April 2011

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, NC, Features Works by J. Alex Poorman, Tom & Kitty Stoner, Laura Berman, and April Flanders

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, will present several new exhibits including: Places for Contemplation in Public Buildings: Constructing a Model Space for Reflection, on view in Gallery A from Apr., 1 through June 11, 2011; Open Spaces, Sacred Places: Tom Stoner & the TKF Foundation, on view in Gallery B, from Apr. 1 through June 11, 2011; Chromata: Laura Berman, on view in the Mayer Gallery, from Apr. 1 through Aug. 20, 2011; and Beyond Their Natural Range: April Flanders, on view in the Catwalk Community Gallery, from Apr. 1 through June 4, 2011.

A research project by J. Alex Poorman, Places for Contemplation in Public Buildings: Constructing a Model Space for Reflection, is offered in conjunction with the exhibit, Tom Stoner & TKF Foundation Exhibition.

As employers consider the critical need of the 21st century workplace to attract and retain the best and brightest employees, our society must also consider a shift in the functional spaces geared toward an environment that supports an overall “work/life” lifestyle. This project looks at how diverse spaces, required by a new generation of employees, are transforming the workplace and explores specific design aspects for incorporating sacred spaces into workplace environments.

Poorman, IIDA, Assoc. AIA is an assistant professor of Interior Design at Appalachian, where his course responsibilities include Interior Building Materials and Systems, Drafting and CAD, and Interior Design Studios. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Interior Architecture degree from Kansas State University. Poorman is also a partner in Triangle Commercial Architecture, PLLC in Raleigh.

Open Spaces, Sacred Places: Tom Stoner & the TKF Foundation is being exhibited in conjunction with Places for Contemplation in Public Buildings: Constructing a Model Space for Reflection.

Open Spaces, Sacred Places is a book written by Tom and Kitty Stoner that introduces nature as a means to heal communities in need. A series of inspirational stories told of passionate and persistent people who have brought communities together to create public areas of respite, it dramatically demonstrates how nature has the power to heal and unify in our increasingly frenetic, 21st century world.

Tom and Kitty Stoner are the founders of the TKF Foundation which supports the creation of public green spaces that offer an antidote for the stressful, divisive, and isolating effects of life in today’s complex world.

Printmaker Laura Berman allows her work to be guided by structures based on sequence, multiple and interactive images. Her work is often non-traditionally displayed and orchestrated. Design and collaboration are paradigms in Berman’s work; she often allows her pieces to collaborate by design with their surroundings, becoming an installation made for a specific place and audience. Through its inherent reliance on language and communication, design inspires her work.

Berman is an image-maker who works with hand-printed multiples in non-traditional formats. She has created site-specific works and exhibited at numerous galleries and museums throughout the world. She received her BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her MFA from Tulane University. She is currently an assistant professor of printmaking at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Printmaker April Flanders’ current work addresses the uncontrollable nature of invasive botanical species in the Appalachian region, influenced by humankind’s fascination with the exotic, and perhaps driven by the need for individuality. Beyond Their Natural Range reveals the result of this obsession as an unnatural, globalized landscape that means an inexorable death for native species.

Flanders holds an MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University. She has had solo exhibitions at galleries in Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Missouri and Delaware. Her work has been featured in group shows at museums and galleries nationally and internationally. Her work is in several public collections, including the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and the Tucson Museum of Art. She is on faculty at Appalachian’s Department of Art.

The Turchin Center also is presenting the exhibits, Appalachian Alumni in the Arts, on view in the Main Gallery, through June 4, 2011. ASU has built a national reputation for outstanding academics in all areas of study. Our alumni are successful in areas from business to education, politics to healthcare and communication to art. This exhibition is the first large-scale, group, alumni exhibition featured at the Turchin Center. The 8th Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition, is on view in the Mezzanine Gallery, through June 4, 2011. The Competition (AMPC) is a program of Appalachian’s Outdoor Programs in partnership with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 828/262-3017 or visit (www.turchincenter.org).

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