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Catherine J. Smith Gallery at ASU Presents the BFA Senior Studio Fall 2012 Exhibition Dec. 7 to Jan. 12

Dec. 4, 2012. The Catherine J. Smith Gallery at Appalachian State University presents the BFA Senior Studio Fall 2012 exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone. The exhibition will be on view from Dec. 7, 2012 – Jan. 12, 2013, and includes work by candidates for the BFA in Studio Art.

The BFA Senior Studio Fall 2012 exhibition titled “End of the World” features works by twelve student artists exploring a wide variety of studio techniques including drawing, painting, metals, fibers, ceramics, photography and multimedia.

The gallery is pleased to present works from the following artists: Molly L. Belada, Alexandra B. Cirulis, Randall Dameron, Jessi Galloway, Tia Nicole, Katherine J. Haugen, Lauren Jordan, Rachel Kirk, Adam Hamilton Mackay, Emily Parrish, Savella C. Smeraski and Caroline Tippette. For the past year, these students have been working with Christopher Curtin, professor in the Department of Art.

“The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition at the Turchin Center for Visual Arts provides the Department of Art, the Boone community, family and friends an opportunity to view works created to earn this degree and celebrate the accomplishments of our graduating BFA Studio students,” Curtin said. “The works of these young artists address a wide range of their artistic concerns in diverse media and processes. I am very confident that this show will be an exciting group exhibition and a moment of pride for participating artists and the Art Department.”

The reception for the BFA Senior Studio Fall 2012 exhibition is on Saturday, Dec. 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts located on King Street in downtown Boone. 

About the Artists

Molly L. Belada was born in 1988 in Morganton. She is completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics. Belada works mainly in functional and sculptural wheel-thrown ceramics. Her latest body of work deals with groupings of large bottle forms that are cut and reassembled, creating interactions and relationships between the pieces.

Alexandra B. Cirulis was born in 1991 in Charlotte. She is completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and sculpture. Early in her studies at Appalachian, she was drawn to painting and developed quickly into a very intuitional and spiritual painter. Cirulis developed an appreciation for the process of creation through painting and eventually took a liking to other materials, specifically metals. Her metal sculpture explores the realm of ancient knowledge, inspired by her Indo-European heritage. Through ancient processes, like casting and forging, she is able to gain insight to some traditional values held by ancient cultures like the Baltic tribes of her ancestors. Cirulis believes that through the exploration of these ideas and processes, she can become closer to ideologies that have been lost in the past and bring them into the world today in order to make for a more progressive and collective future.

Randall Dameron is from Wilkesboro and is currently completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art. Using research of his personal ancestry as subject matter, Dameron creates multimedia narratives consisting primarily of photography and painting. These narratives explore the connections between the past and the present through the choices people make.

Jessi Galloway is from Hillsborough. She got her start as an artist at a very young age through private lessons. Her teachers influenced her a great deal, especially her long time friend and mentor, Yolanta Kokot. Galloway was accepted into Appalachian State University in 2009 where she has since worked diligently on her art degree. She works for the home school company Moving Beyond The Page as an illustrator. She has worked in a variety of media, including sculpture and fibers, but her passion lies in painting and drawing. After college, Galloway plans to continue as an artist and aspires to become a full-time illustrator.

Katherine J. Haugen was born in 1989 and raised in the small town of Salisbury. She plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art and a minor in Theatre Design/Technology.

Lauren Jordan was born in 1990 in San Diego, Calif. She is pursuing a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Art. Jordan is interested in how small parts come together to form a complex and balanced whole and how this balance can be interrupted or destroyed. She explores this repetition and disruption of organic patterning through processes, such as knitting, crocheting, embroidering, and stitching using hand-dyed fabrics and yarn.

Rachel E. Kirk was born in 1986 in Wilmington. She grew up playing in the marshes and on the coast, which has significantly influenced her work. She currently lives in Boone where she is a candidate for a Bachelors of Fine Art in Studio Art with concentrations in ceramics and fibers and a Bachelors of Science in Art Education (K-12). Kirk’s work in both ceramics and fibers infuses traditional methods with contemporary practices and content.

Adam Hamilton Mackay was born in Virginia Beach, and now lives in Boone. He has been studying ceramics since he was a teenager and has been engaged in the tradition of crafting utilitarian, wheel thrown pottery. Mackay plans to graduate with a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in ceramics. His work references ammunition, bullet casings and large scale bottles. Mackay’s pieces inform his viewers of our foreign policy and how it affects people in the most harmful of ways. 

Tia Nicole was born in 1985 in the foothills of Wilkesboro. She is the youngest of two other siblings and has always loved the arts. Her inspiration is drawn from personal observations, conversations and situations she has experienced throughout her life. She is not a painter, sculptor, photographer, printmaker, nor a ceramic artist, but a combination of them all and can’t possibly limit herself to one medium over the other. She is looking forward to making art in her own studio after graduation.

Since coming to Boone to pursue a degree in art, Emily Parrish has latched on to weaving and printmaking as a way of documenting history, exploring memory and surreptitiously griping about irritating individuals. Parrish’s other interests include cats, tea, biking, Czechoslovakian literature and legumes of all shapes and sizes. After college she plans to move to the Bay Area of California; a land of crappy weather, vegan donuts and endless hot sauces.

Savella C. Smeraski was born in Greenville. Initially, she began with a painting and printmaking concentration before discovering metalsmithing and jewelry design. After exploring different media, Savella found that most of her inspiration came from the human body, both internally and externally. She is interested in the idea of wearable jewelry and the connection formed between the wearer and the objects worn. There is no greater personal connection then something that is adorned everyday like jewelry.

Caroline Tippette was born in 1990 in Rocky Mount. She grew up surrounded by a family of strong women who supported her love of art. She has been painting since she could hold a brush and her current works focus on the relationship between consciousness and the void. Tippette currently lives in Boone and is seeking a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Painting as well as a Bachelor of Science in Art Education.

The Catherine J. Smith Gallery is closed for renovations through August 2013. Exhibitions and programs take place this year at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Belk Library and Information Commons, Plemmons Student Union and other locations on the campus of Appalachian State University unless otherwise noted. Admission is free for all events and programs. The gallery office is temporarily located in Wey Hall room 210A on ASU’s campus.

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is located at 423 West King St., in Boone. The museum is open Tuesday – Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and on Friday from 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. Parking is available nearby on King Street and in the parking deck on College Street located behind the center.

For more information, call 828-262-3017 or visit www.tcva.org.