Art With Heart auction featured an Emerging Artist Competition designed to identify promising regional artists, and Mauricio Cuartas was selected.

The event will be held at the Extravaganza Depot, 1610 North Tryon Street on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 7:00 PM. RSVPs due Jan 21. Tickets are $45 in advance, $55 at the door and include admission to the silent and live auctions, refreshments and hors d'oeuvres. For information and tickets, call 704.367.2708 or www.unitedfamilyservices.org.

Photographer Wendy Ewald has taken an unusual artistic path, exploring the visual imaginations of children and adults around the world. Addressing conceptual, formal and narrative concerns, Ewald's work challenges traditional notions of documentary photography and the role of the artist. Using creative collaboration as the basis for artistic process, Wendy has traveled throughout the world working in communities in Colombia, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Durham, North Carolina.

The Supporting Members' Reception on Thursday, February 9, 2006 is reserved for upper level Mint members and will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the Mint Museum of Art. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Festive black & white attire.

Robert Lazzarini's sculptures investigate hyperrealism, but his use of a skewed perspective lends a new interpretation of familiar objects, such as a violin, a chair or a hammer. Fabricated with amazing veracity, yet extremely distorted, these ubiquitous objects take on an expressive quality that is at once haunting and iconic. Modeled on actual objects found in the artist's workplace, or the urban landscape, the sculptures are meticulously finished so that they bear the imprint of use.

This reception, for select affiliates and Board of Trustees members, will be from 6-9 p.m. at the Mint Museum of Art. Live music, cocktails and light hors d'oeuvres. Artist will be in attendance.

FC: Trip to Phoenix for Arizona State University Ceramic Legacy: Selections from the Stéphane Janssen and R. Michael Johns Collection.

The trip will feature gallery receptions, artist studio visits, tours of some of Americas foremost private craft collections in magnificent desert homes, meetings with museum directors and curators to discuss exhibitions and educational programs, behind-the-scene collection areas, and a special visit to the home and studio of ceramic artist Kurt Weiser, regent professor of art at Arizona State University.

The Mint Museums explore the museums, houses and gardens of Historic Savannah and Charleston March 19-22, 2006. Highlights of the trip include Telfair Art Museum; Davenport House Museum; dinner at Lady & Sons, a restaurant owned by well-known Food Network chef Paula Dean; the 59th Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens in Charleston; and the Gibbes Museum of Art. Additional fees apply.

FC: Trip to Raleigh for Governor's Exhibition, curated by Mark Leach and Melissa Post (Tentative - may look for a date in May)

MM: The Mint Museums' 53rd Annual Home & Garden Tour
Additional fees apply.

FC: Public Art Tour

MM: Mint Members' Trip to the South of France with optional extension to Paris.

The Mint Museums explore the South of France in the travel study program "In the footsteps of the Impressionists," May 3-11, 2006. Highlights of the trip include a walking tour of Avignon; Le Centre d'Art Presence Van Gogh, home of Vincent Van Gogh in 1889; Les Baux de Provence, a dramatic fortress site in Provence with spectacular views; the romantic city Arles; a visit to the home of Auguste Renior; the famed Colombe d' Or, a small country inn and restaurant that served as an artist colony for Picasso, Braque, Calder and Miro; and unmatched views of the Mediterranean Seas from the city of Nice. An optional trip to Paris May 11-14 is also available. Additional fees apply.

Founders' Circle Home Tour and Collection Discussion

Apprentice Circle members will have the opportunity to visit the homes of Founders' Circle members and discuss how they got started collecting, how their collections progressed and how they arrange their homes to live with art.

FC: SOFA New York - Sculptural Objects and Functional Art show

MM: Annual Meeting at MMA

Apprentice Circle members will have the opportunity to visit the home of another member to socialize and view their art and craft collection.

Basket Making

Internationally recognized sculptural basket maker John Skau will lead a workshop for Apprentice Circle members. Skau, a contemporary basket maker, creates seamless, monumental forms that are elegant, minimal expressions. Each basket is a one-of-a-kind sculptural creation, intricately wovenfrom painted and natural wooden strips. Members will be working with paper in various colors to create a flat surface woven work of art that can be taken ho,e and displayed after several hours spent with a master. In addition to the hands-on experience, John will discuss several of the baskets in the MMC+D collection. Members will have inside knowledge prior to the opening of Woven Worlds: Basktrey from the Clark Field Collection.

MM: Annual Meeting at MMA

Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection

This exhibition is drawn from the permanent collection of Tulsa, Oklahoma's Philbrook Museum of Art. One of the finest, most comprehensive and well-documented collections of North American Indian basketry, the Clark Field Collection spans 73 cuturally and geographically diverse tribal cultures ranging from the Sub-Arctic and from the Southeast to the Pacific Northwest. The exhibition features 125 late 19th to mid 20th century baskets, all of which were collected by Clark Field between 1915-1966. The Supporting Members' Reception on Thursday, September 7, 2006 is reserved for upper level Mint members and will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Cocktails and hors d'oevres.

Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art

The Mint Museum of Art will host this prestigious tour of masterpieces of American painting from the world renowned collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. All works predate 1945 and will present, for the first time, selections from this important collection within museums outside the nation's capital. The exhibition will present works from the Corcoran's three greatest strenths in American painting: the Hudson River School, the Gilded Age, and early 20th century realism. Among the artists included are John Singleton Copely, Joshua Johnson, Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Cole, Robert S. Duncanson, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Frederic Edwin Church, Asher B. Durand, Eastman Johnson, Albert Bierstadt, John SInger Sargent, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, William Glackens, Child Hassam, Cecelia Beaux, Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, Aaron Douglas, to name but a few. The Supporting Members' Reception on Thursday, October 5, 2006 is reserved for upper level Mint members and will take place from 6-8p.m. at the Mint Museum of Art. Cocktails and hors d'oeurves.

FC: Mint Condition Gala Weekend

FC: SOFA Chicago – Sculptural Objects and Functional Art show

Observations: A Retrospective Exhibition of Works by Ann Wolff

A consummate artist, craftsperson, draughtsman and designer (Kosta Boda), Ann Wolff is also one of the most significant artists working with glass. This retrospective will illuminate her innate talents in all of these arenas by featuring 30-35 works, including bronzes, charcoals, glass scultptures, pastels and watercolors. The Supporting Members' Reception on Thursday, January 25, 2007, is reserved for upper level Mint members and will take place from 6-8p.m. at MMC+D. Cocktails and hors d'oeurves.