Appalachian’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts annually rotates more than 24 exhibitions through eight galleries, and holds major exhibition celebrations three times each year: one during each academic semester and one as part of An Appalachian Summer Festival in July. All events are held on “first Fridays,” and are part of the Downtown Boone Art Crawl.

The Fall Exhibition Celebration on November 6 will feature six exhibits, three of which have been on display since September 11, and three of which will open for the first time on November 6. Artists will be in attendance to meet the public and discuss their work and live music will be provided by local band The Lucky Strikes.

Exhibits are as follows:

Plastic Flame Press
Now Through January 16, 2010
Gallery B, West Wing
Appalachian alumnus Chris Williams has been creating posters for more than 15 years, and has produced well over 200 screen-printed posters to date. Now the owner/operator and head designer for Plastic Flame Press, a screen-printing company in Raleigh, NC, Williams has seen his work evolve from hand-drawn flyers to professional, screen-printed posters for Carrboro’s Cat’s Cradle nightclub. The Plastic Flame Press exhibit presents a progression of his work, and is on display through January 16.

African Vailet: Olivia “Holly” Pendergast
Now Through January 16, 2010
Mayer Gallery, West Wing
Olivia “Holly” Pendergast is a native of nearby Sugar Grove, where she grew up on a small farm, and was encouraged by her parents to develop her artistic skills. An alumna of the Columbus College of Art and Design Illustration program, Pendergast spent five years as a conceptual designer working in the LA film industry before returning to her rural roots by moving to the mountains of Utah, where she now paints full time. A recent, four-month visit to the rural yet densely populated, African nation of Malawi inspired Pendergast to develop a suite of large-format, figurative paintings. Presented to the public for the first time by the Turchin Center, African Vailet: Olivia “Holly” Pendergast is on display through January 16.

SAQA: 12 Voices
A Traveling Exhibition of the Studio Art Quilt Association
Now Through January 16, 2010
Gallery A, West Wing
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a non-profit international organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation. SAQA defines an “art quilt” as a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts (painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture), which retains— through materials or technique— a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.

The traveling exhibition features quilts by distinctive fiber artists from the United States and abroad including: Deidre Adams (Littleton, CO), Teresa Barkley (Maplewood, NJ), Elizabeth Busch (Glenburn, ME), Linda Colsh (Everberg, Belgium), Judith Content (Palo Alto, CA), Angela Moll (Santa Barbara, CA), Clare Plug (Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand), Joan Schulze (Sunnyvale, CA), Susan Shie (Wooster, OH), Ginny Smith (Arlington, VA) and Kathy Weaver (Highland Park, IL). SAQA: 12 Voices is on display through January 16.

225º F: Encaustic Encounters
November 6, 2009 - February 6, 2010
Main Gallery, East Wing
225º F: Encaustic Encounters is the first exhibition focused entirely on encaustic painting to be featured in the Turchin Center. Encaustic painting traditionally involves combining heated wax with pigment, then applying the mixture to a prepared surface, such as wood or canvas. While the wax is warm, artists work with the material using various tools to create the desired effect. 225º F: Encaustic Encounters explores naturalistic themes from the work of artists who challenge the established traditions of encaustic painting. The exhibition features a wide array of different encaustic painting techniques, and expresses innovation in the utilization of these techniques.

Turchin Center Assistant Curator Brook Bower invited groundbreaking encaustic artists to submit works for this exhibit, and selected works by the following artists: Tracey Adams (Carmel, CA), Jhina Alvarado (San Francisco, CA), Margaret Berry (Lincoln, NE), Mary Black (Sebastopol, CA), Mary Farmer (Asheville, NC), Eileen P. Goldenberg (San Francisco, CA), Jane Harrison (Lenoir, NC), Cari Hernandez (San Francisco, CA), Molly Cliff Hilts (Portland, OR), Jeff Juhlin (Salt Lake City, UT), Jane Allen Nodine (Spartanburg, SC), Gay Patterson (Santa Fe, NM), Paula Roland (Santa Fe, NM), and Marsh Scott (Laguna Beach, CA). 225º F: Encaustic Encounters is on display through February 6.

Collective Dialogues: New work from The Collective on Depot
November 6, 2009 - February 6, 2010
Mezzanine Gallery, East Wing
The Collective on Depot, located on Depot Street in downtown Boone, is an active work and studio space for local artists and musicians. A ten-member group, the collective fosters a dynamic culture of collaboration, interaction and inspiration. Collective members bring different media and unique perspectives to the group, and all contribute to the operation and management of the space. In addition to being an active studio space, The Collective on Depot also serves as a gallery and performance venue for regional and non-regional artists and musicians, and has been in operation since 2007. Many Collective members are alumni or faculty from Appalachian’s Department of Art, and include: Jamie Carroll (mixed media, painting), Chris Curtin (mixed media, sculpture), Travis Donovan (mixed media sculpture, ceramics), Dan Kaple (mixed media, painting), Sean Matthews (mixed media sculpture), Virginia Nuckolls (metalsmith), Peter G. Oakley (stone carving), Uijin Park (sculpture, steel), Melissa Reaves (auditory art, music) and Christian Smith (words).

Collective Dialogues: New Work from The Collective on Depot is the result of the Collective members’ efforts to challenge one another, experiment with new ideas and investigate alternate directions within each artist’s work through a collaborative endeavor. The exhibition is on display through February 6.

Brush & Palette: Artists Unmasked
November 6, 2009 - February 6, 2010
Catwalk Gallery, East Wing
The Brush and Palette Art Club is a member organization of 36, actively exhibiting, regional painters and sculptors whose works range from oil and watercolors to ceramics, collages and fabric paintings. Now in existence for 30 years, the club maintains a threefold mission: to learn about and promote the arts and to exhibit their works at various venues. An original partner in establishing the Caldwell County Arts Council in nearby Lenoir, the group organizes and participates in many art education and art charity projects, and has established the Brush & Palette Art Gallery, through which they present art education programs. Brush & Palette: Artists Unmasked is a representation of the club members’ works, and is on display through February 6.

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts presents exhibition, education and collection programs that support Appalachian State University's role as a key regional educational, cultural and economic resource. Operating under the core belief that the arts play vital roles in the development of creative and critical potential, as well as in experiencing, interpreting, understanding, recording and shaping culture, the center is a key regional educational and cultural resource that offers a dynamic space and programs where participants experience and incorporate the power and excitement of the visual arts into their lives. Programs of the center reflect the diversity of the world around us through the presentation of regional, national and international artists of significance.

(Image provided by www.tcva.org.)

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