If you find yourself in or near Charlotte, this should positively not be missed. The Mint Museum of Craft + Design is one of two Mint Museums in downtown Charlotte. The other, the Mint Museum of Art, has the kind of conventional collection you would expect in a prosperous mid-sized American town, but the Craft + Design is something special, especially now.  They are featuring a special exhibit called Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection.
This huge collection of 20th century studio jewelry from around the world will astound you with its inventiveness, craftsmanship and often its aching beauty. The materials used run from the typical precious metals through steel, glass, rubber, fur, bronze, wood, bottle caps, resin, paper and any number of found objects, often mixed together. The makers of these pieces clearly assert themselves as artists working within their contemporary fine art movements, including Bauhaus, abstraction, conceptualism and minimalism.
The collection also includes drawings by some of the artists that functioned as studies for the pieces. In some cases, the drawings are finely detailed technical depictions from various perspectives of what amount to tiny sculptures. In other cases, they are more abstract reflections of intent. Comparing these to the finished pieces permits a greater appreciation of the skill and purpose of the artists and adds a dimension to the exhibition.
There was also a smallish but high quality selection from the museum's permanent collection of glass work on display. My favorites are the architectural-scale cast pieces by the Czech team of Libensky and Brychtova, who pioneered this technique and pushed the boundaries for 50 years.