Circular Solutions

2021 & 2022 Award & Grant Winners Exhibition

As part of CENTER’s annual award and grant program, recipients are offered an exhibition at selected venues across the country. This year in 2023, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is pleased to host the exhibition Circular Solutions: CENTER Award + Grant Recipients 2021 & 2022, showcasing the creative work of the 2021 and 2022 CENTER Award and Grant recipients.

CENTER’s mission resonates deeply with the curatorial emphasis at the Turchin Center, which supports exhibitions addressing critical issues facing our nation and the world today. Placing an emphasis on diversity and inclusion in the selection of our artists and exhibitions enables the Turchin Center to fulfill its vision of an equitable future for the arts.

Celebrating two decades of excellence in exhibition, education, and outreach programming in the visual arts, the Turchin Center turns 20 in 2023! Celebrate summer at the Turchin Center at this fun and festive event, while engaging with a variety of new exhibitions, discovering the world of the contemporary visual arts, and connecting with others who share a passion for the arts. On July 7, the Summer Exhibition Celebration is an opportunity for art lovers to meet the artists, enjoy live music and refreshments, and spend time with fellow arts patrons while exploring one of the most exciting venues in town: a collection of six galleries filled with a diverse mix of contemporary art by local, regional and international artists.

Learn more about the exhibition on the Turchin Center website.

WHEN • June 2 – November 4, 2023

WHERE • Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC

HOW • Free and Public

OPENING RECEPTION • July 7, 2023, from 5 – 9 PM

“Bloomstrandbreen #2, 2016”, from the series The Dissolving Landscape © Ella Morton

2021 Award & Grant Winners

  • Ana Cristina Vallejo; Image from the series Neuromantic

  • Lizzy Cross; Coast and Valley, from the series Window Peeps

  • The CENTER Awards

    Personal Award • Selected by Juror Merry Scully, Head of Curatorial Affairs, Curator of Contemporary Art, New Mexico Museum of Art
    • Lizzy Cross, Window Peeps

    Social Award • Selected by Jury of Panelists from the CENTER Team: staff, former grant recipients & an Advisory Council member
    • Peter Merts, Incarcerated Artists

    Environmental Award • Selected by Juror Melissa Dale, Interim Director of Photography, The Nature Conservancy
    • Ella Morton, The Dissolving Landscape

  • Excellence in Multimedia Award

    Selected by Juror Cosima Amelang, Senior Producer, Mobile Storytelling, National Geographic Partners
    • Anna Cristina Vallejo, Neuromantic

  • Project Launch Grant

    Selected by Juror Marisa Sage, Director, University Art Museum at New Mexico State University
    • Jane Whitmore, The Bikini Project

  • Me&Eve Grant

    Selected by Juror Annick Shen, Head of Editorial, Adobe Stock
    • Leah Dyjak, As We Play God

2022 Award & Grant Winners

  • Heather Evans Smith; Paint It Blue, from the series Blue

  • Esha Chiocchio; Horned Locus, from the series Good Earth

  • The CENTER Awards

    • Arista Slater-Sandoval, Parable for Hysteria
    Personal Award - Juror Danyelle Means, Executive Director, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe

    • Luis Corzo, Pasaco, 1996
    Social Award - Juror Jess T. Dugan, Artist & Co-Founder, Strange Fire Collective

    • Esha Chiocchio, Good Earth
    Environmental Award - Juror Paula Trotto, Photo Project Manager, Environmental Defense Fund

  • Excellence in Multimedia Storytelling Award

    • Dan Fenstermacher, Food Chain
    Juror Mary Anne Redding, Curator, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University

  • Project Development Grant

    • Maximilian Thuemler, Born From the Limb
    Juror Karen Irvine, Chief Curator & Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago

  • Project Launch Grant

    • David Walter Banks, Practice Resurrection
    Juror Grace Deveney, Associate Curator of Photography & Media, Art Institute of Chicago

  • Me&Eve Grant

    • Heather Evans Smith, Blue
    Juror Sarah Leen, Founder & Editor, Visual Thinking Collective