Art professor’s work acquired by Asheville Museum of Science

View larger image — “Advance,” a large-scale print installation by Appalachian State University art professor April Flanders, was recently purchased by an anonymous donor and gifted to the Asheville Museum of Science. The work is designed to raise awareness of how invasive species affect the ecosystem. Photo submitted

By Meghan McCandless

Posted March 2, 2018 at 4:10 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — A large-scale print installation by April Flanders, associate professor in Appalachian State University’s Department of Art, was recently purchased by an anonymous donor who has gifted it to the Asheville Museum of Science.

The piece, “Advance,” is an acquisition for the museum’s permanent collection and explores the impact of invasive species on the ecosystem. The installation specifically addresses the breadth of the invasive species problem in North America and Hawaii.

Flanders, who has taught in the art department since 2006, is passionate about addressing the issue of invasive species.

“The permanent placement of this piece in a museum that celebrates science provides exposure that could really raise awareness of this problem,” she shared. “I want people to understand the complexity of the invasive species issue and how we are all a part of the system that creates it, so that we can work together on solutions.”

To create the piece, Flanders gathered locally invasive plants to print brightly colored sheets of paper using a layered monotype process. She then researched and cataloged 77 animal species invasive to the United States and created paper cutouts of each animal from her printed papers. In all, she spent more than a year creating the 270 pieces — all of which were cut by hand — that compose “Advance.”

Before finding a home at the Asheville Museum of Science, “Advance” traveled nationally and internationally. It was displayed most recently in the International Printmaking Biennial at the Douro Museum in Peso da Régua, Portugal, and in the “Ink & Imagery” exhibition at Blue Spiral 1 gallery in downtown Asheville.

Currently, Flanders is researching and creating work that addresses the delicate balance in the Great Lakes ecosystem by contrasting native, nonnative and invasive species. Once complete, this body of work will include a series of mixed media collage pieces, a set of large prints and a site-specific installation.

April Flanders

April Flanders is a studio artist living and making in the mountains of Western North Carolina. A keen naturalist, her work has been featured in solo and group shows at museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including the Center for the Book Arts, in New York, the Global Print International, in Douro, Portugal and the Anna Leonowens Gallery, in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Recent honors include an online exhibition as a finalist in the 87th Annual Competition at the Print Center in Philadelphia, PA and a residency at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Amherst, VA.

Recent solo exhibitions include “Unchecked” at Artspace in Richmond, VA and “Advance” at the Pioneer Bluffs Gallery in Matfield Green, KS. Her work is in several public collections, including the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tucson Museum of Art and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.

April earned a Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University and she has taught printmaking for fourteen years at various universities nationally and internationally. Currently, she is an Associate professor of studio art at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Visit the artist's website

About the College of Fine and Applied Arts

Appalachian State University’s College of Fine and Applied Arts is a dynamic and innovative group of seven academic departments, bringing together a variety of perspectives, experiences and real-world education to provide unique opportunities for student success. The college has more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate majors. Its departments are Applied Design, Art, Communication, Military Science and Leadership, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, and Theatre and Dance. Learn more at https://faa.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.