2025 Best in Show: Kyle Van Lusk, "Unexpected Harmony," 2023
2025 1st Place: Harry McDaniel, "Braid," 2022
2025 2nd Place: Andrew Light, "Burgeon Column," 2024
2025 3rd Place: Scott Strader, "Summer’s End," 2024
Established by Martin and Doris Rosen, this nationally recognized juried competition has long served as a point of pride for Appalachian State University. Presented annually by An Appalachian Summer Festival and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, 10 sculptures are selected for installation in outdoor public settings across campus. Cash prizes are awarded for first, second, and third place and Best in Show. Rosen Award winners are selected by the invited juror and are announced at the Annual Sculpture Walk in July.
The Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is made possible by generous support from The Martin and Doris Rosen Giving Fund — courtesy of Debbie Rosen Davidson and David Rosen — and The Charles and Nancy Rosenblatt Foundation
2026 Competition Timeline
- Online Registration System: Opened January 20
- Deadline for Entries: March 15
- Artist Notification: April 1
- Installations on App State campus: May 21-22
- Rosen Sculpture Walk and Reception: July 11 at 10am
For more information, please contact Mary Anne Redding, Senior Curator | reddingm@appstate.edu
About the Juror: Sam Spiczka
Inspired by natural bone forms, rural technology, and geometric structure, Sam Spiczka has produced a distinctive body of work that is both modern and intensely primal, public, yet deeply personal. Born and raised in rural Minnesota, Spiczka became captivated by metal at an early age working in his family’s welding shop. Though he briefly studied art and philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, Minnesota, his true education has come from nature, the example of past sculptors, and the craftsmanship taught to him by his father. Spiczka’s award-winning sculptures have been exhibited internationally – including at the Seolbong International Sculpture Park in Icheon, South Korea, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and the Franconia Sculpture Park in Taylors Fall, Minnesota.
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 livedand 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.
