The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts’ Gallery Opening Reception on Monday, Sept. 20, from 5-7 p.m., features artists Erin Kendrick, Jacksonville, “The Things We Bring”; Amy Bennion, Salt Lake City, “Your Glass”; and Travis D. Simmons, Valdosta, “Momus.” The reception will be held at the Turner Center main galleries, located at 527 N. Patterson St., and is free to the public.
Erin Kendrick is an international artist and arts educator from Jacksonville, Florida. Her color-rich, acrylic ink-stained works of art and transformative installations seek to inspire a dialogue about contemporary spectatorship and the power of language as it relates to perceptions of and about black women. She has exhibited work in museums, galleries and alternative spaces throughout the United States and abroad. She received her BFA in Studio Art from Florida State University, her MFA in Drawing & Painting from Georgia State University and has worked for many years as a Studio Artist and Arts Educator in Atlanta, Georgia.
Amy Bennion is an Assistant Professor of Painting & Drawing at the University of North Florida. Bennion has been a part of the Museum Education team of the Art Institute of Chicago and in the Education and Engagement Department at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. She earned a BFA from Brigham Young University, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from the University of Utah. Bennion has shown in galleries nationally, in the cities of Chicago, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, among others. She has been featured in national and international publications.
Travis D. Simmons lives and works in Valdosta. Travis’s paintings demonstrate his distinctive expressionist style of combining oil paint and India ink into colorful compositions that are layered and textured with encaustic wax and paper collage application. His subject matter is primarily figurative, with elements of philosophy, psychology, and mythology weaved throughout the many series of works included in this exhibition.
In addition, the Turner Center’s will host award-winning poet Trent Busch for a book signing during the reception. Busch, a native of rural West Virginia, now lives in Valdosta, where he is professor emeritus at Valdosta State University and taught American Literature and Modern Poetry. His recent books of poetry, not one bit of this is your fault (2019), Plumb Level and Square (2020), and West Virginians (2021) were published by cyberwit.net.
All exhibits will remain open in the galleries for the public’s enjoyment through Wednesday, Nov. 3. Patrons who need special assistance may contact the Center to make arrangements. For more information, call 229-247-2787 or visit www.turnercenter.org.
