Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

January 25, 2007 issue

Art Crawl Returns to Downtown Boone Friday, February 2

Story by David Brewer

Find your favorite scarf and put on your heavy coat for the Downtown Boone Development Association’s First Friday Art Crawl. The free event will begin at 5:00 p.m. and continue into the evening.

Several downtown businesses will be open during the crawl including, ArtWalk and Purveyors of Art and Design, as well as a number of restaurants and bars.

For more information about the monthly art crawl, call Tuesdae Rice at the DBDA at 828-254-4532.

Jones House

The Watauga Arts Council’s gallery exhibits in the Jones House Community and Cultural Center for the month of February will include a new artist to the area and a student group show.

In the Mazie Jones Gallery, realist painter Marcia Dockey Smith’s show The Spirit Within: Portraits of Contemporary South Eastern Native Americans Connecting with their Pasts will be on display. Smith paints in oil and watercolor from photographs she takes of friends and people she meets or sees at Native American pow-wows and other locations. She also paints animals and landscapes.

The Open Door Gallery welcomes work contributed by a members of the High Country Christian Home School group. Ages of the children range from kindergarten to high school. The art is as varied as the children, with landscapes, portraits and abstract art, all represented in every medium.

nthº Gallery

The nthº Gallery will host mixed media artist and designer Dave Alsobrooks’ politically themed exhibition Culture of Corruption starting at 7:30 p.m. Culture of Corruption encompasses materials and techniques ranging from motor oil and matchbooks to rubber hammer marks and collaged money. Each piece displays a different medium. This is the second time the show has been hung. The first showing was in Chicago in September 2006.

The show is best categorized as political satire, with nine portraits depicting government officials involved in alleged scandals. One can often find the artist with tongue firmly in cheek. Accompanying the paintings will be a concept book displayed on a gilded oil barrel that reflects on the political satire of the show.

For more info about the exhibit, click to www.culture-of-corruption.com.

Turchin Center for Visual Arts

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts will host three new exhibits starting February 2. In Gallery A will be the National Watercolor Society’s 86 Annual Traveling Exhibition. Works selected represent a wide range of directions and techniques, from experimental to traditional. At the core of the exhibition's goals is the encouragement of support for watercolor as a vital, enduring and expressive medium.

In the Mayer Gallery, artist Anne Kesler Shields’ site-specific exhibit Earthly Delights in the 21st Century will be on display. The exhibit incorporates images appropriated from print media and art history to encourage viewers to look more critically at society.

In Gallery B will be watercolor works from the Turchin Center's permanent collection. The exhibition was designed to complement the works included in the National Watercolor Society's annual traveling exhibition.

For more info about the exhibits, click to www.turchincenter.org.