News

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.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will hold the Artists’ Lecture Series on Wednesday, June 5, from 5 to 7 p.m., at 527 N. Patterson Street. The lecture features award winners of Spring Into Art 2024.

Pottery is one of the most popular programs at the Turner Center for the Arts, and classes frequently have a waiting list. However, a limited number of spots have recently become available in Weekday Pottery Classes for those who have always wanted to study the ancient art. Available class sessions include Mondays 10am-Noon or 6-8pm, Tuesdays 6-8pm, and Wednesdays 10am-Noon or 6-8pm. Students ages 16 and up enroll in one session, and attend the beginner-friendly class for four weeks consecutively.

The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will host country musician Mark Taylor, beginning at 7pm, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, on Fri., May 17, 2024.

The free, live performance is the last concert in the 2024 Levitt AMP Valdosta Music Series, sponsored by the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation and the Price-Campbell Foundation.