October 10- 12, 2008, ETSU, Johnson City, TN.

ETSU is proud to be hosting the 30^th annual TriStates Sculptors Education Association Annual Conference, October 10- 12, 2008. 

Registration Form for the 2008 conference.
Exhibition Prospectus

This annual conference provides regional sculptors, students of sculpture, and teachers of sculpture the opportunity to meet, share knowledge and skills, exhibit work, and give one another guidance and support.

The sculptors who attend this conference represent an incredibly broad range of technical skills, expressive possibilities, conceptual directions, and philosophical and aesthetic attitudes.  While many of the sculptors may be teachers and professors, a larger number are working artists and students, allowing for a distinctly lively exchange of opinion and experience. 

Sculptors who have attended past conferences have pursued everything from large outdoor commissions, to site specific temporary installation, to classical figurative sculpture, to work that is ephemeral and time based; materials used in exhibited work have included wood, steel, stone, bronze, resin, wax, digitally created art, fiber, clay, found objects, and so on.  The artists who attend have exhibited their work regionally, nationally, and internationally, and are incredibly active, and great advocates for the relevance of sculpture in contemporary art.

This year’s keynote speaker is Steve Tobin, a remarkable sculptor who has worked with a range of materials, from glass, to bronze cast in termite mounds in Africa, to ceramics shaped by explosives, to massive outdoor steel sculptures. Steve’s work has been shown internationally, and he is currently working on sculpture that will be shown at Stonehenge in summer 2008.  Please see his website for images and video of his work: www.stevetobin.com.

We would especially like to encourage students to attend this year’s conference, stressing the “Education” in our organization’s title!  We have lowered the registration fee for students (now $20.) and will not be charging a late fee for student registrations.  Please see the registration form on this site.

At this time, a small group of volunteers is developing the schedule for the conference; when details are firmed up, this site will be updated.

Planned events for the 2008 Conference include):

• TRISTATES SCULPTORS MEMBERS EXHIBITION: CARROLL REECE MUSEUM, ETSU
• STUDENT MEMBERS EXHIBITION: SLOCUMB GALLERIES, ETSU
• ETSU SCULPTURE ALUM SHOW: SLOCUMB GALLERIES, ETSU
• ETSU STUDENT SCULPTURE SHOW: NELSON FINE ART, DOWNTOWN
• HIGH SCHOOL SCULPTURE SHOW, JOHNSON CITY AREA ARTS COUNCIL
• KEYNOTE SPEAKER:STEVE TOBIN
• Tristates Student Awards presentation prior to the keynote

Workshops and panels on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10-11:

• Digital sculpture (panel)
• Casting with hot glass
• Giant Machines/ Milling Metal
• Stone carving
• Patinas
• Coppersmithing
• Environmental sculpture (outdoor hands on)
• Molten metal (iron, aluminum)
• Smooth-On mold materials rep.
• Photographing sculpture: From studio to disc
• Members show their stuff: 5 minute slide/digital presentations by members about their work/ ongoing
• Table with postcards, show announcements, etc.

• Friday Night: Receptions for all shows, 5-8 pm.
• Friday Night: Acoustic Coffee House “Next Door” music space, 8 pm- midnight. Live music and birthday cake for TriStates 30^th anniversary.
• Saturday afternooon: Oct. 11,tour of recently opened Gray Fossil Site Natural History Museum, home of the largest collection of tapir fossils in the world. 
• Saturday night: Oct. 11, dinner/ keynote with Steve Tobin, Gray Fossil Site.
• Sunday morning: Board meeting, Ball Hall Auditorium, Dept. of Art and Design, Oct. 12, 10 a.m.
• Sunday morning: Pick up sculpture from the exhibitions, 8 am- noon.

HOTEL INFORMATION:

Official Conference Hotel:

Doubletree Hotel of Johnson City
211 Mockingbird Lane
Johnson City, Tennessee 37604
423-929-2000
Group rate cut off date: 9/19/08

Back up hotel:

Hampton Inn
508 N. State of Franklin Road
Johnson City, TN  37604
423-929-8000
Group code: “Tri State Sculptors”
Group rate cut off date: 9/1/08

General Information:
Johnson City, Jonesborough, and Washington County, Tennessee. Maps,
restaurants, sites, services.
www.visitjohnsoncitytnchamber.com
Please contact Catherine Murray, murrayc@etsu.edu, or 423-439-8303, for additional info.