The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will be CLOSED on Monday, Aug. 5 due to inclement weather. This includes all activities and classes in any of its five facilities. The Center has also postponed the opening of its Gallery Opening Reception to Monday, Aug. 12, at 5-7pm, for the safety of all patrons and traveling artists. For more information and updates, follow us on social media.

Beth Cundiff has rediscovered her love for art through painting classes at the Turner Center for the Arts.

Two beginner-friendly painting classes – Paints & Pastries and Paint & Sip – meet each month in the Art Annex on the Turner Center campus. Regular art education instructors include Nancy Crombie, Annette Crosby, and Hunter Pope. The next Paints & Pastries is on Mon., Aug. 12, 2024, 6-8pm. Paint & Sip will resume in September 2024.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will hold a new gallery exhibit reception on Mon., August 5, from 5 to 7 p.m., at 527 N. Patterson Street. The Center will feature the works of Sherry Allen, “Wildlife Encounters,” Natalia Andreeva, “Vivid Visions: Capturing Life’s Beauty,” Teresa Cook, “See Jacksonville x Valdosta,” and the re-installation of the East African Artifact Permanent Collection. Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts is proud to be identified nationally as a Blue Star Museum. Through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and museums across America, the Turner Center continues to offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve. 

Turner Center for the Arts Active Arts Instructor Melissa Pihos teaches a free, weekly IMPROVment® class on Mondays, 5-6pm, at the Turner Center Galleries. She described the many physical and mental benefits of dance to be gained through IMPROVment® classes.

Pihos’ class incorporates a dynamic range of dance-based exercises designed to spark creativity, while also benefiting brain and body health. The beginner-friendly class begins with seated warm-ups, and gradually transitions to standing movements behind the chair and into the open space for further improvisation, then back to the chair for a cool-down.

41 youth received a four-day experience in art education through three youth summer art camps offered by the Turner Center for the Arts. Students enjoyed participating in drawing, painting, mixed media, collage, culinary arts, and ceramics projects.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts honored Debra Kantelis with the 2024 Art Educator of the Year award at the Gallery Exhibit Opening Reception on June 10.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will host country/rock band Naturally Southern (2023 Georgia Country Awards Band of the Year and 2023 Georgia Country Music Hall of Fame)for a live Music in the Art Park concert on Fri., June 14 from 7-9 p.m. in the Art Park located at 605 N. Patterson St. The concert, sponsored by Greater Valdosta United Way, is free to the public.

Tina Folsom (center) was honored on May 20, 2024 at a Lowndes-Valdosta Arts Commission, Inc. board meeting for her two-year term as president. Incoming LVAC Board President Jane Burgsteiner (left) and Turner Center Executive Director Sementha Mathews (right) awarded Folsom an original glass blown art piece for her exceptional leadership role. For more information about the LVAC or the Turner Center, visit turnercenter.org.

Kathy Lane has discovered a new hobby through glass art classes at the Turner Center for the Arts.

Stained and Fused Glass Classes, as well as Glass Art Open Studios, meet regularly in the Richard Hill Glass Studio on the Turner Center campus, and will resume in July 2024. Five sessions of Weekday Pottery Classes meet each month in the Hudson Pottery Studio on the Turner Center campus.