39th Rosen Sculpture Walk

The nationally recognized Rosen Sculpture Competition and Exhibition has showcased contemporary American sculpture in outdoor settings across the university campus for the last 39 years. Join juror Joseph Bigley as he leads the outdoor tour of the 10 sculptures he selected as finalists for this year’s competition. Bigley is the Executive Director of the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center and professor of art at Appalachian State University; he shows his sculpture internationally. The walking tour will culminate at the Schaefer Center with an awards reception and complimentary boxed lunch.

Participants will gather outdoors, at the reception tent adjacent to the Schaefer Center. The Rosen Sculpture Walk will take place rain or shine. In the event of heavy rain, a presentation by the juror, including images of the sculptures, will be held indoors at the Schaefer Center. Event concludes with an awards reception and a complimentary boxed lunch.

About the juror – Joseph Bigley
A native of North Carolina, Joseph Bigley holds a Master of Fine Arts from Alfred University in Sculptural Dimensional Studies and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Appalachian State University. His work has been exhibited across the U.S. and internationally in China, the Netherlands, Spain, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Berlin. A mixed media sculptor and educator, Bigley worked as Assistant Professor of Art, Sculpture at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. for five years. He is currently a full-time lecturer of Art at Appalachian State University and is a founder and the executive director of the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center and Park in Lenoir, NC.

A special thanks to the Rosen family
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.