Appalachian State University’s annual Outdoor Sculpture Competition, now in its fourth year, is made possible through the generosity of Martin and Doris Rosen. The Rosens continue to be a major force contributing to the success of An Appalachian Summer and cultural programming at Appalachian State University.
The sculpture competition, on view year-round at the Appalachian State University campus, is a dynamic component of the visual arts on campus. The winner of the Competition receives the Rosen Prize, while the other nine finalists receive honorariums to facilitate the installation of their individual works.
Jim Buonaccorsi, A Question of Direction. 1990 / 4th Rosen Sculpture Competition Winner.
Sculptures
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A Question of Direction1st Place
A Question of Direction
Jim Buonaccorsi
Central, South Carolina
Steel. 16’ x 16’ x 10’
Artist statement
In my opinion art should address issues, make statements and act as a social indicator. The act of making art, for me, is a reaction to society. My work is not an attempt at moralizing, prophesying or the passing of judgement. It is my way of dealing with inherent human nature and my own fears and misgivings of living in this world.
To delve into the meaning and information in my work could turn into a major socio-political-philosophical dissertation: it is easier for me to list a series of conjectures:
Perhaps we are products of the industrial era
Perhaps it is the Second World War
Perhaps it was socialization
Perhaps shaped by religion
Perhaps bound by industry
Perhaps it is inherent human nature
Perhaps it is animal and. Intellect in conflict
Perhaps it is “The Lord of the Flies”
Perhaps civilization is a lie
Perhaps a grasp at identity
Perhaps I’ve said too much
I am a visual artist however, and each viewer will interpret the work as they will.
To quote Herman Hesse, “Talking is the surest way to misunderstanding everything, to make everything shallow and dreary.”
About the artist
Born: Providence, Rhode Island, 1957. Master of Fine Arts: Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1984. Assistant Visiting Professor: College of Architecture, Clemson University. Over three dozen exhibitions; six permanent collections, including the University of Tennessee – Knoxville and Rhode Island College; eight awards for excellence, including 3 best of show.
Eye of the Needle
Carl Billingsley
Greensboro, North Carolina
Steel. 6’ x 13’ x 45’
Artist statement
This work speaks of the contradiction contained in architectural arches and gateways, i.e. that they both invite and deny entry at the same time.
About the artist
Born: Oklahoma City, OK, 1943. Master of Fine Arts: Associate Professor of Art: University of North Carolina – Greensboro. Over two dozen exhibitions; over six commissions and permanent collections, including Sate of North Carolina NCCAT, Milwaukee Jewish Center in Milwaukee, WI and Waukesha State Office Building in Waukesha, WI.
Carolina Cultural Response
Alvin Frega
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mixed media
About the artist
Born: Governeur, New York, 1956. Master of Fine Arts: University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 1986. Over 3 dozen exhibitions, including Southeastern Center for the Contemporary Arts, Birmingham Museum of Art, Duke University and Albright – Knox Museum of Art; five permanent collections, including Northern Telecom in Research Triangle, NC, Rockefeller Arts Center in Fredonia, NY and Niagara Falls Aquarium.
Sentinel
Terrance Karpowicz
Chicago, Illinois
Granite, steel, basalt. 10’ x 3’ x 2’
About the artist
Born: E. St Louis, IL, 1948. Master of Fine Arts: University of Illinois – Chicago, 1975. Numerous exhibitions; many permanent collections, including Borg – Warner Corporation, Kemper Insurance, Le Belage Hotel in Los Angeles and Reuben and Proctor in Chicago; numerous commissions; over a dozen grants and awards, including a Fulbright Hays grant, four Illinois Arts Council grants and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
Ancient Games, XII
Doris Leeper
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Wood, ceramic
Artist statement
For several decades I have been concerned with the interrelationships of the natural and the built environment. I’m interested in gateways, pylons, and particularly, leisure spaces for all ages that focus on recreation of the spirit as well as the body.
About the artist
Born: Charlotte, NC, 1929. Bachelor of Arts: Duke University, Durham, NC, 1951. Developer and director: Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL. Nearly two hundred exhibitions; eighty permanent collections, including Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City, Orlando International Airport in Orlando, FL, and RJR Nabisco in Atlanta, GA; nearly thirty commissions.
Four Corners: Untitled Monuments
Leeann Mitchel
Knoxville, Tennessee
Wood, steel, clay, glass. 12’ x 3’ x 2’
Artist statement
This is the fourth in a series of outdoor sculptures dealing with the exploration of symbol, scale and the banality of religion in today’s society. Spirituality is a very personal matter…
About the artist
Born: Memphis TN, 1961. Master of Fine Arts: University of Colorado – Boulder, 1986. Associate Curator: Sculpture Tour, University of Tennessee – Knoxville. Over thirty -three exhibitions; two permanent collections, including National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN; one commission, in Knoxville, TN; guest curator for “Mental Metal” at National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN.
Stegodopterus
John Parker
Glenside, Pennsylvania
Painted steel. 116’ x 152’ x 70’
Artist statement
My sculptures come from a life-long study of insects and birds, exotic flowers and dinosaurs. They are fabricated in steel plate not only because of my interests in the material and its durability, bit its abstract nature. I am not after a literal transition from my subject matter…
About the artist
Born: Grand Rapids, MI, 1948. Master of Fine Arts: The Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, 1977. Artist – in -Residence: Greater Reston Arts Center and South Lakes High School, Reston, VA. Over thirty exhibitions; eight permanent collections, including Baltimore City Parks in Baltimore, Maryland and Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, MI.
Figures
John Payne
Chicago, Illinois
Steel. 13’ high
Artist statement
My art is very direct and spontaneous. It deals with its immediate surroundings of place and time. Ideas are interpreted or mimed with the figure or parts of it…My work has psychological values, humor, irony and various other emotions. These reflect my direct relationship to sculpture on a more personal level.
About the artist
Born: Elizabethton, Tennessee, 1949. Master of Visual Arts: Georgia State University, 1982. Nearly twenty exhibitions; one permanent collection at University of Tennessee; awards include one best of show.
Standing Couple Wearing Hoods
Mary Scrupe
Breno Bluff, Virginia
Steel. 18’ high
Artist statement
The sculpture is a reflection on contemporary relationships between men and women. This work is, finally, a celebration of emergence in terms of scale, materials and vision.
About the artist
Born: Minneapolis, MN, 1955. Bachelor of Arts: Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, 1977. Over 30 exhibitions, including Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Sculpture ’88 in Washington, D.C. and Chrysler Museum Biennial; 3 performance art events’ 7 grants and fellowships. Member: International Sculpture Center.
The Myth of Television
Steve Teeters
Lubbock, Texas
Steel, mixed media. 40’ x 20’ x 14’
Artist statement
My sculpture tends to focus on our never-ending quest to define each of our own spiritual boundaries…I have a sense of wonder about the universe and my place in it and through sculpture I try to address those issues that join us back to our primal personality, uninhibited by the baggage of our materialistic culture.
About the artist
Born: West Texas, 1955. Bachelor of Science: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX. Public school teacher: Lubbock, TX. Over two dozen exhibitions; nine permanent collections, including Princeton University in Princeton, NJ; three art videos.
About the juror
Donald Kuspit is one of American’s most distinguished critics. Winner of the prestigious Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism (1983), given by the College Art Association, Kuspit is a contributing editor for Art in American and Contemporanea, and a staff member at Artforum. He is also the editor of Art Criticism, and writes for Artscribe (London), C Magazine (Tornoto) and Wolkenkratzer (Frankfurt), amount other magazines. He has doctorates in Philosophy (University of Frankfurt, Germany) and Art History (University of Michigan), and is professor of Art History and Philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has written over six hundred articles, exhibition reviews and catalog essays. His most recent book is The New Subjectivism: Art of the 1980’s. He has also published over seven other books on art. He is a consultant for UMI Research Press, for which he has edited several series on contemporary American art critics, art theory and contemporary art.