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Marriott Art Collection

The UNC Charlotte Marriott Hotel & Conference Center officially opened its doors, March 31, 2021, and includes a 490-piece art collection, with works by faculty, staff and alumni of the College of Arts + Architecture.

The UNC Charlotte Marriott Hotel and Conference Center opened in March 2021 on the University campus. The hotel has 226 guest rooms, a full-service restaurant and bar, and a 132-space parking deck situated on a four-acre site along the LYNX Blue Line at the intersection of North Tryon Street and J.W. Clay Boulevard. Among its distinguishing features is a 490-piece art collection that features original work by faculty, staff, students and alumni of the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture.

Curated by Denise Joseph of NINE dot ARTS, the collection expands across the hotel’s main lobby levels, guest rooms, and hospitality and presidential suites. A number of pieces can also be found throughout the new conference center. “Honoring a narrative around Charlotte’s history as well as the bright and vibrant future of this place remained top of mind throughout the curatorial process,” Joseph said.

NINE dot ARTS is a nationally recognized, award-winning art consulting and curating firm with client art experiences now installed in 35 states and four countries. Joseph worked with the then Department of Art & Art History Chair Lydia Thompson to connect with artists from the College. Learn more about the pieces, below.

by Keith Bryant

"Goldpan" (2020)

Keith Bryant is a Lecturer in the Department of Art & Art History. His sculpture has addressed ideas of loneliness, isolation, architecture and landscape and has been shown nationally.

  • Wood, metal nuggets, paint, 40”x 40”

    “This piece came from the influence of the history of gold mining in the Charlotte area. The UNC Charlotte branding is the 49'ers, which was the year a gold rush in the North Carolina Piedmont happened. The mascot of the University is Norm the Miner.”

by Leslie Poteet Busker

"Pearl No. 3" (2020)

Leslie Poteet Busker is a Charlotte-based artist. Her artwork can be found in public, private and corporate collections across the country.

  • Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”

    "This piece is part of a larger body of work, the Raw Canvas Collection, an invitation to look for beauty in the midst of brokenness. My objective was to preserve the fragments of rough, raw materials, cut and layered while refining them into a harmonious whole. I employed a monochromatic palette to highlight the texture and the raw edges, allowing glimpses in some places of transparency, in others opaqueness, and in yet others a hint of what lies beneath. The vertical layering along with the color choices of white and pearl further suggest redemptive concepts such as hope and renewal."

by Rachel Dickey/Studio Dickey

"49er Light" (2021)

Rachel Dickey is an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture and founder of Studio Dickey, a public art and design practice.

  • Mylar, PETG, and MDF, 8’ x 18’

    "This artwork gains inspiration from UNC Charlotte's mission to promote research and creative activity by developing art that acts as a demonstration of research applied to creative practice by systematically exploring light as an artistic medium. The work is informed by cultural, technological, and social dimensions and the belief that art, in its contemporary manifestation, can create meaningful experiences for a large and diverse audience, while drawing awareness to UNC Charlotte's bright and vibrant future. It is informed by the 49er spirit of persistence and resilience by creating an awareness of the presence of light. Just as the Miner symbolizes pioneering efforts and determination that has led to UNC Charlotte's dramatic growth, 49er Light tries to embody ideas of innovation, by using bleeding-edge technologies and materials for its production."

by Sharon Dowell

"Five Pointz," "The Siren" and "Control Shift" (2021) & "In Transit" (2021)

Sharon Dowell ‘02 is an alumna of the Department of Art & Art History and a painter with a focus on works on canvas, murals and public art. Her commissions include large-scale mural and transit projects for Chicago, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Boulder, CO and Rock Hill, SC.

  • Acrylic on canvas 16’’x16”, mixed media on panel 12”x12” and acrylic on canvas 12”x12”

    "Intertwining themes course through these works; the energy of place, renewal, temporality, shifting facets, and planes overlapping. The imagery captures forgotten, overlooked, or rebuilt architecture and explores the happenings in spaces leaving imprints and energies."

  • Latex paint mural, 9.5' x 15'

    "Intertwining themes course through my work: the energy of place, renewal, temporality, shifting facets, and planes overlapping. This mural incorporates iconic architecture from UNC Charlotte's main and uptown campuses and explores the idea of education culminating in growth, expansion, and connection. Golden, green, and blue tones symbolize waterways and the history of the 49er."

by Abe Ekren

"Charlotte" (2021)

Abe Ekren received a BFA in Art from UNC Charlotte in Spring 2020.

  • Print on Acrylic based on original acrylic on canvas 20×24"

by Cynthia Flaxman Frank

"excerpt49" (2020)

Cynthia Frank is a Lecturer in the Department of Art & Art History. She is the owner of Cynthia Frank Design and partner in PAC3, an award-winning public art collaboration.

  • Oil and cold wax, 40”x 30”

    "This piece joins the series Excerpt, which evolved out of my life-long fascination with the pages of ancient illuminated manuscripts. Written on meticulously gridded lines, their mysterious narratives are accessible to me only as visual impressions—typographic texture, bold colors, boundaries, margins, surface evidence of craftsmanship. Throughout the series, I reference this visual language and “zoom in” to paint indecipherable texts of my own—in this instance referencing UNC Charlotte and its alma mater."

by Jamie Franki

"Faces of Liberty: Gold Coins Struck at the Charlotte Mint" (2021)

Jamie Franki is Associate Professor of Illustration and the illustration area coordinator in the Department of Art & Art History. He maintains an artistic practice in exhibition, medallic design, relief sculpture and visual communication.

  • Mixed media on 40-inch circle-cut birchwood panels

    "I wanted to create artwork with a strong tie to the Charlotte region and an approachable theme for a wide audience. In as much, I made these stylized renditions of four different gold coins minted for circulation at the old Charlotte Mint. These pieces dovetail with my academic research and studio practice of designing coins and medals for the United States Mint and other National clients. Each of these early American coins, struck right here in Charlotte, features a unique allegorical representation of the ideal of LIBERTY. My creativity is fueled by a desire to commemorate important ideas. It is my calling to spend my time and energy as an artist, creating work that celebrates greatness and educating the general public. Circulating coins and commemorative medals do precisely that. They remind us of who we can be when we are at our best."

by Heather D. Freeman

"Brown-headed Nuthatch and Common Vetch" (2017)

Heather Freeman is Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Art & Art History. Her works in print, animation, film, podcasting, and mobile applications combine traditional and digital technologies, weaving together the symbolic forms of science, mythology and popular culture.

  • Archival print on paper, 54" x 34"

    "The brown-headed nuthatch was once common throughout the Southeast. However, deforestation and urbanization shrank old pine forests, their prime habitat. Meanwhile, vetch is a very common 'weed' here in Charlotte. Like the diminutive nuthatch, if you're not looking for it, you'll probably miss it. And both play complex roles in their ecosystems. The art-historical image is Speranza, the 'Hope' card from the Mantegna Tarocchi (a 15th-century cousin of modern Tarot decks). We tend to think of hope as passive, but we work hard to achieve our hopes and dreams. Groups like the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and the Mecklenburg County Audubon Society work hard to assure the long-term survival of the nuthatch — labor driven by hope. Hope also requires you to look at challenges from different angles. Like the phoenix, the results will be entirely newborn. We can't go back to a pre-colonial wilderness, but we can create something new and sustainable."

By Stephen Manuel Garza '20

"Beneath an Angel's Oak Wings" (2020)

Stephen Manuel Garza, from Concord, NC, received his B.F.A. in Art with a concentration in Photography from UNC Charlotte in 2020. Garza has been included in various significant exhibitions and in publications including “Arriving 2020” on Lenscratch and The Photographer’s Forum Magazine in 2018.

  • "Beneath an Angel's Oak Wings" (2020), Digital Photography, 16” x 20”

    "The Angel Oak Tree is a place that inspires serenities and evokes a sense of bliss to those beneath its branches. This tree is estimated to be 300 to 400 years old, possibly the oldest Live Oak tree east of the Mississippi River. It features hanging branches that often swoop to the earth and back up again, imitating angel wings. The renowned wilted branches and the overall size of the tree are what gives it the name Angel Oak."

by Marguerite Jay Gignoux

"Open Book" (2010) & "Assemblies in Yellow" (2019) & "Telegraphing Orange" (2019)

Marguerite Jay Gignoux is a textile artist based in Carrboro, NC. She creates vibrant mixed media works that are held in private and corporate collections in the USA and France.

  • Mixed Media, 7” x 144” x 3.5"

    "I grew up decoding my world through fibers. Early in my life, I began to cut, attach, pierce, color, glue, and repeat. I love paper and cloth because they consistently offer a highly sensual and sensitive field on which to play. Photographs of ordinary moments, scraps of my son’s math notes, swatches of gestural drawings, serigraphy, a retired stamp collection, maps, and excerpts from many of my many community projects all have found their way into this elongated book form. These tiny pages trimmed and selected from larger moments are elements that serve as emotional memory for me. They are gathered together to celebrate abundance. They hold evidence of sorrow that is perched next to raucous hilarity that rests near intellectual curiosity, all of which marks daily life. Together they lean together and illustrate possibility."

  • Mixed Media, 36” x 36”

    "As a textile artist, I reside firmly in the realm of collage in which there are infinite possibilities to add and subtract shapes, colors, textures, and patterns. In this work, vintage sheet music given to me by a British artist friend whose grandfather played French Horn in the London Philharmonic Symphony inspired me to build a series of lozenge-shaped rafts that carry the poetry of sound blurred by the softness of yellows and creams. I use the stitch as my primary drawing tool and find that the sewing machine delivers a percussive authority to the surface. I enjoy suturing together the ordinary with the extraordinary. This piece includes discarded webbing, hand-made paper, ink on tissue, graphite, silk organza, and gesso."

  • Mixed Media, 30" x 60" x 2"

    "Ordinary cotton cloth has the ability to telegraph visual sound through texture. Using a length of commercially puckered muslin I made a large colograph plate by gluing the textured cloth to mattboard and running it through a printing press with layers of inks onto sheets of watercolor paper. The resulting colograph prints offered me an opportunity to explore the range and sensitivity of reds leaning into browns. Slicing up the prints, lengthening the strands via machine stitching animated my understanding of color and line. I often look for poetic opportunities to play with repetition and chance with a confined palette and the rhythmic building of simple marks."

By Maja Godlewska

"Of the Trees and Creeks" (2021)

Maja Godlewska is Associate Professor of Painting in the Department of Art & Art History. Her work has been shown internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

  • "Of the Trees and Creeks" (2021), Acrylic inks on polyester monofilament mesh, 30' x 15' x 3"

    "In my work I focus on the landscape, ideas of wilderness, pristine nature; the outdoors inspire my paintings and installations. I look at the landscape as a phenomenological space, a fabric of our memories and longings. Of the Trees and Creeks is inspired by the tall trees and streams of Charlotte, where I have been based, and where the work was created. The hilly Piedmont region of North Carolina is crisscrossed by shadowy and mysterious stream gullies. They are filled with a tangle of trees, vines, and various blooming herbs, home to many mammal and bird species, insects, and spiders. They are wild gardens of Charlotte, buzzing with life and bird song. On summer nights they sparkle with fireflies. Once buried under the concrete, many are now being gradually uncovered as part of a growing city greenway system."

by Erin Nicholas

"Mining for Our Futures" (2020) & "Vessel of Opportunity" (2020)

Erin Nicholas received a BFA in Art with a concentration in ceramics from UNC Charlotte in 2020. She is a ceramic and sculpture artist with a studio in Concord, NC.

  • Ceramics, 13" x 4"

    "Education is not given but obtained through hard work and dedication. Mining for Our Futures is a placeholder for the perseverance for a better future in Charlotte. The mining pan is a historical icon to our fellow 49ers of this exact determination for a better future while adorning the color green – a color all Charlotteans will recognize that inspires prosperity in all that view it. The document lying in the center is a representation of all the successes made through a hard-earned education and is embellished with the crown of UNC Charlotte to instill the success achieved in Charlotte." More than 100 copies each of Mining for Our Futures and Vessel of Opportunity were reproduced by husband-wife ceramicist duo Curry and Sarah Wilkinson of Curry Wilkinson Potter in Burlington, North Carolina, for placement in the hotel guest rooms.

  • Ceramic, 14” x 5”

    "Vessel of Opportunity is a simple yet elegant design that is complementary to the business scene in Charlotte. This was created in hopes to inspire those to pursue opportunities and to nurture connections made here in Charlotte. It has an opening formed at the top with gold peeking through to create a visual metaphor that we all must discover the worth found within us." More than 100 copies each of Mining for Our Futures and Vessel of Opportunity were reproduced by husband-wife ceramicist duo Curry and Sarah Wilkinson of Curry Wilkinson Potter in Burlington, North Carolina, for placement in the hotel guest rooms.

by Malik J. Norman

"Ebb and Flow of Rural Black Spaces" (2020) & "Remains Unfetter" (2021)

Malik J. Norman will earn his BFA in Art with a concentration in photography in May 2021. A native of Mineral Springs, N.C., his work explores his Southern identity and rural realms, while paying homage to the legacy of Black Gold.

  • Van Dyke Brown and Monotype, 5’ x 5’

    "During the Great Migration, more than six million Black Americans relocated from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West, between 1916 to 1970. My family chose to stay and cultivate their lives during segregation, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement. Ebb and Flow of Rural Black Spaces spotlights the community of Western Union Park in Mineral Springs, North Carolina, which resides on the unceded land of the Waxhaw, Catawba, and Cheraw peoples. These prints showcase the evolution and resilience of this historical Black community and also illustrate how this Black-owned land has adapted to the cultural deterioration of gentrification. In the midst of it all, Southern Black realms veer on. Ebb and Flow of Rural Black Spaces is a palimpsest experimentation between paint brush techniques, Van Dyke brown, and monotype."

  • Digital Print, 24” x 20”

    "idle. / away. / time. / stand still / still breathe / breathe deep / deep rooted / rooted heel / Feet of Clay / Oh Southern Black"

by Jonathan Pellitteri

"Pillars" (2020)

Jonathan Pellitteri is the 3D Fabrications Lab Manager in the Department of Art & Art History. His studio practice focuses on sculptural objects that combine an appreciation for craft with a curiosity for materials, and a desire to tell stories.

  • Local earth, brass-coated gypsum cement, and steel, 86"x20.5"x20.5" and 75.5"x20.5"x20.5

    "Academia and the North Carolina Piedmont region inspire this artwork. The two forms are derived from classical columns to reference the long history of The Academy as a crucial part of a civilized society. The central shafts are made of local red earth. This section of the composition nods to the iconic red clay-rich soil of the region and the meandering twists and turns to the rivers that support local communities. Set atop the earthen pillars each “capital” is a stack of books: a metaphor for UNC Charlotte and the collective knowledge and achievements of the institution and region. The tops of each stack blend into the rolling hills of the region. Over time the topography of the Piedmont was built up, as, too, the region’s knowledge will expand and grow with every generation of scholars who pass through the University."

by Summer Ayers Savin

"The Writing on the Wall" (2020) & "Copper Flecks" (2020)

Summer Savin is a Charlotte-based artist and entrepreneur. For over 20 years, she has worked as a decorative painter, utilizing her extensive product knowledge to create effects with layered color on canvas and lucite. Summer runs the decorative art business Stand Out Creative Design.

  • "The Writing on the Wall" (2020), Acrylic, gold leaf, on 1/4" Lucite

    "The name for this piece came to me as I was adding the finishing touch of magenta and red. The gold pattern resembles something that would be found in a prehistoric cave. The markings were created to note the passage of sunrise and sunset on a wall or rock. My favorite aspect of this piece is the way the magenta, turquoise, and red seep through the heavy gray texture. This unplanned detail gives the work added excitement and interest."

  • "Copper Flecks" (2020), Acrylic, metallic paint, on 1/4" lucite, 24” x 36”

    "Copper Flecks reminds me of when the sun hits the ocean and sparkles with flashes of light. Moments where the light is dancing on the water and creating flashes of white and copper. The blues and greens of the water deepen with the movement of the waves. The sun creates copper flecks of flashing light."

By Thomas Schmidt

"Sampled Spaces Series" (2021)

Thomas Schmidt is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary 3D Art in the Department of Art & Art History. His work explores the integration of digital technology with a range of analog media.

  • "Sampled Spaces Series" (2021), Cast porcelain, 43.5" h x 72.5" w x 3.5" d

    "Derived from casts or ‘samples’ of a single crumpled sheet of paper, this work aims to heighten and give permanence to this everyday material. Whereas traditional tile pattern often highlights themes of mathematical perfection and order, this work instead aims to interject a sense of chance and randomness. As an ongoing series produced from only four plaster molds, each composition is unique, with the topography at times continuous, at times interrupted. Collectively, as these panels multiply, they begin to produce a topography more reminiscent of the landscape than that of our notebooks."

by Julius Shumpert

"Untitled" (2019)

Julius Shumbert received a BFA in Art with a concentration in painting from UNC Charlotte in 2020.

  • Inks and acrylic paint on paper, 10’ x 3’

    “Often when we view an artwork, we are unaware of the impact that its creation has made on its environment. In this piece, I have presented the paper that covered the floor during another painting as the artwork. My intention is to show how connected everything is. The paint strokes on one painting created drips on this one; both individual works, yet ultimately connected.”

by Laurie Smithwick

"Number Four: Glow" (2017) & "Figure Eight" (2017)

Native Charlottean Laurie Smithwick is an abstract painter and printmaker working primarily in monotypes, acrylics, and water media.

  • Watercolor, pen & ink, 30” x 40”

    "Graphic parallel lines slice through this work, breaking the flow of circular unity. They are sharp as they step their way through the fluid space. Like this work, our equilibrium is created by opposing forces — the infinite push and pull between formula and flow, order and disorder."

  • Watercolor, pen & ink, 40” x 30”

    “Graphic parallel lines twist and bend, revealing boundless energy with no beginning or end. The aqueous color makes the stark black rules feel like they're gyrating as they sharply weave their way in, around, and over holes.”

by Matthew Steele

"Basalt (M)" (2020)

Matthew Steele is a Charlotte-based artist and graphic designer and a gallery installer in the College of Arts + Architecture. Often utilizing the aesthetic of function and industry, Steele draws parallels between the man-made and human technologies of the self. With a BFA in sculpture from Indiana University, Steele came to Charlotte in 2012 for a McColl Center for Art + Innovation Artist Residency.

  • Walnut, 23-gauge nails, 60” x 55” x 4”

    "The Basalt series was conceived during my time self-quarantining in early April 2020. The name is a reference to a geological formation called columnar jointing, often seen in basalt volcanic rock. The objects utilize the aesthetic of this phenomena to symbolize this time of energy, ruin, and reformation."

by Lydia C. Thompson

"Ingenious-FLUX" (2021)

Lydia C. Thompson is Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Art & Art History. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, art centers and museums.

  • Wood, paint, and laminate, 42" x 36" x 4,"

    "Ingenious-FLUX is the abstract representation of a rural landscape metamorphosis into an urban environment. It is composed of irregular geometric and organic overlapping relief forms that reference tools and domestic objects used for building structures that create physical spaces to connect the past, present, and future. The negative spaces create movement and energy that characterize the activities of a growing community. The array of colors applied to the shapes and alternate throughout the composition depicts a harmonious strong sense of communications. This piece provided me with an opportunity to explore techniques and materials to translate my paper collage techniques into a durable material such as wood and laminate sheets to create a large-scale wall piece. The wooden shapes were fabricated using CNC technologies, and colored laminate sheets were applied to the surfaces. The forms were arranged and attached to create a 3D low-relief composition."

by Nicole Thrower

"Pond" (2021)

Nicole Thrower will receive a BFA in Art with a concentration in printmaking and an art history minor from UNC Charlotte in May 2021.

  • Alcohol inks, 9” x 12”

    "This work is an abstract painting utilizing the school colors as well as colors to correlate with the hotel theme. I strive for the guests to find peace and relaxation from this work. Each guest may apply their own meaning to the work to further enrich their hotel experience."

by Erik Waterkotte

"Chimera (Mountain)" (2020)

Erik Waterkotte is an Associate Professor of Print Media in the Department of Art & Art History at UNC Charlotte. He has exhibited his artwork both nationally and internationally,

  • Archival inket print on washi with mixed-media, 30×30"

    "My artwork centers on concepts of religious belief, ritual, and the occult. I use print and mixed-media to intersect and juxtapose the archetypal, the inherited, and the phenomenological. Chimera (Mountain) is part of a series of works combining symbolic representations like mountain-tops, water, sky, and light, with alchemical diagrams. These works seek to update and reconnect viewers to the magical thinking of alchemy, where religious belief, philosophy, science were interconnected practices."

by Christina Watka

"Look Up" (2021)

Christina Watka is a site-specific, large-scale installation artist based in Portland, Maine. Informed by large systems in nature, Christina uses natural materials and ceramic to translate these systems into inviting and contemplative artwork.

  • Mica, copper nails, copper wire, and lacquered brass hardware, 3’ x 25’

    "Created with hundreds of hand-cut pieces of naturally and sustainably sourced mica, this kinetic installation will interact with light, reflecting and casting shadows with a soft, subtle motion. Each piece is unique in its transparency and color and can be composed as a ceiling-affixed canopy, wall-affixed sculptural piece, or mobile-like hanging brass structure."

by Ajané Williams

"Shifting Perspective" (2020)

Ajané Williams will receive a BFA in Art with a concentration in painting from UNC Charlotte in Spring 2022.

  • Acrylic on canvas paper, 18” x 24”

    "We spend most of our life within a space. A space to grow, a space to learn, and a space to evolve so we can move on to the next space. These spaces are commonly rectangular or square-like cubes in which we call home, work, school, or a place of entertainment. Within this space are often three components: a door/doorway, walls, and stairs. In contrast, we are humans, organic and forever interacting with such an artificial space. I want to remind and hopefully make my audience remember that being at a university is not only about taking classes to receive a degree for a lifelong job. Getting an education is about remembering yourself by breaking, pushing, and roaming through all of these spaces and doorways. It is about learning but most importantly unlearning the things you were taught growing up externally and internally. It is about your willingness to deconstruct these building blocks that were constructed over time to make room for a brand new space, building, and existence."

by Lily Xiong

"Alluvion" (2021)

Lily Xiong lives and works in North Carolina. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Print Media at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2020. Xiong has already been included in significant group exhibitions including "2019 & 2020 Annual Student Juried Show” and “Obsolescence” at Rowe Arts Gallery at UNC Charlotte. Xiong continues to work in her home studio while also pursuing gallery opportunities.

  • Monotype, 12” x 12”

    "For this artwork, I was inspired by my own experience as a student here at UNC Charlotte. I thought about the challenging moments I’ve encountered during my academic pursuit and tried to connect that with the story of fellow students. With this monotype, I wanted to embody the 49er spirit of perseverance that guides us on our different paths towards success."

BY Master's of Architecture 2020 Diploma Studio

Critical Ecologies and Architecture & the Force of Nature Final Projecgts

The School of Architecture Spring 2020 Diploma Studio challenged graduating Master of Architecture students to think deeply about the built and natural environments. This showcase represents eight exemplary final projects from the two sections: "Critical Ecologies" (Chris Jarrett, prof.) and "Architecture and the Force of Nature" (Frances Hsu, prof.). Students: Nicole Avitabile, Mariel Hamer, Bekim Sejdiu, Pedro Piñera Rodríguez, Drake Cecil, Cameron Day, Alaa Bou Ghanem, and Sophia Bullock.