The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts’ Gallery Opening Reception on Monday, Jan. 13 featured the 13th annual DrawProject fundraiser and VSU President Dr. Richard Carvajal as the guest auctioneer. Artworks donated by area artists were auctioned at this annual event to raise scholarship funds for VSU art students that are awarded in the fall semester.
The gallery event also features the fine art works of local artists Mary VanLandingham and Christine Cabral in the Price-Campbell and Josette’s Galleries respectively. Both are VSU alumni and are enjoying their first solo gallery shows at the Turner Center.
VanLandingham’s exhibit consists of oil paintings of landscapes found in the South East United States, primarily Georgia and Florida, capturing the familiarity and beauty of the southern coast and countryside. VanLandingham’s artwork will showcase a variety of entrancing scenes of water, land and sky.
Cabral’s inspired art work features acrylic paint on canvas, while occasionally incorporating mixed media fabrics and vinyl into her paintings. Upon losing her mother in 1997, the natural evolution of grief and emotion transformed Cabral’s expression. Driven by the notion that the desire to connect and revisit one’s childhood is universal, Cabral transforms her canvas with childlike and innocent imagery touched also by the heartache of grief and separation.
“The Turner Center for the Arts is proud to participate in the annual DrawProject exhibit and in our longstanding relationship with VSU’s Department of Art and Design,” said Executive Director Sementha Mathews. “This exciting art event adds a distinctive dimension to our winter gallery reception with silent and live auctions, providing all of us with an opportunity to obtain excellent, original art at affordable prices, while also celebrating our exceptional local artists.”
The Turner Center’s East African Art and Fine European Porcelain permanent collections are also on display in the Tillman and Howard Galleries.
All exhibits will remain open for the public’s enjoyment through Wednesday, Feb. 26. For more information, call 229-247-2787 or visit www.turnercenter.org.
