Corey Pemberton’s Living Well Makes Room for Everyday Life at the Mint

Cover photo: Mint Museum Uptown, photographed in 2012; this archival exterior image does not depict the Living Well exhibition. Photo: Prasit Frazee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped for display; the photograph remains available under that license.

Exhibition guide · October 16, 2026

A room can say a great deal about the person who lives in it. The objects we keep, the textiles we choose and the places we make for friends turn an interior into something personal. Those everyday decisions offer an entry point into Corey Pemberton: Living Well, on view at Mint Museum Uptown through January 31, 2027.

The museum describes an exhibition of more than 70 works spanning painting, collage, blown glass, quilts and fiber arts. Its range invites visitors to consider the same questions across different materials: what makes a space feel like home, and whose daily life gets represented in a museum?

Looking at home through different materials

According to the Mint, Pemberton’s interiors explore spaces inhabited by Black, queer, female and nonbinary individuals. The furnishings and possessions carry associations with comfort, memory and ambition. His glasswork includes interpretations of familiar household objects as well as references to decorative traditions.

For a visit, try beginning with one object rather than reading an entire room at once. Follow a repeated color, a pattern or the relationship between a figure and the surrounding furnishings. Then step back. What changed when you considered the whole composition? That is a viewing suggestion, not a claim about what every visitor will find.

A shared space inside the exhibition

The museum’s announcement also describes a Community Quilt House, made with more than 20 quilters from Quilting for Community in California. The collaboration extends the show’s interest in domestic space into a shared project. Pemberton also co-founded Crafting the Future, a nonprofit focused on opportunities for artists of color.

A slower way to visit on October 21

The Mint lists a free Mindful Looking session in the exhibition on Wednesday, October 21, from 7 to 8 p.m. Joel Smeltzer and Diane Lowry are scheduled to guide close looking with mindful breathing and meditation, with visitors invited to share observations. The event page provides a registration link; check it before making plans.

Exhibition: September 19, 2026–January 31, 2027, Mint Museum Uptown, Level 3.
Address: 500 S. Tryon Street, Charlotte.
Visit: Check the museum’s current hours and admission options. The free October 21 program is a specific event, not a statement that every museum visit is free.

Exhibition details · Museum announcement · October 21 program and registration

This reader guide draws on the museum’s published information and does not represent an in-person exhibition review. Details were checked October 16, 2026.