The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition is a national juried competition presented annually by the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The Rosen has become an integral part of An Appalachian Summer Festival, the university’s annual multi-arts celebration presented by the Office of Arts & Cultural Programs.
Made possible by the continued support and generosity of the Rosen Family: The Martin & Doris Rosen Giving Fund/Debbie Rosen Davidson and David Rosen/Charles & Nancy Rosenblatt Foundation.
Intestinal Fortitude, Mike Hansel. Winner of 30th Annual Rosen Sculpture Competition
Balance Point, Hanna Jubran
Sculptures
- Intestinal Fortitude; Mike Hansel
- Hobbes’ Claw – Unsheathed; Stephen Klema
- Windsong II; Bob Turan
- Self Portrait; Adam Walls
- Hybridized Daylily; Shawn Morin
- Balance Point; Hanna Jubran
- Aeriel; Mike Roig
- A Dream: 5 Community Totems; Pam Brewer
- The Gate Hangs Well; Walter Early
- Wrapped Around You; Davis Whitfield
- Ian’s Hammer; Kyle Van Lusk
About the juror
A Mississippi native, Willie Ray Parish attended the University of Mississippi on a football scholarship, graduating in 1970 with a BFA in sculpture. He earned an MFA at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1978, returning to Mississippi to direct the Education Department and the New South Film Center at the Mississippi Museum of Art. In 1981, he joined the art faculty at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He moved to the University of Texas at El Paso in 1984 where he ran the sculpture program and twice served as the Art Department Chair. In May 2013, he retired from teaching after a 32-year university career and received the status of Professor Emeritus.
Parish’s works are featured in numerous public and private collections including the El Paso Museum of Art, the Mississippi Museum of Art, Washington D.C.’s Newseum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art, and Earthship Biotecture in Taos. He is founder and Director of the Border Art Residency and, with his wife, artist Becky Hendrick, hosted the program on their property in La Union, New Mexico from 2000 to 2015. The couple divides their time between Tucson, Arizona, and Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico.
For more information, visit http://www.willierayparish.com.
About the curator
Mary Anne Redding is the curator and creative director of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University. Mary Anne has more than thirty-years-experience working as a curator, archivist, librarian, educator, and arts administrator. Prior to joining the Turchin Center, Redding was the Curator of the Marion Center for Photographic Arts and the Chair of the Photography Department at Santa Fe University of Art & Design. Previously, she was the Curator of Photography for the Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum.
She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Ohio University, an M.A. in Arts Administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an M.L.S. from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, as well as an advanced certificate in Museum Studies from Arizona State University. She has written and published numerous essays on photography and contemporary art and also actively guest curates exhibitions at museums around the country.
Since the summer of 2014, at Appalachian State University, Redding has curated the organization’s numerous exhibitions including associated programming. She has worked closely with the university’s Department of Art, Appalachian Studies and a wide variety of other campus and community groups to make gallery resources available to all.
About the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition
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.
Contact us
Please address all inquiries to:
Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition
c/o Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
PO Box 32139
423 West King Street
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-3017