Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Installation Celebration Begins Thursday

Sculptures To Be Installed by May 1

The 2008 Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition juror, Dr. Sarah Clark-Langager, presents Shawn Skabelund’s “Brassing Out” to a crowd of onlookers. “Brassing Out” was the winning sculpture of the 22nd annual Rosen Competition.

Springtime at Appalachian State University is marked each year by the coming and going of sculpture all over campus. In preparation for the upcoming season of An Appalachian Summer Festival, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is preparing sites for the arrival of the 23rd annual Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition winners. Students, faculty, staff, community members and visitors to ASU’s campus have already noticed that the sculptures featured in last year’s exhibition have started their departure in preparation for the incoming sculptures.

In 1986, the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition became the first visual arts exhibition presented by An Appalachian Summer Festival. Since that time, it has grown to become a significant component of the programming and educational outreach for visual arts on campus, which provides numerous opportunities for ASU students to work and interact with the Rosen artists and become involved in the process of creating exhibition materials for and installing an outdoor sculpture exhibition.

The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is ASU’s annual national juried competition made possible by the generosity of longtime arts supporters Martin and Doris Rosen. The 23rd competition continues a long-held tradition of showcasing some of the best contemporary American sculpture. Ten sculptures are selected for exhibition and are situated in outdoor settings across campus. A cash prize and weeklong residency is awarded to the artist whose work is chosen as the year’s Rosen Award winner. The winner is announced each year on the final day of An Appalachian Summer Festival, at a juror-led sculpture walk.

Serving as this year’s competition juror is Daniel E. Stetson, executive director of the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Fla. Stetson has selected 10 finalists and will announce the 2009 competition winner on July 25 after the sculpture tour.

This year’s finalists are Charlie Brouwer (Willis, Va.), Derek Chalfant (Elmira, N.Y.), Kevin Eichner (Monroe), James Fuhrman (Glenmore, Pa.), Karen Ives (Asheville), Shawn Morin (Bowling Green, Ohio), Trace O’Connor (Durham), Jerome Harris Parmet (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Phil Proctor (Atlanta, Ga.) and Kristy Summers (Carbondale, Ill.). A preview of the incoming sculptures is available at the Rosen website at www.rosensculpture.org.

Shawn Skabelund, “Brassing Out” (Detail). Photo by Troy Tuttle

For the first time, two additional selected artists will place their work off campus in downtown Boone thanks to the continued generosity of Martin and Doris Rosen, which allowed for a partnership between the university and the Downtown Boone Development Association’s (DBDA) Public Art Program. The partnership, said Mary Ella Baker, the DBDA’s Public Art Program director, is significant for the town as well as for the university.

“I am thrilled about the DBDA Public Art Program’s recent partnership with the Rosen Sculpture Program,” said Baker. “This partnership reinforces ASU’s and the Town of Boone’s involvement in and dedication to western North Carolina’s growing arts community. The Rosen Sculpture Program is a well-established program that has proven its effectiveness through its outstanding staff, the program’s popularity as part of An Appalachian Summer Festival and the talented artists who participate in the annual competition. The Public Art Program is proud to take part in this exceptional program.”

The Rosen Installation Celebration will present the competition finalists to the public at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, when the artists will participate in a roundtable discussion moderated by Jody Servon, director of the university’s Catherine J. Smith Gallery, in the Turchin Center Lecture Hall. A public reception for the artists will follow at 8:15 p.m. in the Turchin Center’s Carroll Gallery. The week of activities continues on Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, as the 10 sculptors install their work with the assistance of Turchin Center staff, gallery assistants and student volunteers.

Two weeks later, the installation will be completed on Friday, May 1, as the Turchin Center joins ceramics students of art professors Lynn Duryea and Lisa Stinson to create a site-specific sculpture on the grounds of the TCVA with sculptor Fred Spaulding of Arlington, Texas.

The annual sculpture walk, led by Daniel Stetson, will take place Saturday, July 25, at 10:00 a.m. Following the walk, Stetson will announce the competition winner at a reception in the Catherine J. Smith Gallery. The 23rd Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is on display through February 2010.

The Rosen sculptures will be located along the west side of campus, mostly viewable from Rivers Street, stretching from Walker Hall to the Duck Pond. In partnership with the university’s Hayes School of Music, the Turchin Center developed a self-guided walking tour in podcast and MP3 formats, which will be available at www.rosensculpture.org by the start of An Appalachian Summer Festival’s season on June 27. This component provides an in-depth history of the program as well as commentary directly from the artists. This year’s podcast features original musical written by composition students of Dr. Scott Meister.

An Appalachian Summer Festival sponsors include Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, Westglow Resort and Spa, SkyBest Communications, Inc., McDonald’s of Boone, Mast General Store, Best Western Blue Ridge Plaza, Allen Wealth Management, Footsloggers Outdoor & Travel Outfitters, Peabody’s Wine & Beer Merchants, Chetola Resort, the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, WBTV, WCYB, Charter Media, the Mountain Times, All About Women magazine, the Winston-Salem Journal, the High Country Press, Mac 100.7FM, Mix 102.3FM, WHKY AM 1290 Talk Radio and WHKY-TVDT, Mountain Television Network, WDAV 89.9FM, WFDD 88.5FM, WETS 89.5FM, WNCW 88.8FM, WASU 90.5FM and WNC magazine.

For more information, call 828-262-3017 or click to www.rosensculpture.org or www.tcva.org.

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