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The Turchin Center to Host Variety of Visual Arts Exhibitions and Programs for Appalachian Summer Festival

Jessica Greenfield’s piece, From the Shothole Leafminer Series

An Appalachian Summer Festival offers unique and enriching arts experiences to audiences across the Southeast, combining world-class performing and visual arts programming in a spectacular mountain location in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. During an Appalachian Summer Festival, the Turchin Center hosts a variety of visual arts exhibitions and programs that dovetail with the performing arts. 

The community is invited to a Summer Exhibition Celebration on July 1 from 5–9 pm. During this kick-off to An Appalachian Summer Festival, the Turchin Center will celebrate five exhibitions in grand style. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet the artists and gain an “insider’s view” of the featured exhibitions. This festive evening will include a gallery talk by Bart Vargas, live music by Ruby Goose, refreshments and a cash bar. The event is free and open to the public.  The celebration is generously sponsored by Allen Wealth Management.

The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition showcases contemporary American sculpture in outdoors settings. The competition has become firmly established as a cultural treasure and a significant point of pride for Appalachian State University and the entire region. On Saturday morning, July 9 at 10 am the Rosen Sculpture Walk with the Juror will include a tour, awards reception and luncheon. 

The Lunch and Learn lectures are interactive and informative and provide an insider’s look at the festival programming from experts in the field. This year’s lectures will occur Thursdays at noon in July and will be held in person in the Turchin Center lecture hall and will also be available online via Zoom Webinar. 

Admission to all these summer events is free. 

Exhibitions 

Bart Vargas’s Keyboard Eggs

Multitudes: Bart Vargas

July 1– December 10: Hodges Gallery 

MULTITUDES is a celebration of Bart Vargas’ use of materials, form, pattern, and color through sculpture and painting. This twenty-year retrospective of Vargas’ work consists of objects and images built from salvaged materials. Many of these award-winning works have been exhibited across the nation and world, graced book covers and publications, but have not previously been exhibited in North Carolina. According to Vargas, “Aspects of salvage, appropriation and repetition run through all my works. I recover local materials deemed unwanted or useless, including trash, recyclables, and surplus items and then transform them into playful, approachable and thought-provoking objects. This practice is most obvious in my sculptures, in which I use readily identified objects such as plastic bottles, cardboard, keyboard keys and empty paint containers. I play with the familiarity of these materials by blurring their identities into universal forms like spheres, globes, maps, pyramids, pills and skulls. These works address such diverse topics as contextual regional geography, the damaging effects of plastic on our bodies and global environment and the multitudes of waste created by technological advancement.”

About the Artist

Bart Vargas is a visual artist, educator and advocate from Bellevue, Nebraska. He received his BFA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and his MFA at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and his work can be found in many collections throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. His works have also been featured in many publications including Sculpture Magazine, New American Paintings and HGTV Magazine. 

Art Department Faculty Biennial

June 4 – November 10: Galleries A & B and the Smith Gallery in the lobby of the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts

The Art Department Faculty Biennial Exhibition is a collaborative exhibition organized by the Smith Gallery and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. These non-juried exhibitions provide the campus and surrounding communities with an opportunity to engage with the ideas and practices being explored by the talented multidisciplinary visual arts educators at Appalachian State University. 

Artists at TCVA galleries –  Adam Adcock, Andrea Keys Connell, Andrew Caldwell, Andrew Bailey Arend, NA_AB collective (Nida Abdullah and Anna Buckner), Clifton Meador, Edison Midgett, Erin Ethridge, Frankie Flood, Greg Banks, Jeana Eve Klein, Jessica Greenfield, Jody Servon, Joseph Bigley, Joshua White, Lilith E. Nielander, Lisa Stinson, Maggie Flanigan, Mark Nystrom, Rosa Dargan-Powers and Travis Donovan. Artists at the Smith Gallery: April Flanders, Daniel Rich, Catherine Altice, Vicky Grube, James Toub, Kate Wurtzel, Martin Church, Scott Ludwig, Stephen Parks, Timothy Ford, Topher Lineberry, IlaSaha Prouty.

Nicole Pietrantoni’s Folded and Gathered

Folded and Gathered: Nicole Pietrantoni

July 1 – February 4, 2023: Mezzanine Gallery

Nicole Pietrantoni’s exhibition, Folded and Gathered, consists of vibrant printed accordion books on Japanese papers that expand to create large scale installations. Much of her work is informed by her time in beautiful but ecologically fragile landscapes. According to Pietrantoni, “My artists’ books and installations explore the representation of beauty in times of loss, photography’s role in producing memory and humans’ relationship to the environment. Taking an experimental approach to the book form, my art asks how the book and printed matter can both enable and undercut humans’ active role in constructing and idealizing images. Rather than a fixed site or single image, the fragmented paper columns, text, and book forms engage the world as an unstable accumulation of processes, perceptions and narratives.” 

About the Artist

Pietrantoni is the recipient of numerous awards including a Fulbright to Iceland, an Artist Trust Fellowship, a Larry Sommers Printmaking Fellowship, a Leifur Eiríksson Foundation Grant, the Manifest Prize and a Graves Award for Excellence in Humanities Research and Teaching. She received her MFA and MA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa and her BS in Human and Organizational Development and Art History from Vanderbilt University. Nicole served as the President of SGC International in 2016 – 18, the largest professional organization dedicated to scholarship in printmaking, book arts and papermaking in North America. Nicole is an Associate Professor of Art at Whitman College where she teaches printmaking and book arts. 

Installation with Ukrainian Flag: Lowell Hayes

July 1 – November 10: Community Gallery

In this installation, Lowell Hayes, one of Boone’s most well-loved artists, shares his artistic response to the war in Ukraine. His work typically evokes a strong connection with viewers and enhances and deepens awareness of the featured topic. Hayes is a local artist, with deep roots in Boone and the High Country and is being showcased as part of the Boone Sesquicentennial 150 celebration.

About the Artist

Lowell Hayes was born near old Butler, Tennessee in 1936.  He has a B.A. from Lynchburg College and a B.D. from the University of Chicago.  He has lived Valle Crucis, North Carolina since 1972. Over the course of his career, Lowell Hayes has made art in many styles and mediums. His work has been shown at The National Museum of American Art in D.C. and has been featured on the show, A TVA Commonplace. He appeared on Charles Kuralt’s Sunday Morning on CBS, was interviewed on NPR, by the New York Times and Art in America.  He has had his works featured on several magazine covers and in dozens of public and private collections including the Tennessee State Museum. 

Nan Chase, whose work has appeared in practically every regional magazine as well as in The New York Times, is a Boone resident and established author and is a collaborator in this exhibition. She has contributed several literary selections, including a section from a memoir written by her grandfather who lived in the province of Chernihiv Oblast which was the location of one of the first struggles between Russian and Ukrainian forces in 2022. This exhibition has been generously supported, in part, by a gift from Mary Bickers.

Continuing Exhibitions at the Turchin:

  • Celestial: Dare Coulter (through August 27, 2022)

For more information about exhibitions, visit tcva.org/art

Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Walk

July 9, 10 a.m. (Location: Tent next to the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts)

The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is a national, juried competition presented annually by the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University and showcases contemporary American sculpture in outdoor settings. The competition has become firmly established as a cultural treasure and a significant point of pride for Appalachian State University and the entire region. Join competition juror Elizabeth Brim on an educational outdoor tour of the ten selected pieces from this year’s competition. The tour concludes with the announcement of this year’s winners and will also include a luncheon. This is a free event. 

Sculptors in this year’s competition include: 

Silver Sage, David Boyajian, New Fairfield, CT

Here to There, Matthew Newman, Damascus, VA

Love Bound with Claws, Paris Alexander, Raleigh, NC

Sinuosity II, Susan Moffatt, Chapel Hill, NC

Man, I Feel Like a Woman, Jackie Braitman, Takoma Park, MD

The Window, Wayne Vaughn, Graham, NC

Mei Amour, Kevin Eichner, Moncure, NC

Lost and Found, Kevin Curry, Tallahassee, FL

Divergent, Andrew Light, Lexington, KY 

Longing for Santa Croce, Shawn Morin, Bowling Green, OH

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Martin & Doris Rosen Giving Fund / Debbie Rosen Davidson and David Rosen and the Charles & Nancy Rosenblatt Foundation.

Lunch and Learn Lecture Series 

Thursdays in July, noon. 

All events held in person on Thursdays throughout July in the Turchin Center Lecture Hall and online via Zoom Webinar, from 12:00 – 1:00pm

July 7-  The Turchin Center’s Faculty Biennial Exhibition Turchin Center Curator Mary Anne Redding moderates a panel discussion with Appalachian State University Art Department faculty members featured in the current biennial exhibition, which will be exhibited at the Turchin Center and in the Smith Gallery of the Schaefer Center. Artists include Adam Adcock, Andrew Caldwell, Andréa Keys Connell and Jessica Greenfield. Hear from and learn about the work and practice of  esteemed artists and professors including Adam Adcock, Andrew Caldwell, Andréa Keys Connell and Jessica Greenfield. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and view the galleries.

Adam Adcock’s Skin and Stone

July 14 Meet the Film Curator, featuring Dale Pollock, curator for the 2022 Weicholz Global Film Series

Dale Pollock is a renowned film critic, movie producer and film professor who served as Dean and taught in the celebrated film school at UNC School of the Arts, where he is now an emeritus professor. Pollock is a member of the Motion Picture Academy and sits on the Academy Awards nominating committee for international films. Join Dale for a fascinating glimpse into his life in the world of film, and his perspective on the summer festival’s tradition of presenting stellar films from around the world. 

Boone 150: A Celebration of Boone’s History

Following the screening of Beth Davison’s short film, DocuAppalachia: A Half Century Focus on the Environment, participants will enjoy an engaging panel discussion with the filmmaker; film co-director Dr. Kristan Cockerill; and Digital Watauga’s Dr. Eric Plaag, as they reflect on the impact of environmental protection legislation and on what has changed and what has remained the same in the rural southern Appalachian mountains.

“A Central Visual Heritage of the Holocaust: The Wehrmacht and Anti-Jewish Propaganda,” presented by Dr. Daniel Uziel

Most of the visual documentation of WWII, from the German side, originates from the Propaganda Companies (PK) of the Wehrmacht. These specialized units were responsible, among others, for providing the German media with war correspondence materials. The Wehrmacht Propaganda organization supported the wartime anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi regime by providing relevant visual material. As a result, a significant portion of the core visual documentation of the Holocaust originates from this source. This talk will focus on the reasons and circumstances of its creation. Dr. Daniel Uziel is an expert in the field of the Nazi party’s antisemitic propaganda and the Propagandakompanien. This presentation is part of the 2022 Martin & Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Film and Photography during the Holocaust.

Turchin Center programming is generously supported by Appalachian Home Care, Bickers Consulting Group, Art Cellar, Allen Wealth Management and Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff.

About the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, named for university benefactors Robert and Lillian Turchin, fulfills Appalachian State University’s long-held mission of providing a home for world-class visual arts programming.  The largest facility of its kind in the region, the center presents exhibition, education and collection programs that support the university’s role as a key educational, cultural and service resource. The center presents multi-dimensional exhibits and programs and is a dynamic presence in the community, creating opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the power and excitement of the visual arts. Its seven galleries host changing exhibitions featuring local, regional, national and international artists.  

The Turchin Center is located at 423 West King St., in Boone. Regular hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tues. – Thurs. and Saturday, and Noon – 8 p.m., Friday and will resume on July 2. The Center is closed Sunday and Monday, and observes all university holidays. Admission is always free, although donations are gratefully accepted. For general inquiries, to be added to the mailing or e-news list, to obtain donor program details or to schedule a tour, call 828-262-3017, e-mail turchincenter@appstate.edu or visit tcva.org. The Turchin Center can also be followed on Facebook and Twitter @TurchinCenter.

Sponsors

The Turchin Center receives critical support from a group of outstanding media sponsors that are dedicated to promoting the arts in our region, including: High Country 365, High Country Radio, WFDD 88.5, WDAV 89.9 and WASU 90.5FM.