Turchin Center for the Visual Arts Celebrates July with the Summer Exhibition Celebration
Boone, NC –The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts will host an evening of creativity, artistic exploration, and community engagement during downtown Boone’s Art Crawl for the Summer Exhibition Celebration on Thursday, July 2, from 5-8pm. The celebration will feature five exhibitions, live music by Trevor McKenzie, two gallery talks, Drop-In Artmaking, Local Roots WNC food truck, childhood nostalgia from Little Cloud Cotton Candy, and a cash bar and complimentary hors d’oeuvres on the bridge.
The Summer Exhibition Celebration is a part of Appalachian Summer Festival programming. Presented by Appalachian State University’s Arts Engagement and Cultural Resources, this annual celebration of the performing and visual arts is held every summer in venues across the university campus.
Exhibitions Overview:
belonging to place: The Creative Community & Artistic Legacy of bell hooks
Gallery A
May 1 – October 3, 2026
The bell hooks Institute in Berea, KY reflects hooks’s belief that her identity was shaped by Appalachia. This exhibition highlights artists connected to the region or to hooks herself, exploring the complex process of belonging to a marginalized place and celebrating the intertwined histories, landscapes, and communities that shaped their work.
Community Contours in the Southern Appalachian Mountains: Jill Pelto
Mayer Gallery
June 5 – November 7, 2026
The Southern Appalachian Mountains, part of a biologically diverse temperate rainforest, reveal a powerful spirit of place and a fragile, interconnected ecosystem. Artist Jill Pelto channels this landscape to spark emotional engagement with climate science, embedding data into her paintings.
Earth Tones: Etienne Charles
Petti/Peiser Gallery
May 1 – October 3, 2026
The creation of Earth Tones as a multimedia project began in 2021, which led Charles to ask, “how could I use music to tell stories, but from the perspective of the people I met?” Following a campus performance in April 2026, this exhibition includes the visual stories gathered from around the world demonstrating loss, resilience, joy, and hope.
Sculpting With Paper: Hand Papermaking at Dieu Donné
Community and Hodges Galleries
February 6 – August 8, 2026
This exhibition highlights innovative sculptural works—all crafted by paper—created by artists from around the world. Featuring selections from the renowned Dieu Donné residency program, the exhibition showcases the incredible versatility of paper as a medium. Together, these works celebrate experimentation, materiality, and the global community of contemporary papermaking.
Stitching the Natural World: Nancy Hershberger
Bickers Gallery
June 5 – November 21, 2026
With a passion for interpreting the natural world in fabric and thread, fiber artist Nancy Hershberger transforms landscapes into vivid textile pieces. Her process, rooted in raw edge appliqué, incorporates inks and paints to create detail, while intricate free-motion quilting, brings movement and depth to each scene.
For more information, please contact:
Grace Raimo
Communications and Content Coordinator
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
828.262.7544
About the Turchin Center
The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, North Carolina welcomes visitors to experience the arts through contemplation, engaging discussion, dynamic tours, festive exhibition celebrations, enlightening art talks, and creative art workshops. Admission is always FREE. Named for Appalachian State University benefactors Robert and Lillian Turchin, the Center hosts changing exhibitions in six galleries featuring local, regional, national and international artists.
The Turchin Center is located at 423 West King St., in Boone. Regular hours are 10am-6pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and 12-8pm on Friday. The Center is closed Sunday and Monday, and observes all university holidays. For general inquiries, to be added to the mailing or e-news list, to obtain donor program details or to schedule a tour, call 828-262-3017, e-mail tu***********@******te.edu or visit TCVA.org. The Turchin Center can also be followed on Facebook and Instagram @TurchinCenter.
