Through Carved Wooden Assemblages, Daniel Minter Communes with the Spiritual

As visitors enter the first gallery of the Thresholds exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art, they are greeted by rows of hand brooms, each intricately woven together with ribbons, cords, and braids. These brooms, along with raw branches from a fallen tree, serve as talismans, tools, and objects of remembrance for the artist Daniel Minter.

The artist, who grew up in Georgia during the Jim Crow era, has always been fascinated by the spiritual aspect of everyday items and their role in cleansing, caring for oneself, and self-empowerment. Minter's work stands as a service, offering hope and a connection to the unseen through sculpture, drawing, and community projects.

Raised in a segregated Georgia, Minter's mother's constant singing and his own desire to create played a significant role in shaping his artistic path. He began carving small sticks and creating signs for neighbors during his teenage years before studying illustration in college. His talent even earned him the prestigious Caldecott Medal for his work on Going Down Home with Daddy.

At the Haggerty Museum, Minter's multi-faceted practice is on full display, featuring vibrant carved sculptures with stylized portraits and superimposed motifs.

These figurative assemblages are crafted from found objects and carefully selected materials, transforming them into vessels for spiritual and ancestral knowledge. Minter believes that his work is deeply rooted in a long and complex tradition of creating objects for communication and transformation. The Haggerty Museum collection further enriches his art by allowing a direct connection to timeless technology, enabling him to reconnect with and continue the living system of communication with spirits, ancestors, and the unseen.

The exhibition's setting is carefully curated to evoke a sense of communion with the spiritual realm. Each wall within Minter's section of the exhibition represents a different facet of nature: blue for the ocean, red for fire and thunder, and green for the forest. These verdant settings are also depicted in the central, freestanding sculpture, which features an abstract, totemic figure atop astroturf.

The sculpture's placement symbolizes hope, addressing the question of finding inspiration amidst seemingly discouraging circumstances.

Minter believes that objects do not transmit spirituality directly but rather serve as reminders of our own spirituality. They allow us to translate and process obstacles, offering peace and a sense of connection to something greater. "That's a service," he emphasizes. The Thresholds exhibition runs through December 19 at the Haggerty Museum of Art, part of Milwaukee's Marquette University. To learn more about Minter's practice and contribute to independent arts publishing, visit his website and Instagram.