Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
April 19, 2007 issue
Look for New Outdoor Sculptures at ASU
One mark of the spring season is the annual coming and going of sculpture all over ASU’s campus, and this year is no exception. Students, faculty, staff, visitors to the campus and community members have already noticed that the sculptures featured in the 20th Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition have started disappearing in preparation for the incoming sculptures.
This year’s juror Shannon Fitzgerald, an independent curator and writer from St. Louis, Mo., was faced with the challenge of choosing the 10 sculptures to be installed on campus. Fitzgerald and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts are pleased to announce the winners of the 21st Rosen Sculpture Competition & Exhibition: Jason E. Butler of Tucson, Ariz.; Jan Chenoweth of Sophia, N.C.; James Davis of Hattiesburg, Miss.; Gary Gresko of Oriental, N.C.; Jonathan Hils of Norman, Okla.; Matt Evald Johnson of Easthampton, Mass; Arny Nadler of St. Louis, Mo.; Michael Shewmaker of Hilo, Hawaii; Wayne Trapp of Vilas, N.C.; and this year’s site-specific artist, Stephen Montague of Columbus, Ohio.
This year’s site-specific artist, Stephen Montague, will install during the week of April 16 to 20. The site-specific category of the Rosen Sculpture Competition is dedicated to artists working specifically on designing an art installation on a specific site. Therefore, this sculpture will be created especially for a part of the campus. Because of the nature of this sculpture, the installation will last approximately one week. All visitors are invited to come by and watch as these exciting sculptures are installed on
campus.
The 21st Rosen Sculpture Exhibition will be on view beginning May 2007 until February 2008. The sculptures will be located along the west side of campus, partially viewable from Rivers Street, stretching from Walker Hall to the Duck Pond.
The Turchin Center staff has begun working with the staff of the Robert F. Gilley Recording Studio at the Hayes School of Music to develop a walking tour in Podcast and MP3 formats that will be available from the Rosen website in the coming months. The walking tour will give in-depth history of the program and provide commentary directly from the artists.
The competition saw a remarkable rise in entries this year, with 74 sculptors submitting 162 sculptures for consideration. The number of participants is up from 2006 when 64 artists submitted 116 works. In 2005, 40 artists participated. Turchin Center staff members attribute the increase in artists and entries to the online and digital submissions system that is now in its second year.
Since its establishment in 1987, the Rosen Sculpture Competition has become an integral part of An Appalachian Summer Festival, the university's annual multiarts celebration, with the announcement of the Rosen Award winner coming during the festival's annual Sculpture Walk with that year's juror.