Sementha Mathews

In consideration for the health and safety of our patrons and guests, the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts has cancelled all of its classes through March 28. All facilities are closed; however, staff is accessible by phone and email and all center-related information is posted at www.turnercenter.org.

We’ve been keeping up with the troubling news of how quickly and severely the Coronavirus is spreading, and we are trying to figure out how to keep our doors “open” while keeping them shut. Beginning today, Turner Center staff will post daily art engagement activities to keep our homebound audiences of all ages entertained and engaged via social media and website posts. We thank our local artists and art teachers who are also supplying us with inspiring information to share with you. We hope it will bless you as much as it does us to serve you.

According to the Americans for the Arts, the arts are fundamental to our humanity. They inspire us and foster creativity, goodness and beauty. The arts bring us joy, help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures. The arts are also a fundamental component of a healthy community, strengthening them socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even in difficult social and economic times.

As always, thank you for your support. Most importantly, please be safe as you make your own decisions for personal health and safety. Our community will endure this, as we’ve done many other incidents, by praying and working together.

Turner Center Offers Cultural Hula Dance

As part of its cultural enrichment focus, the Turner Center for the Arts will offer Hawaiian Hula as part of its class offerings, beginning in October 2019. The dance instruction, which will be held in the art galleries at 527 N. Patterson Street on Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m., will cost $50 for four weeks of instruction.

“Cultural enrichment is built into our mission statement, so we are proud to expand our art classes to include introductory Hawaiian Hula, beginning in October,” said Executive Director Sementha Mathews. “We anticipate these classes to not only shed light on the Hawaiian culture, but to also provide hours of fun for family and friends to make some great memories together.”

Instructor Jan Gochenouer has taught Hula and other forms of Polynesian dance for over a decade. A native of Hawaii, Gochenouer moved to Valdosta from Hawaii in 1995. She began dancing Hula at age 10 and performed as a professional Polynesian dancer for six years.

Each month, Gochenouer’s students will learn the hand and feet dance movements to a particular Hawaiian song. By the end of four lessons, students will have learned the entire song and dance coordination. Gochenouer has planned to start the classes in October with the Hawaiian song, “Little Brown Gal”—a song that she taught to a North Florida beauty pageant contestant who went on to win her contest.

Gochenouer said she wants to bring the spirit of “aloha” to South Georgia. The first set of Hula lessons will take place on Oct. 1, 8, 15 and 22. Three addition sessions are on the Turner Center’s schedule for November 2019 and in February and March of 2020.

For more information or to register for the Hula classes, call the Turner Center at 229-247-2787 or visit www.turnercenter.org.

Featured artists are from Valdosta and Jacksonville

The Turner Center for the Arts will host the fine arts collections of Sean Hurley, Kristy Hughes, Jenny Hager & D. Lance Vickery, as well as the literary works of author Cheryl Carvajal, in a free Gallery Opening Reception on Monday, Sept. 16, from 5-7 p.m. The event will take place at the Turner Center galleries, located at 527 N. Patterson Street.

This gallery opening is unique in that it features two married couples extremely talented in their specialties.

Hurley and Hughes are members of the art faculty at Valdosta State University.

Hurley is an illustrator and print maker, whose drawings and prints examine the world with an unwavering eye for certainty and detail. Hurley’s work is well known among printmakers especially throughout the northeast, and they can be found in dozens of private collections as well as the collections of the Boston Athenaeum, the University of New Hampshire Museum of Art, and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. His work is regularly exhibited in New York by Ebo Gallery and at The Old Print Shop, and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at Piscataqua Fine Arts.

Hughes is an abstract expressionist mixed-media artist who creates colorful collaged paintings about the human experience of knowing and not knowing. In her work, Hughes navigates between the contradictions of internal and external experience, paying attention to moments of simultaneity. Her work has been shown across the US, at venues in Brooklyn, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Indianapolis and has been published in Friend of the Artist, Burnaway, Cut Me Up Magazine, Execute Magazine, among others.

Vickery and Hager teach sculpture at the University of North Florida.

Vickery’s work balances between formalist sculpture and aesthetics and conceptual considerations of materials. He utilizes the tension between interiority and exteriority, both metaphorically and physically, in his works. These ideas manifest themselves in the process, materials and concepts. The pieces are rich in surface, texture and color, while visceral and physical in the process by which they were created.

Hager is a mixed-media and installation artist, whose artwork “Wings” was publicly displayed in Smith Park, in Valdosta, for the past year. Hager is interested in a variety of processes and materials, and finds inspiration in dreams, objects from her childhood, gadgets, sea life and other curiosities. She is also very interested in collaboration; the spirit of community is important in both her teaching practice and in her own work. Hager’s work has been exhibited across the country and recently in the Cymru Ironstone Castle Exhibition in Wales, the Pedvale Open-Air Art Museum in Latvia and Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri in Seggiano, Italy. Hager created Sculpture Walk and UNF Seaside Sculpture Park, both in Jacksonville, Fla.; and she and Vickery created a sculpture on the Campus Program at UNF, among other projects.

Most Turner Center Gallery Opening Receptions also feature local authors and book-signing opportunities. The Sept. 16 reception is no exception and will feature the writings of Cheryl Carvajal, English teacher at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College and wife of Valdosta State University President Richard Carvajal. Her books are available for purchase on the night of the event and are also available in the Turner Center Gift Shop. At the event, Carvajal will help the Turner Center launch a new writing program for youth called, Young Writers League, that will be led by Carvajal on Saturday mornings at the center, beginning on Oct. 12.

The East African Artifacts and the Fine European Porcelain collections—both permanent collections of the Turner Center—will be displayed in the Tillman and Howard Galleries respectively at the event.

“The Turner Center is proud to host and support the inspired works of these local artists at the free Sept. 16 Gallery Opening Reception,” said Executive Director Sementha Mathews. “Free admission to the Turner Center is made possible by the continued generous support of local members and donors. We invite the public to experience the fine art displayed at this community event, while using the opportunity to also become more familiar with everything your arts center has to offer for patrons of all ages.”

The gallery offerings will remain on display through Oct. 30 at the Turner Center. For more information on the upcoming Gallery Opening Reception or other services offered by the Turner Center for the Arts, call 229-247-2787 or visit www.turnercenter.org.

The Valdosta Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC) will meet on Thursday, February 21, 2019, at Noon, at the Valdosta Regional Airport. The meeting will take place in the airport conference room located in the airport’s main terminal.

Following the business meeting, the PAAC will host a Mural Unveiling Reception in the baggage claim area of the airport, at 1 p.m. The mural, painted by local artist Ethan Abbott, features various iconic events and people within each letter of the word “Valdosta.” It’s the first major piece of public art at the Valdosta Regional Airport, and it will warmly welcome visitors and returning community members to the area when they retrieve their luggage.

The PAAC, funded by the City of Valdosta, commissioned Abbott to paint the mural that celebrates life in the city. He is Valdosta homegrown, a graduate of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in graphic arts, a member of the Regional Artists Community, and his works can be seen in various restaurants, businesses and homes across the community.

“This is one of 15 public art pieces that has been placed within the City Central Arts District (CCAD) as well as other community locations for people’s enjoyment and appreciation,” said Bruce Smith, PAAC Chair. “Our committee is pleased to unveil the mural at the airport, which will extend the warm South Georgia welcome that people have come to expect from Valdosta and that will also let our guests know that we are a thriving arts community. We invite the community to celebrate along with us at this Feb. 21 event.”

The mural at the airport also features a hashtag—a user-generated social media tag which makes it possible for people to post and find similarly-themed photos and content in one location using #ArtsValdosta. The committee hopes people will be inspired to take a photo of themselves in front of the airport mural, as well as any other art locations in the community, and then post them to the social media site.

The purpose of PAAC is to further the purchase, creation and appreciation of public art for its aesthetic value to the community. The PAAC also encourages the preservation and protection of works of public art which play a vital role in the economic development of the community. 

For more information about the PAAC, call 229-247-2787.

PAAC Meets January 17

The Valdosta Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC) will meet on Thursday, January 17, 2019, at 11:30 a.m. The regularly-scheduled meeting will take place in the second-floor board room of the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts, located at 527 N. Patterson Street.

The purpose of PAAC is to further the purchase, creation and appreciation of public art for its aesthetic value to the community. The PAAC also encourages the preservation and protection of works of public art which play a vital role in the economic development of the community.

For more information about the PAAC, call 229-247-2787.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will be closed on Wednesday, Oct. 10, for the safety of our staff and patrons and due to the weather-related event caused by Hurricane Michael. The center will resume normal business hours on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m., unless otherwise announced.

Classes—

All classes and workshops held at the Turner Center for the Arts on Wednesday, Oct. 10 and Thursday, Oct. 11 are cancelled. These include:

• Yoga
• Photography & Photo Editing
• Dean Little’s Painting Class
• Boys & Girls’ Club Art Exploration
• Hal & Jill Project Guitar Classes

Presenter Series—

The Choir of Man is scheduled to take place at Mathis Auditorium on Thursday, with a pre-show dinner at 6 p.m. and the show at 7:30 p.m. We are staying up-to-date with the weather reports, and any changes or cancellations will be announced on the center’s website  at www.turnercenter.org and on our social media sites.