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June Issue 2005
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, NC, Opens New Wing with New Exhibitions
Appalachian State University's Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is bringing a new face to downtown Boone, NC, with the completion of the regional visual arts center's New Wing. The addition provides a new pedestrian gateway to the university, connecting the campus with downtown.
On the west side of the original building,
the new wing re-orients the building's entrance and provides a
reception area, catering support, 135-seat lecture hall, two natural
light galleries, and two traditional galleries. To support the
center's education programs, the Arnold P. Rosen Family Wing opens
to the south of King Street.
The center will celebrate the completion of the New Wing with
a Grand Opening on July 1, 2005, from 7-9 pm, in connection with
An Appalachian Summer Festival. The event is free and open
to the public. During the opening, visitors will have an opportunity
to view several new exhibitions installed in various locations
throughout the New Wing, as well as in the original building's
main galleries.
"This exciting addition helps make the center a stronger campus, community, and regional resource," notes Turchin Center director and chief curator Hank Foreman. "The pedestrian gateway features several areas for public sculpture, including the Kay Borkowski Sculpture Garden, and visitors will be able to walk through the gardens and access nearby Valborg Theatre and the Belk Library and Information Commons."
The following exhibitions will open in conjunction with the opening of the New Wing galleries.
Fiber Optics '05: A Regional Juried Quilt Competition & Exhibition, will be on view from June 3 through July 16, 2005. In partnership with The Quilt Shop, The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts proudly features this juried exhibit of regional quilts and other exciting fiber works by local quilters and fiber artists. This exhibit identifies new concepts and quilting ideas that build upon the longstanding tradition of quilt making in the Appalachian region. This year's juror will be Joe Cunningham ("Joe the Quilter"). A number of related educational activities will be scheduled in connection with the exhibit. For a complete schedule, please call 828/262-3017.
A Pilgrimage of Images: Paintings by Jane Vance Siegle, will be on view from June 3 through July 16, 2005. Although Jane Vance Siegle attended the College of William and Mary, the University of Exeter (England), and Virginia Tech, her study as a student of South Asia and its art has happened largely independently, through decades of travel and the gathering of her own reference library. Paintings by the Blacksburg, VA, artist are spiritual stories. Siegle specializes in linen and oil paintings from East and West, and her paintings quote from many regional styles and traditions. Tibetan Buddhist thang-kas, the Mithila art of Bihar, India and the Nepali Terai, Kalamkari designs, and the Theravadan cave paintings of Sri Lanka are all reflected in Siegle's art. Her art is influenced by her many travels, especially to South Asia. In Siegle's paintings, viewers will recognize the vivid iconography of Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, and the folk arts of the Subcontinent as well as the Appalachian Blue Ridge Mountains.
The third exhibition is Glenn Zweygardt: Sculpture, on view from June 3 through July 23, 2005.
The works of Zweygardt are simultaneously ancient and contemporary. With his use of diverse materials - cast bronze, glass, iron, marble, stainless steel, stone, and granite - he creates complex media sculptures that exemplify a master of the three dimensional form. Zweygardt possess an uncanny ability to fuse dissimilar elements and concepts, naturally occurring and fabricated forms, into structures that command the attention of the observer. This interaction of artist, nature, and technology has a moving effect on the observer's imagery and psyche.
Duplication and relationship is a recurring theme found throughout Zweygardt's work. A carefully chosen stone, cast and duplicated in bronze, aluminum or steel becomes the basis of definite architectural themes that are manifest in a range of sizes. Zweygardt's mastery of the building process along with his ability to create enormous works of art from materials of tremendous mass has gained him international recognition and membership to the Benaan Group, a cooperative of sculptors whose collective works span virtually the entire spectrum of possibilities of "traditional" modernist sculpture.
Kansas born, Zweygardt earned the BFA degree from Wichita State in 1967. He received the MFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in 1969 and teaches at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Zweygardt works independently in his immense workshop in Alfred Station, New York. Here his work continues to evolve - varied shapes and rich surfaces, transparent and dense forms, conceptual and technical relationships personal and collective perceptions - into fine art of eminent legacy.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 828/262-3017 or at (www.turchincenter.org).
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