BOONE—The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University is celebrating the opening of three new exhibitions during Downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawl from 6-10 p.m., on Sept. 2. Admission is free and visitors are welcome to “engage, discover and connect through the arts,” while enjoying free appetizers, a cash bar and an opportunity to meet the artists.

The Authority of the Book

Gallery B

Through Jan. 7, 2017Are we at the end of the era of the printed book? Perhaps, but the explosion in self-publishing argues that the printed/made book is more potent than ever. The feverish interest in printed books of photography and the large audience for graphic novels all suggest that the audience for printed books is growing, not collapsing.This exhibition celebrates books as distributable works of art with the potential to reach and engage a large and diverse audience. We make a distinction between publication as simple replication and publication as creation. The works in this show have a variety of approaches and relationships to the idea of production, but they all share a commitment to the book as an authentic primary experience in art.

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Untitled(Artspeak?): Kang Seung Lee

Mayer Gallery

Through Jan. 7, 2017Kang Seung Lee is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores critical/queer history by researching images and texts in art collections, libraries and media outlets. “Untitled (Artspeak?)” focuses on a critical/queer history of art.Kang explains: “The book “Artspeak” has been widely used in art education because it contains popular/general knowledge about art and world history. However, while the book tries to establish connections between art history and general world history, it also reveals the biased—first world, white male and monumental artists oriented —timeline of history making. In order to challenge this narrow, and often colonial perspective, I invited a number of collaborators with very diverse backgrounds (female, black, queer, immigrant, etc.) and asked them to edit one page of the timeline section of the book. The connection each of them has with their page is the year of their birth, which puts them in the role of historian as they include and exclude certain events, art works, music, books, images, personal histories from each of the years. The results are poster-sized drawings (made by me, edited by them) that become portraits of the collaborators, and that speak about margins, interpretation, rewriting, labor, etc.”

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Earthbound/Ethereal Nexus: John Roth

Gallery A

Through Jan. 7, 2017John Roth is a sculptor who constructs his ideas, dreams, memories and fears into complex three-dimensional forms. His knowledge of industrial design, wood-working and model-making allows Roth to give voice to his rich inner life, referencing movement and travel, both in his personal experience and the communities in which he has lived. The socio-political nature of the work references the shared experience that the entire world is facing as the cost of travel and transportation become clear.Curator Mary Anne Redding describes Roth’s work as “a strange alternate world where child’s play is serious business in the best tradition of literary fantasy (think “The Chronicles of Narnia” or “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”) with dragons and rabbits, seahorses and caterpillars, odd ship-like vessels and creatures covered with scales.”

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Continuing exhibitions in this gallery include: “Color Me This: Contemporary Art Jewelry” (through Oct. 8, 2016); “A Sense of Place: Eliana Arenas” (through Oct. 8, 2016), and “International Series: Four Contemporary Artists from Brazil” (through Dec. 3, 2016).

Prior to the exhibition celebration, a Book Arts panel discussion will take place in the Turchin Center Lecture Hall at 5 p.m. Guest curators Clifton Meador, Philip Zimmermann, Kang Seung Lee and April Flanders will will share a commitment to the book as an exciting way to experience art, and as a reflection of the artist’s values and perspective.

Meador is chair of Appalachian’s Department of Art. Zimmermann is a Tucson, Arizona editor/writer whose creative work combines writing, photography, printmaking and design to make narrative works that explore culture, history and place. Kang Seung Lee is a South Korea-born, multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. Flanders, a studio artist, is an associate professor of art in the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Appalachian.

For more information, call 828-262-3017 or visit http://tcva.org.

About the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, named for university benefactors Robert and Lillian Turchin, fulfills Appalachian State University’s long-held mission of providing a home for world-class visual arts programming. The largest facility of its kind in the region, the center presents exhibition, education and collection programs that support the university’s role as a key educational, cultural and service resource. The center presents multi-dimensional exhibits and programs and is a dynamic presence in the community, creating opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the power and excitement of the visual arts.

The Turchin Center is located at 423 West King St., in Boone. Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, and noon – 8 p.m., Friday. The center is closed Sunday and Monday, and observes all university holidays. There is no admission charge, although donations are gratefully accepted.

For more information contact: Anna Gaugert, 828-262-6084, ext. 107 or [email protected]

To download high-resolution images, visit http://tcva.org/media.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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