Feature Articles

For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..."

July Issue 2006

An Appalachian Summer Festival in Boone, NC, Offers Several Exhibits

The month of July ushers in an annual, multi-disciplinary celebration of the arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. An Appalachian Summer Festival, which is emerging as one of the nation's most innovative and highly regarded regional, multidisciplinary arts festivals, presents its 22nd season, showcasing the finest in music, dance, theatre and the visual arts. The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, which is rapidly gaining a reputation as the area's "place to be" to experience current trends in contemporary art, programs the visual arts component of the festival's 2006 season.

Three exhibits will open on July 7, 2006, joining others which have already started.

For the exhibition Reflections on a Legacy: Vitreographs from Littleton Studios, the Turchin Center has assembled an amazing range of prints from a pioneering studio in Western North Carolina. Introduced into modern printmaking by glass artist Harvey K. Littleton in 1974, vitreography has been the focus of creative and technical efforts at Littleton Studios in Spruce Pine, NC, since 1981. Over the years, Harvey Littleton has invited painters, printmakers, glass artists and sculptors to create vitreographs at his studios. From this incredible collection, Turchin Center curators have selected works for a luminous and inspiring exhibition to be displayed in the Main Gallery of the Turchin Center's West Wing through Sept. 30, 2006.

Of the vitreographs in the Littleton collection, the work of Erwin Eisch attracted the particular attention of the Turchin Center curators, and they created a complimentary exhibition that presents ten works of historical and contemporary significance. Entitled Kristallnacht - Night of the Crystal Death, this portfolio confronts the horror of a nationwide pogrom against German Jews that took place on the night of Nov. 9, 1938. The horrific attack, which was orchestrated by the German government to seem a spontaneous uprising of the German people, portended the Holocaust. Nearly all German synagogues, and many cemeteries and Jewish businesses, were destroyed within a few hours, and up to an estimated 2,500 deaths are attributed to the event, either from direct riot violence or the resulting 30,000 arrests and concentration camp internments of German Jews.

The name Kristallnacht itself is a source of some controversy, because the term connotes the original sardonic intent of Nazi propagandists to associate the events which, for most Germans, comprise a repulsive piece of history, with a glamorous metaphor. Eisch, who has childhood memories of Kristallnacht, hails from the Eastern Bavarian village of Frauneau, famed for its glass blowing and cutting. Eisch's medium is also glass, and he has created his Kristallnacht portfolio as a means to "relieve some of the clinging shame that weighs down upon us Germans, and to bring courage to all those who oppose hate and violence and the destruction of the environment, today and forever". Kristallnacht - Night of the Crystal Death will be exhibited in the Mezzanine Gallery of the Turchin Center's West Wing through Sept. 30, 2006.

Also on July 7, Appalachian alumnus Daniel Keeler Kaple will open his exhibit 34 Years and a Wake Up, in which he focuses on landmark moments, people and events from the history of his lifetime as a means of examining how he related to and was directly affected by them. He references history through the personalized lenses of youth, adolescence and early adulthood as a means of exploring the ways in which significant aspects of the past 34 years are connected through media, personal experience and everyday life. Kaple's work will be on display in the Catwalk Community Gallery of the Turchin Center's West Wing through July 29, 2006.

An Appalachian Summer Festival is proud to celebrate its 20th season of the Annual Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition during its 2006 season. The exhibition will be on display through Mar. 2007. Made possible by the generosity of longtime festival supporters Martin and Doris Rosen, this national, juried competition continues a long-held tradition of showcasing the best outdoor, contemporary American sculpture. Works by ten finalists are situated in outdoor, public settings across the campus of Appalachian State University.

Each year, the juror leads a walking tour of the exhibition, which offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of contemporary sculpture from the perspective of a leading expert in the filed. The juror for the 2006 competition and exhibition is Michael Klein, who until recently served as Executive Director of the International Sculpture Center, an organization dedicated to demonstrating the power of sculpture to educate and affect social change.

The ten finalists for the 2006 competition are: Margery Evelyn Albertini of Richmond, VA, (Withering Marker, steel); Carl Billingsley of Ayden, NC, (Four Part Harmony, steel); Gordon Chandler of Carrollton, GA, (Watch Your Head, steel); Jeff Downing of San Rafael, CA, (Block Island Hangout, ceramic); Martine Kaczynski of Brooklyn, NY, (Appalachian Shade, cinder block wall/canopies); Darryl Lauster of Houston, TX, (Column to Brancusi in the High Federal Style, slipcast porcelain/steel); Tom Matthews of Lubbock, TX, (Surplus XV, a site-specific installation, plastic/steel); Christopher Ray of Swarthmore, PA, (Moonflower, fiberglass); Harold "Skip" Van Houten of Ellisville, MS, (3 Ton 1 Ton, cast iron/steel); and Stanley Wrzyszczynski of Granville, OH, (Flaneur, lumber).

The commitment of Martin and Doris Rosen to the financial support and stewardship of the visual and performing arts at Appalachian State University is now a longstanding tradition. Over the years, the Rosens have ensured that Appalachian State - and the Boone, NC, area - have been a home to artistic achievement of national merit. In Oct. 1999, on the occasion of the Rosens' 50th wedding anniversary, their children established the Martin and Doris Rosen Scholarship to assist rising junior or senior art majors at the university. Tireless supporters of the arts, the Rosens have given much of themselves over the years to ensure that the arts become established as integral to both the university and the larger Boone community.

A much-anticipated event for lovers of the visual arts, this year's juror-led Sculpture Walk will begin at 10am on July 29, 2006, at the Catherine J. Smith Gallery, located in the lobby of Appalachian State University's Farthing Auditorium. An unveiling of the 32-page, color exhibition catalog and the announcement of the winning artist will take place after the tour. Additional information and maps for self-guided tours of the sculpture sites may be obtained by calling 828/262-3017 or by visiting (www.rosensculpture.org). Guided tours for groups are also available upon request.

Other exhibitions on view during the Festival include: Ronna S. Harris: A Painting Retrospective, on display in Galleries A and B of the West Wing through Sept. 30, 2006.

Harris is an Associate Professor and Head of Drawing and Painting in the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Also a practicing artist, Harris was represented in the Turchin Center's inaugural exhibition. While researching Harris' work and choosing a painting for inclusion in their very first exhibition, the Turchin Center staff was drawn to the idea of curating an entire presentation that would establish an historical view of the artist's work, and offer a lens through which to view the conceptual and artistic evolution of Harris' life and work. In this summer exhibition, their vision is realized.

Harris' paintings and drawings might seem, at first glance, to be traditional tributes to the human form, but she invites closer inspection, juxtaposing women posed in classical stances with contemporary settings as a means of exploring modern societal constraints. Of her work, Harris says, "My paintings speak to female attitudes, orientations, perspectives and emotions and embody the tension of women breaking with tradition while remaining within society's structure; a tension that is underscored by the juxtaposition of the classic and the modern."

The Turchin Center has invited artist Thomas Koole to reinvent its non-traditional Carroll Gallery for the summer months. Koole works, as many contemporary artists do, in the installation, or site-specific, format, which differs from a more traditional exhibition format, in which curators select and design the presentation of particular works.

Koole's interest in installations stems from his fascination with the concept of what is "real". To explore the subjectivity of this concept, he utilizes the context of place to create an environment for the viewer to experience "realness". Koole explains that he prefers the site-specific format because, "the experience is more 'lived' as opposed to - implied by viewing distance of 'the picture.'" Koole's work will be on display in the Carroll Gallery through Sept. 30, 2006.

In the Mayer Gallery, the Turchin Center will showcase works by the center's very own local artists. This exhibit will feature works created by artists of all ages in the many and varied workshops offered through the center's Community Art School. The Community Art School Exhibit will be on display in the Mayer Gallery through July 29, 2006.

On the University Gateway Plaza and Bridge, the Turchin Center will display Hanna Jubran Sculpture: Reflection On Aesthetic Journey, on view through Sept. 30, 2006.

Currently a Sculpture Professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, Jubran has taught ceramics, sculpture and three-dimensional design at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Since 1996, he has participated in over 278 exhibitions, international symposia, national and international conferences, and over 50 lectures and workshops.

Acclaimed internationally for creating works that are not only visually pleasing but also open for tactile exploration, Jubran creates sculptures that include free-standing interior pieces, wall hangings and monumental outdoor pieces. He has created works exclusively for the visually impaired to explore with touch, and has been exhibited widely throughout the US and Europe. Jubran works in bronze, wood, stone and steel.

Through Aug. 9, 2006, the Turchin Center's Community Art School will present a variety of workshops for children and adults. Workshops are available for art enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels, and are taught by professional artists and art educators in and around the center's Arnold P. Rosen Education Wing. Additionally, Lunch & Learn educational lectures will take place each Wed. at noon during July in the center's Lecture Hall. Visiting artists, art faculty and Turchin Center curators will present fun and informative programs over the lunch hour. Participants are encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch; bottled water is provided.

For more info check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 828/262-3017 or visit (www.tcva.org). Info about An Appalachian Summer Festival may be found at (www.appsummer.org), or by calling 828/262-4046, or toll free 800/841-2787.

Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2006 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2006 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.