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/ Exhibitions / 38th Rosen Sculpture Competition and Exhibition

38th Rosen Sculpture Competition and Exhibition

May 26, 2024 – May 14, 2025

Outdoor campus

The Rosen Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is a national juried competition presented annually by An Appalachian Summer Festival and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. Since its establishment by Martin and Doris Rosen in 1987, the Rosen Competition continues a tradition of showcasing contemporary American sculpture in outdoor settings across the beautiful campus of Appalachian State University.

The competition, in its 38th year, has become firmly established as a cultural treasure and a significant point of pride for Appalachian State University and our entire region. The competition has garnered national praise for the free access to the “best of the best” in contemporary sculpture it offers for countless residents and visitors across North Carolina and beyond.

The Rosen Family proudly continues the legacy of Martin and Doris by generously supporting this important program dedicated to sharing the power and joy of public art, creating a fascinating glimpse into the world of contemporary sculpture, and building new audiences for the visual arts.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Martin & Doris Rosen Giving Fund/Debbie Rosen Davidson and David Rosen and the Charles & Nancy Rosenblatt Foundation.

38th Rosen Sculpture Competition and Exhibition

2023 Rosen Sculpture Finalists (clockwise from top left): Adam Walls, Paris Alexander, Bob Doster, Wesley Stewart, David Sheldon, Hanna Jubran, Sophia Dominici, Beau Lyday, Glen Zwegardt, Carl Billingsley and David Boyajian.

Prospectus

This nationally recognized juried competition, established by Martin and Doris Rosen, has long served as a point of pride for Appalachian State University and is presented annually by An Appalachian Summer Festival and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. Each year, ten sculptures are selected for installation in outdoor, public settings across the university campus. Cash prizes are awarded for first, second, and third place. This year a new prize will be awarded for Best in Show. The Rosen Award winners are selected by the juror and are announced at the Annual Sculpture Walk in July, a highlight of the summer festival season.

The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition is made possible by the continued generosity and support of the Rosen Family: The Martin and Doris Rosen Giving Fund/Debbie Rosen Davidson and David Rosen/Charles and Nancy Rosenblatt Foundation.

Awards and Honoraria

Ten finalists will be selected to install their artwork on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. All artists whose works are installed will receive a $1700 honorarium to offset round trip transportation, lodging, and incidental expenses. Any additional costs are the responsibility of the artists.

The Rosen Sculpture Competition & Exhibition will cover the material costs of installation and de-installation. The 38th Annual Rosen Competition & Exhibition will feature four cash prizes and all winners will be designated the Martin & Doris Rosen 38th Anniversary Award Winners. The top three artists will receive the following cash prizes: $4,000 for First Place, $3,000 for Second Place and $2,000 for Third Place. The new Best of Show Award recipient will receive $5000. The Rosen Sculpture Competition & Exhibition offers a sales program, brochure/map, and extensive promotion as a featured exhibition in conjunction with both the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and the Appalachian Summer Festival, as well as permanent archiving on the competition’s website.

 

2024-2025 Calendar

  • Online Registration System Opens – January 26 2024
  • Deadline for Entries – March 4, 2024 @ 5 PM EST
  • Notifications Emailed – March 28, 2024
  • Installation Dates – May 23-24, 2024
  • Exhibition Dates – May 2024 – May 2025
  • Rosen Sculpture Walk & Reception – Saturday, July 13, 2024 @ 10 AM
  • De-installation – May 2025

Lookout, 2023

Walter Early
Plattsburgh, NY

Welded and painted steel
144” x 132” x 60”

Artist statement

Lookout is part of my sparsities series which emphasizes line to describe abstract volumes. Formally, the work draws from the language of fragments: using incomplete forms to allude to a larger whole. Negative space features prominently and the open sculptures frame and accentuate different views of locations in which they are sited. Bright monochrome pigment plays with perceptions of mass, weight, and volume.

About the artist

Walter Early maintains a studio in the Adirondack region of Upstate New York.  His artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally and he has taught art in the United States, Canada, England, and Honduras.  In recent years his work has been supported by grants from the Henry Moore Foundation, the City of Chicago, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Red Astral Planes, 2024

Beau Lyday
Valdese, NC

Aged painted tin and wood
82″ x 46″ x 46″

 

Artist statement

I feel that a piece of art does not have to be shocking to have worth. Instead a work can mesmerize a person, moving one to a place of safety or sanctuary and instilling a sense of peace. In these unfathomably violent times, there is a special need for healing art. I seek through my work to inspire a sense of unity, balance, and wholeness.

The materials I use are aged roofing tin, wood and sometimes copper. After forty years in the furniture business, I lost my job to overseas competition. I started taking down abandon barns for the wood to make my own furniture to sell. I accumulated big stacks of roofing tin, sometimes using it as an element in my furniture. Eventually I turned to metal sculpture.

My work carries one into a different sense of a place and time. I am drawn to ancient symbols and structures, Celtic art, and the foundations of scared geometry. The framework of my pieces centers a person, inviting them to enter in, to follow the lines and intersections that make a symmetrical whole. The pierced /silhouette effect makes the background/negative space as important as the metal work itself. The light streaming though the openings in the piece cast light and shadow enhancing the depth and sense of movement to the eye. This technique also unites the piece with its surroundings, making it belong.

Artist Bio

Beau Lyday was born in Athens, GA and currently lives in  Valdese, NC. His current works is in rusted tin and wood sculpture. He was awarded a regional artist grant from the North Carolina Arts Council in 2013.

  • He has been selected to exhibit at Arts Field in Lake City, SC 2013, 2015-2024
  • Finalist in North Charleston National Outdoor Competition & Exhibition 2018, 2021,2024. Awarded best in show in 2021
  • Was awarded third place in the 33rd Rosen National Outdoor Competition & Exhibition. Finalist   Rosen 2019  and 2023 received Juror’s Merit Award
  • He was awarded best in show in 2017 & 2018 at the Lenoir Sculpture Celebration. Judge’s merit award 2019, 2021, third place 2022, Judge’s merit award 2023
  • Awarded first place at the Chetola Art Walk 2019
  • ASU art corridor finalist 2022 Will the Circle Be Unbroken
  • UNCA finalist Art IN the Round School of Art and Art History Everlasting Arms
  • Lotus Blossom Chetola Main St Blowing
  • Leased works in Goldsboro, NC and Van Wyke, SC, Bascom Museum, Highlands NC, University of North Carolina Ashville School of Art. Rosen Sculpture Competition, ASU Arts corridor
  • Southminster Retirement Community Firelight
  • Moore Botanical Gardens Quatrefoil & Gothic Portal

Beau’s works are in several private collections. He is represented by Bill Brown owner of Anvil Sculpture Gardens in Linville, NC

Phase #1, 2022

Hanna Jubran
East Grimesland, NC

Cast Aluminum
168” x 24” x 24”

Artist statement

I casted this sculpture from a recycled Aluminum part. The process I utilized for creating these sculptures was done by direct cutting into a block of sand. I cut layers to produce the open lattice patterns. My latticework represents the crystallization of nature’s elements and minerals. It represents the natural process of growth, and distribution-the power of these forms comes from their existence in nature. My concept and development of this sculpture evolved from my interest in the natural science and phenomena. derived from natural formations, natural combinations of geometric and organic forms and shapes, alluding to geometry, math and the physical world harmonic motion, and periodic changes. I hope that my sculpture will inspire people in the arts and science and create a point of interest visiting the park.

“The mission of art is to bring out the unfamiliar from the most familiar.”

Gibran Khalil Gibran

About the artist

Hanna’s work addresses the concepts of time, movement, balance and space. Each sculpture occupies and creates its own reality influenced by its immediate surroundings. The work does not rely on one media to evoke the intended response, but takes advantage of compatible materials such as wood, granite, steel, stainless steel, iron, aluminum and bronze. One of many decisions I have made is maintaining and preserving the natural quality of the materials I work with.

True Blue, 2024

Richard Pitts
New Albandy, PA

Powder coated aluminum
90” x 30” x 36”

Artist statement

My recent sculptures are made with the idea that a positive dialog with the outdoor surroundings is established. My sculptures
made of fabricated powder coated aluminum are of an unnatural
and inorganic material but have the integrity of a thing grown rather than assembled.
Growth is the prime symbol of each sculpture. Curved metal like elegant
curves of cloth like forms echo this theme transforming the material.
Sculpture in the landscape, like a way finder for the human sprit, is meant to enrich and stimulate imagination in a positive way. The subsequent style of
these works are meant to stimulate Feelings for the past, the present and the future.
The idea that a sculpture can make a place important until that place makes the sculpture important coincides with the idea that a sculpture creates its environment
as much as the environment creates the sculpture. This is the important dialog I am aiming for in my sculpture.

About the artist

Richard Pitts was born in Fort Monmouth NJ. to a military family, they traveled throughout the United States later settling in Clifton NJ. After graduating Clifton High School Richard attended Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, there he met the Painter/ Sculptor Reuben Kadish. In 1960 he moved to New York City, set up a studio and in 1961 attended Pratt Institute where he met his second mentor, painter Ernie Briggs. Both Kadish and Briggs remained lasting friends and inspirations. In the late 1980’s Richard was chairman of the board of artist at the Artist Choice Museum in SOHO.

After a tour in the US Army and graduating Pratt Institute Richard taught at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Fashion Institute of Technology and attended New York Studio School in Paris. Richard has his studio in rural Pa. and continues to exhibit his paintings and sculpture nation wide. He retired from the Fine arts Dept. of Fashion Institute of Tech. as a full professor . Richard was President of NOHO/M55 Gallery in Chelsea, NY. one of the oldest Artist Run Galleries in NYC. He is also founder of Urban Studio Unbound which is a 4 time grant recipient from the City of Yonkers NY. where his contemporaries run a gallery and public art program.
Richard Is represented by AMArt House, Bantam Ct.

Verde Trilogy, 2023

Glenn Zweygardt
Alfred Station, NY

Verde antique, granite, cast bronze and cast glass
84″ x 42” x 16″

Artist statement

 

About the artist

 

Unfurling With Seeds, 2015

David Boyajian
New Fairfield, CT

Steel sculpture
120” x 72” x 60”

Artist statement

Regardless of what materials I use or what form my sculptures take – be they volumetric, concave / convex, linear or plainer, forged, fabricated, or carved – I deal with the same poetic perceptions.My work centers around images that relate to man/woman’s relationship to their physical environment. I often begin with an architectural element such as a gate, column or window symbolizing passage and transformation as it relates to the journey of life. My shapes often define a narrative or metaphor by juxtaposing images from nature against the use of industrial materials within the architectural environment. My themes are based on observations of nurturing, regeneration, and growth, as well as poetic concepts relating to community, tolerance, and acceptance.

About the artist

David Boyajian is an artist, art instructor, and the owner of David Boyajian Sculpture Studio in New Fairfield, Connecticut. In the early 1980s, Boyajian studied at Alfred University, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and earned his MFA from the Maryland Institute Rinehart School of Sculpture. Following his fine art education, Boyajian continued his studies while assisting figurative sculptors Wolfgang Behl, Elbert Weinberg, and Andrew Coppola. Over the course of his thirty-plus-year career, Boyajian has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including SculptureNow on The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Massachusetts, Bull City Sculpture Show in Durham, North Carolina, and ‘Genesis,’ an outdoor solo show at the Robert Moses Sculpture Garden at Fordham University.

Boyajian’s numerous public commissions include “The Weaving Shuttle” and “The Eye of the Needle” at the Mansfield Town Square in Mansfield, Connecticut, “Lift,” a memorial to a former student at the Canterbury School in New Milford, and “Sanctuary” at the 9/11 Living Memorial at Sherwood Island for the state of Connecticut. His teaching career has spanned over twenty years at institutions such as Western Connecticut State University, Silvermine School of Art, and Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford.

Skyward, 2016

Benjamin Pierce
Cape Girardeau, MO

Stainless steel
156” x 60” x 48”

Artist statement

Ben Pierce is a veteran and Missouri native who found an outlet for his internal struggle by creating sculpture.

     “ I Have been living with depression for many years (way before I began      making art). Only recently have I begun to speak openly about it with friends and family.  A lot of mental illness is suffered in silence- I am choosing to use my art as a way to help others speak up. Maybe someone will hear about this or read this and feel HOPE. You are not alone!

   Or through my openness about depression it will allow others to not suffer alone by giving them courage to seek help or confide in someone.  Maybe this can open that conversation for them.

   My art/sculptures possibly would not have been created if it weren’t for my need to externalize what I go through inside. I hope you find your own  voice and can endure any obstacle that comes your way”.

About the artist

 

Flight, date unknown

Bob Doster
Lancaster, SC

Corten steel
168” x 84” x 84”

Artist statement

My creative process begins with a shape I see in my environment. It might be a leaf that reminds me of the  childhood experience of jumping in a pile of leaves or a curved piece of paper which makes me think about riding the waves at the beach. I then build on the shapes to create a sculpture. Some pieces are whimsical and others have a profound meaning about the society we live in.

If I were a tree each limb would represent a series I am working on as my ideas grow so does the the tree of my life.

About the artist

Bob Doster was born and grew up in Lancaster SC.  Oldest of six children himself and five younger sisters into a family of high achievers. Bob had his first exposure to art from his grandmother who was a Sunday afternoon painter. Then in his father’s sculptural steel shop where he let Bob  play with a blow torch at the age of 8. When he was 12 he sold his first sculpture to a local bank president, from then on he was hooked with the sculpture bug.  After graduation from high school he married and had two children by the age of 19, then opened a grocery store. For the next five years he worked 16 hrs. a day 7 days a week to make a success of the business. He then sold the store and went back to school. Where he earned his MFA from Clemson and a BFA from the University of South Carolina. Bob’s career spans forty three years as a working sculptor with art work placed world wide and he has taught more than 150,000 students aged 4 to 80 as a visiting teaching artist with the SCAC helping students create sculptures for themselves or as a legacy gift for their schools in the two Carolina’s and Illinois.

The Ecstatic, 2023

Andrew Light
Lexington, KY

Steel
60″ x 72″ x 84″

Artist statement

My studio practice is informed by explorations of body morphologies, industrial design and architectural history. Frequent in my design ecology is the inclusion of industrially produced shapes. Merging these elements with free form fabrication widens the opportunities in my formal language, creating a nexus between my academic and trade backgrounds. Architectural and structural design sensibilities are often present throughout my studio practice, continuously informing the interaction of available commercial products and my aesthetic impulses. The recontexturalization of found materials and ideas into open paradigms, brings regular moments of marvel into my studio practice. The context of works vary, frequently extant as anomalous cohorts that reflect my diverse interests, my sculptures exist as epiphanous gestures. Finished projects are the result of determined, contemplative practice, that expound upon their origins and coalesce with discoveries made through the labors of creation.

About the artist

Andrew Light is a sculptor based in central Kentucky. Academically trained and in private practice for over 20 years, he maintains a prolific studio practice. In addition to his formal training he has worked for two masters of sculptural practice, John Henry and Richard Hunt, eventually serving as head of fabrication for both. Having exhibited internationally and in over 15 states, Mr. Light has developed a reputation for professionalism and high aesthetic standards.

Core Revisited, 2018

Adam Walls
Tryon, NC

Steel and auto body paint
72” x 48” x 48”

Artist statement

About the artist

 

Otocast logo

For those who want to learn more about the sculptures in the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition from the artists themselves, download a mobile audio guide on the free app, OtoCast. Users can select “Boone, NC” from the list of active tours to begin a self-guided audio tour through the campus of Appalachian State University. The app is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

About the juror

Christopher Meyer
Christopher Meyer

This year’s competition juror is Christopher Meyer. He is a native South Dakotan and Associate Professor of Sculpture at the University of South Dakota where he received his B.F.A. visual art in sculpture. Meyer earned his M.F.A. emphasizing in sculpture from the University of Montana in Missoula, MT. Meyer’s work ranges from non-objective to representational sculptural objects, sculptural installations, and cast-iron performance work; often focusing on the interaction between the viewer and the work. The work may evoke a tool or a toy but without a stated purpose, or it may simply imply a raw emotional state; his objective is to create work that is humanist in nature. Christopher’s studio practice tends to emphasize material and process and is made from a large variety of materials including cast metals, carved or fabricated wood and steel, fibers, mixed media or “whatever the piece needs to be.”

Since 2012, Meyer has made a deeper investment in cast iron; building a furnace and equipment necessary to make iron, bringing cast iron to the University of South Dakota and hosting an annual iron pour event at his home studio in rural South Dakota called the “Little Pour on the Prairie” each spring. He annually travels thousands of miles to cast iron.  Meyer currently serves on the board of the Western Cast Iron Art Alliance and in October 2022 he hosted the 7th Biennial Western Cast Iron Art Conference. Meyer’s work has been published in several visual art publications regionally to internationally and has exhibited in over 100 regional and national exhibitions since joining the University of South Dakota in 2006. He has also been awarded the Belbas-Larson Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest award given to faculty at the University of South Dakota as well as the Knutson Distinguished Professor Award for Creative Research, the highest award given in the University of South Dakota’s College of Fine Arts.

The Turchin Center is proud to welcome Christopher Meyer as our distinguished juror for the 38th ANNUAL ROSEN OUTDOOR SCULPTURE COMPETITION & EXHIBITION 2023-2024.

2024 Exhibition Winners

David Sheldon, Orion, 2020- 37th Rosen Sculpture Competition First Place Winner

Rosen Best of Show, $5,000: 

Hannah Jubran, Phase #1

Rosen Second Place Award, Adam Walls, Maman, 2020

Rosen First Place Award, $4,000: 

Andrew Light, The Ecstatic

Rosen Second Place Award, $3,000:

David Boyajian, Unfurling with Seeds

Rosen Third Place Award, $2,000:

Beau Lyday, Red Astral Planes

About the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition logo

This nationally recognized juried competition, established in 1987, has long been credited with enhancing the cultural landscape of the High Country region, while serving as a highlight and point of pride for the university’s summer arts festival, An Appalachian Summer Festival.

Reflecting the vision and generosity of Martin and Doris Rosen, an extraordinary couple whose lives were shaped by the spirit of public service and philanthropy, the competition brings a remarkable array of contemporary sculpture to our campus and community.

Each year, ten sculptures are selected for exhibition, and are situated in outdoor, public settings across the university campus. A cash prize is awarded to the artist whose work is chosen as each year’s Rosen Award winner, which is announced by the juror at the popular Annual Sculpture Walk, a highlight of every summer festival season. In the last several years, two additional sculptures have been selected. One is installed on campus at Appalachian House and another at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum.

Over the years, the exhibition program has earned an international reputation for showcasing the finest in contemporary sculpture, and has become a source of inspiration for thousands of visitors, area residents, and members of the university community who enjoy access to a diverse and ever-changing selection of outdoor sculpture each season.

Martin & Doris Rosen

Vision, generosity, and a pursuit of excellence are some of the many qualities that characterized the lives of Martin and Doris Rosen. From their years devoted to building a successful business, to their lives after retirement, revolving around family, philanthropy, and a commitment to the arts, this exceptional couple left an indelible mark on the communities in which they lived and worked.

Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Rosen Family, Martin and Doris’s legacy of support for quality visual arts programming has been continued by their children, and enables this beloved exhibition program to continue to develop and flourish. In July 1997, the Rosens donated Hephaestus, a large commissioned sculpture by Bruce White, to Appalachian State’s Permanent Collection, and it adorns the Rivers Street frontage area of the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts to this day.

On the occasion of the Rosens’ 50th wedding anniversary in October 1999, their children established the Martin and Doris Rosen Scholarship to assist rising junior or senior art majors at Appalachian State. Tireless supporters of the arts, the Rosen Family has given so much of themselves over the years to ensure that the arts remain a strong foundation of campus and community life in the High Country. We wish to extend to them our deepest appreciation.

Martin and Doris Rosen
Martin and Doris Rosen
Martin and Doris Rosen

Contact us

If there are questions or concerns, the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition staff will be happy to answer questions and assist with the entry process as needed.

Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
Mary Anne Redding, Senior Curator
Email: reddingm@appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
423 West King Street
Boone, NC 28608

To access the online support system for your submission please contact: support@slideroom.com.