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Turchin Center for the Visual Arts Host Exhibition Celebration Friday, Feb. 6 for First Art Crawl of 2015

By Marianne Minton

Feb. 3, 2015. On Friday, Feb. 6, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts will kick off the first Downtown Boone Art Crawl of 2015 with the opening of three new exhibitions. Like most Art Crawl events, this exhibition celebration will be free and open to the public from 6-10 p.m.

All three of the featured artists will be present during the event so that visitors will have the chance to mingle and ask any questions about the exhibits. There will also be free appetizers and a cash bar featuring beer and wine for guests to enjoy while attending the celebration.

The three exhibitions are from artists Andrew Fullwood, Les Caison III and Tanja Softic. These artists’ backgrounds and influences are as diverse as their mediums and subjects.

The Turchin Center Curator Mary Anne Redding is excited for the unveiling of the exhibitions this weekend.

“This is part of Boone’s first Friday Art Crawl of this year, and we want to encourage everyone to come out and Screen%20Shot%202014-04-18%20at%201.53.18%20PMinteract with our artists and their work,” Redding said.

The featured artists and their artist statements are as follows:

Andrew Fullwood: Allurement
Venue: Mayer Gallery – West Wing

Fullwood’s passion for woodworking can be traced from his family history of five generations of furniture makers originally from Hickory, N.C. Beginning as a psychiatrist, Fullwood describes his compelling interests as focused in art and nature, explaining the unlikely transition to sculpting his own form of art from nature.

From Fullwood’s artist statement: “With my sculpture I want to generate curiosity and allurement. I like there to be an element of surprise. I enjoy exploring both abstract and realistic forms (usually human figures), and sometimes both blended together, a style I refer to as “organic surrealism”. Part of the challenge is to integrate opposing imagery and the tensions created therein. Treacherous forms search for harmonious cohabitation amongst nurture forms. A whale and a cocoon and pollen may all fuse together into one form.”

For more information about Fullwood, click here.

Les Caison III: Looking Up
Venue: Gallery B – West Wing

untitled%203_detailCaison, a 1998 Appalachian State graduate with a BFA in Studio Art, works in Asheboro as the Randolph Arts Guild’s Program Director. His work has been presented in more than 70 various exhibits, ranging from solo gallery features to multi-artist installations. Caison’s series of collage paintings focus mainly on context, perspective and attitude as avenues to positively move forward in the right direction.

From Caison’s artist statement: “These paintings explore using whatever we have to go forward. Sometimes carrying on is as simple as acknowledging the heavens. Sometimes we are celebrating life and our spirits are light-footed. Other times we are overflowing with contemplation and seek solace amid whatever environment we can find. The elders may speak. We may not understand – but we hear and we acknowledge and we may apply their wisdom in the future. We just have to keep Looking Up.”

For more information about Caison, click here.

Tanja Softic: Gathered from Available Data
Vanue: Gallery A – West Wing

Softić is Professor of Art at the University of Richmond with her work featured in many art collections both in the U.S. and abroad. As an immigrant from Bosnia to the United States, Softić seeks to examine the definition, nature and fluidity of memory and how it shapes specific cultural identities.

From Softić’s artist statement: “My work aims to capture this state of flux, acknowledge the obsolescence of categories, and work with the tattered web of memory. The vocabulary of my pieces includes elements of landscape, microscopic life forms, architectural details and renderings, obsolete geographical maps, astronomical charts and anatomical fragments as visual signifiers of a displaced existence.”

More information about Softic can be found here.

For more information about the exhibition celebration or any of the exhibitions, click here or call 828-262-3017.