Visitors mingle at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts during Boone's monthly Art Crawl. Six new exhibitions opened during Friday's events. Photo by Rachel Noel

by MEGAN TERNES
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

The atmosphere at Friday night’s Art Crawl was lively, hectic and celebratory, with students, locals, family and friends gathering to commemorate the opening of six new exhibitions in the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.

“It was a year-long process,” Brooke Bower, Turchin Center assistant curator said. “We searched about [200 to 300] artist’s Web sites and the selection was invitation only.”

Bower said the Turchin Center looked for artists who possessed artwork with “contrasts and compliments, construction and deconstruction.”

Hank T. Foreman, Turchin Center director and chief curator said the exhibit is the first full-feature exhibit of the year.

Contemporary themes, including the work of Collective Dialogues and Plastic Frame Press, contrasted with the natural themes of Artists Unmasked, 225 °F: Encaustic Encounters, 12 Voices: Studio Art Quilt Associates and African Vailet: Olivia Pendergast.

Leigh A. Hieronymi, freshman broadcasting electronic media major, said her favorite thing about the Art Crawl was the bubbly atmosphere and diverse artwork.

Chris M. Curtin, an associate art professor, was one of 10 artists in the exhibition from Collective Dialogues, a local art studio.

“The idea was for nine or 10 of us to share the studio to meet and have critiques about each other’s work,” Curtin said. “Then, the art would change according to the critique.”

Sean C. Matthews, an art instructor and Collective Dialogous mixed media specialist and sculptor said meeting with fellow artists significantly influenced his work.

He created pieces with various materials, including human hair.

“I love to play with material,” Matthews said. “The hair is my own, as well as from my eight-year-old daughter.”

Among the works sculptor Peter G. Oakley exhibited were unique marble pieces titled “Soap” and “Takeout Box #5,” made of a bar of soap and marble take-out box.

Oakley said he enjoys the irony of using a permanent medium for a temporary object.

Chris Williams, a screen-print artist from Raleigh, presented posters featuring the Obama campaign and bands including The Avett Brothers, TV on the Radio and Andrew Bird, among others.

225 °F: Encaustic Encounters artists layered hot wax onto canvases of various mediums to create pieces full of depth and color.

“We just walked in and immediately felt a sense of community,” Melina C. LaVecchia, freshman graphic arts and imaging technology major said. “There are 3-year-olds and 68-year-olds in here. It’s nice to see everyone coming together for the opening.”

Collective Dialogues and Artists Unmasked will be open to the public until February, and 225 °F: Encaustic Encounters, 12 Voices: Studio Art Quilt Associates, Plastic Frame Press and African Vailet: Olivia Pendergast will be open until January.

Photos by Rachel Noel  |  The Appalachian

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