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Turchin Center Hosts ARTtalks, Schedule Released

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University is a hub for the arts and changing exhibitions are featured in seven galleries. In addition to its varied exhibition program, the Turchin Center also hosts ARTtalks. Led by acclaimed visiting or exhibiting artists, scholars and practitioners, the talks provide deeper insight into creative practice, context for current exhibitions, or contemporary issues shaping the world in which art is created, experienced and interpreted. The Spring 2019 ARTtalks correlate to four of the current exhibitions. Talks are held in the Lecture Hall of the TCVA on Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

ARTtalk Series Schedule

Panel presentation: FULL CIRCLE: 2018 CENTER AWARDS
February 13, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Join guest panelists for an evening of discussion about contemporary social and cultural documentary photography and the role that powerful visual images can play in creating a more just and equitable society.

Laura Pressley is the Executive Director of CENTER in Santa Fe. She directs one of the most effective outcome-driven programs for photographers in the world– CENTER’s annual juried photographic portfolio review event, the Review Santa Fe Photo Festival. Founded in 1994, CENTER is not-for-profit public service organization that honors, supports, and provides opportunities to gifted and committed photographers. It is the aim of CENTER to help photographers identify their creative goals and accomplish them through feedback, support and opportunities. According to Pressley, “Photography has its greatest potential when partnered with the sciences, education, and other non-profit organizations in service to communities, the environment, and other social issues that need our attention.” 

Christy Havranek is the Photo Director at HuffPost. With 17 plus years of experience in photography and digital media, she has previously worked in a variety of industries where each role centered on photography: Frommer’s Travel, NBCUniversal, Polo Ralph Lauren and Bloomsbury USA, among others. HuffPost licenses photo essays and assigns photographers to cover a variety of national and international topics — from breaking news to long-form enterprise pieces — which appear on our global platform.

Muriel Hasbun, “A Face for the Dream of No More Borders”

Muriel Hasbun is one of the award-winning exhibiting artists in Full Circle and focuses on issues of cultural identity, migration and memory. Through an intergenerational, transnational and transcultural lens, Hasbun constructs contemporary narratives and establishes a space for dialogue where individual and collective memory spark new questions about identity and place. Through her installation at the Turchin Center, Barquitos de papel / paper boats beckons to the public to add their own paper boats to the space, inscribed with their own families’ stories of migration. The barquitos de papel collective archive continues to grow each time this piece is shown. The tactile process of making paper boats engenders connection, and even healing. Through the act of participating, we also claim our story in the communal space. We realize that the details hidden behind the folds resonate as much as those readily seen. 

Vikesh Kapoor is a photographer as well as a musician, and released his debut album, The Ballad of Willy Robbins (2013) to critical acclaim. His songs have been highlighted by: The New Yorker, The Guardian, Interview Magazine, Rolling Stone and others, while Rough Trade awarded his albums one of the Best 100 Albums of the Year. He is also currently a Masters Candidate in Photojournalism at Boston University. He has studied with Alex Webb of Magnum Photos, Jim Estrin of The New York Times, and has been published by The Boston Globe, Bullet Magazine, Willamette Week, amongst others. His work has exhibited in museums and galleries in Portland, Los Angeles, and London. Vapoor lives in Los Angeles, California when he is not on the road. 

Reiko Goto Collins

Reiko Goto Collins & Tim Collins—Plein Air: Southern Appalachian Forest
February 27, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Trees are the largest living things on earth; forests are often discussed as one aspect of the range of approaches necessary to sequester carbon with the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change. The experience produced by Plein Air, mediated by sensors and software, lets us hear a metaphor—a sound of one leaf/one tree breathing.

Reiko Goto Collins is a Japanese artist who has lived in both the US and UK and is a principal in the Collins & Goto Studio. She has been a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at University of Edinburgh. She participates in an international Climate Change Network: Uncertain Human Futures and is currently involved in a working group on Living Organisms and Their Choices. She is a distinguished research fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA.

Tim Collins is from the US and is an artist, author and planner, a principal in the Collins & Goto Studio and an honorary research fellow in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen. He works across science, technology and philosophy to develop projects related to nature, culture, changing ideas about ethical duty and public space. In 2017 he was on the development committee for the Art and Artists in Landscape Environment Research Today seminar at the National Gallery in London. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Landscape Research Group and Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Dana Fritz

Dana Fritz: Terraria Gigantica: The World Under Glass
March 20, 6-7:30 p.m.

Dana Fritz is a Professor in the School of Art, Art History & Design at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her monograph “Terraria Gigantica: The World under Glass” was released in fall 2017 and features over 40 color plates including the photographs which frame the world’s largest enclosed landscape environments as possible impossibilities. Plants, animals and an ocean exist within three man-made biospheres and Fritz’s photographs capture the juxtaposition of nature and the human controls required to maintain these ‘natural conditions.’ Her presentation will engage a general audience, particularly those interested in photography, nature and environmental issues, zoos and vivaria. She will discuss her experience with working with environmental issues through photography. A book-signing will be included as part of the evening.

Elizabeth Alexander, “The Great Enemy of Truth”

Elizabeth Alexander: The Great Enemy of Truth
April 17, 6-7:30 p.m.

The Great Enemy of Truth is a site-specific installation by Elizabeth Alexander with an integral sound component by Todd Bowser. The exhibition in the Main Gallery has been transformed with intricate paper installations, suspended sculpture, found objects, costumes, dinner plates and sound for an immersive experience that the artist says: “seems double-edged, a dreamlike scenario that is both familiar and foreign–inspiring frequent shifts in mood.”

John F. Kennedy, in a speech made at Yale University, stated: “for the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.” This statement was made in 1962 yet feels like an accurate portrait of our current era of fake news, tribal politics, and emotional baiting at the forefront of contemporary culture and decision making. The artists will discuss their collaborative process, perform, and answer questions from the audience.

Elizabeth Alexander is an interdisciplinary artist who specializes in sculptures and installations made from paper and found objects. She holds degrees in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy (MFA), and the Massachusetts College of Art (BFA). Alexander has received fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the St. Botolph Foundation, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and, was awarded the title “Best Artist of Boston” in 2014 by Improper Bostonian magazine. Alexander frequently exhibits in museums and galleries across the U.S. Her work is part of private collections across the United States including the contemporary craft collection at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC. Alexander is currently an Assistant Professor at the UNC School of the Arts.

Todd Bowser is a Librarian, Sonic Atmosphere Maker, Ill-Tempered Pacifist, Future-Primitivist, and Bassist living and working in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He primarily collaborates with Elizabeth Alexander.

Additional Events at the Turchin:

  • Spring Exhibition Celebration: April 5, 6-10 p.m.
  • Workshops including Visual Journaling, Tai Chi, Inkalicious, Blazing Easels and Creative Kids Studios.

For more information visit tcva.org

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. Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tues. – Thurs. and Saturday, and Noon – 8 p.m., Friday. 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.