Find News from VisitNC and Destinations

BOONE, N.C. — The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University will be open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 12 – 4 pm beginning May 13. A timed reservation/ticketing entry system will be used in order to ensure the health and safety of museum visitors and staff. Admission is free; however, reservations are requested. Visitors with reservations will be given priority for entry, although visitors are also

welcome on a walk-in basis, when capacity allows. Open hours will be expanded as it is deemed to be safe to do so. For more information about protocols and procedures as well as to make a reservation for timed entry, visit tcva.org.

While the Turchin Center has been closed to the public during the global pandemic, the exhibitions have continued to be updated throughout the year. The galleries feature compelling original art, and visitors in May and June will, in addition to the current exhibitions, have the opportunity to observe some behind-the-scenes gallery installations taking place as the curatorial team prepares for the summer season. Mark your calendars for the Summer Exhibition Celebration on Friday, July 2 from 6 – 9 p.m.

Here's the exhibition lineup:

Fictive Strategies: Suzanne Sbarge & Holly Roberts
Through June 5, 2021 in the Main Gallery
This exhibition brings together two artists who have separate practices but share commonalities as described in this statement by Mary Anne Redding. “Suzanne Sbarge and Holly Roberts share a similar sensibility; they both use collage, weaving textures and images into surrealistically enigmatic artworks that open subconscious doorways into the ambiguous space of the night: haunting dreams brim with narrative probability remaining stubbornly resistant to literal interpretation. Both artists live in and are intimately familiar with the New Mexico landscape where a deep stillness is part of the character of both the land and the people who inhabit it.”

Holly Roberts obtained her M.F.A from Arizona State University and has also studied at the University of New Mexico, and Bellas Artes De Mexico in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her work has been exhibited in over 90 individual exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. Her work is in the collections of many public and corporate collections across the United States. A dedicated teacher as well as a prolific artist, she has had a profound effect on a community of artists around the country. She continues to live and work in the Southwest.

Suzanne Sbarge was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1965. She has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1989. She received her B.A. degree in art history and studio arts from Barnard College in New York City and her M.A. degree in Art Education from the University of New Mexico. She has also studied studio arts at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Toulouse, France; Syracuse University in Florence, Italy; The Art Students’ League in New York City; University of Connecticut; University of Massachusetts; as well as Anderson Ranch in Colorado, Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been exhibited in over 75 group exhibitions and 15 solo shows since the late 1980s. It is in the collections of over 100 local, national and international collectors, and has been represented at galleries across the United States. For more information about Fictive Strategies

Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition
March 5 – June 5, 2021 in the Mezzanine Gallery
In its 18^th year, the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition (AMPC) provides both amateur and professional photographers with the opportunity to showcase their interpretation of the unique character, people, places and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians.

“Despite the continued pandemic, organizers chose to continue on with the AMPC this year,” states Rich Campbell, AMPC Competition Director. “Knowing the importance of the outdoors, especially during this pandemic, part of our goal was to continue to inspire people to engage with the natural world, which this year provided much needed solace and space.”

The jury panel consisted of accomplished photographers and artists Shauna Caldwell and Eric Heistand. They selected 51 finalist images and the final award-winning photographs that are on display in the Mezzanine Gallery.

Winners of this year’s competition include: Mike Baker, End Times (Best in Show); Jim Ruff,
Moonwalk (People’s Choice Award); Lynn Willis, The White Room (Adventure); Gina Knox,
Better Together (Blue Ridge Parkway: Nature’s Escape); Alicia Green, Carport Ollie (Culture)

Jodie Castellani, The Graphite Reactor (Our Ecological Footprint); Chris Almerini
Roan Mountain Fantasy (Flora and Fauna); Terri Campbell, In Darkness Comes Light (Landscape). Special Jury Mention awards went to: Skip Sickler, Evening Show and Comet Neowise versus Light Pollution; Steven McBride, In Flight and Sam Brown, A Successful Firing Self-portrait

The AMPC is a partnership between Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and Virtual Blue Ridge. The AMPC provides support for the university’s Office of Outdoor Programs and their extended expeditions that are educational journeys of discovery that take students around the world. The competition is generously sponsored by the Mast General Store and supporters include the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Nikon Cameras, Stickboy Bread Company, Bistro Roca, Peabody’s Wine and Beer Merchants, Smoky Mountain Living, Footsloggers, and Appalachian Voices. Visit the AMPC website www.appmtnphotocomp.org or here for more information about the 18th AMPC

Rowhouse Workshop
March 5 – August 7 in the Mayer Gallery
Rowhouse Workshop is an interactive exhibition showcasing the unique personalities of rowhouse blocks in North, South and West Philadelphia. The exhibition leads visitors through a series of rowhouse block installations, sharing collectively curated songs, recipes, images, and videos.

Three Philadelphia blocks are represented in the Turchin Center’s Mayer Gallery through interactive installations from the original exhibition. Residents of the Boone region are invited to explore these Philadelphia blocks, and record their own observations and ideas about how the physical organizations of their own communities might help to shape and connect their collective identities.

This exhibition was conceived and curated by Brian Phillips and his firm, ISA, based in Philadelphia. ISA is an architecture office engaged in design and research projects in cities across the US. The firm works closely with project stakeholders to produce buildings, master plans, installations, and conversations that provide innovative solutions for their clients while productively addressing changing climates, lifestyles, technologies, and urban environments. Original support for Rowhouse Workshop was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Click here for more information about Rowhouse Workshop.

Ruminations: Cheryl Prisco
March 5 – August 7 in the Community Gallery
Cheryl Prisco is an artist who works in wood and describes herself as having “a technical approach that is radically free-wielding by traditional woodworking standards. “I am addicted to color and pattern, drawn to irreverence and visual dissonance. In place of paint and brush I cut, color, and shape wood elements, creating abstract low relief assemblages. The process of my work, the shaping and fitting, the painting and placement of multiple pieces, is the physical manifestation of rumination. My feelings, attitudes and concerns are visually recorded in color and composition. Each assemblage is a rumination, a story, one in the making and one in the viewing.”

Cheryl Prisco is an abstract artist based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She was born in Connecticut but has lived most of her adult life in the South-- sixteen years in Savannah, Georgia and eleven years in Boone, North Carolina. Click here for more information about Ruminations.

For more information visit tcva.org/art. Exhibition pages include gallery walk-through videos, ARTtalk recordings, Connections learning guides and virtual workshops.

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. The Center is closed Sunday and Monday, and observes all university holidays. Check the website for schedule changes due to Covid-19 which are currently limited and require reservations. 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.

###

CONTACT:

Lynn Rees-Jones
828-262-7309
reesjonesld@appstate.edu