Turner Center for the Arts hosts gallery opening
Published 6:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2025
The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts will hold a new gallery exhibit reception from 5-7 p.m., Monday, Aug, 4, at 527 North Patterson St.
The center will feature the works of the Withlacoochee Quilters Guild, Debo Groover, “Flora and Fauna” and the re-installation of the African Artifact Permanent Collection.
Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.
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The Withlacoochee Quilters Guild will have numerous handmade quilts on display for this exhibit. The guild is made up of more than 80 members who meet regularly to create quilted works of art. In addition to participating in art shows, the group also donates projects to community needs.
Groover, born in Savannah, has been an artist her entire life. Prior to moving to Tallahassee, Florida, where she has lived for the past 20 years, she received her masters of fine arts in ceramics from the University of Georgia. She had a successful career as a potter and an itinerant teacher traveling throughout the United States. In 2008, after a long sabbatical from working as a professional artist, Groover created a new technique using polymer clay as a painting and collage material. Her work displayed in this exhibit is a culmination of this new signature style.
The African Artifacts Collection in the Tillman Gallery houses a spectacular display of more than 100 artifacts, donated to the center in 2003, by Jerry Tillman, a Lowndes County native. Tillman spent more than a decade living in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia and most of the artifacts in his collection were made by the Makonde Tribe in Tanzania. Major museums, including The Smithsonian, wanted to display the collection in their galleries, but Tillman elected to keep the artifacts local. The collection represents the creative side that exists in part of the myriads of cultures.
All exhibits will remain open in the galleries for the public’s enjoyment through Wednesday, Sept. 17. For more information, call 229-247-2787 or visit turnercenter.org. Patrons who need special assistance may contact the center to make those arrangements.
