Senior Design major Sophie Turner’s works on display Dec. 1 at Clayton Center

Nov. 21, 2023

Photo of Maryville College senior Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner ’24

She’s graduating in the middle of the academic year, which is all the more reason to turn out to the Clayton Center for the Arts starting Dec. 1 to view the works of Maryville College senior Sophie Turner ’24.

A collection of illustrations titled “Past, Present, and Impact,” the senior exhibit — taking place Dec. 1-15 in the Blackberry Farm and William “Ed” Harmon galleries of the Clayton Center — is a collection of Turner’s works as a Design major assembled for her Senior Study requirement.

For Art and Design students, the Senior Study is “an independent study that encourages students to create a meaningful body of work devoted to a particular subject or theme,” according to MC Art Professor Dr. Carl Gombert, and generally spans two semesters and involves six credit hours of work.

“We live in a world in which we are constantly being bombarded with images, advertisements and an ever-flowing stream of media,” Turner said. “The average person will see 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements every day. Through my thesis, I wanted to explore the evolution of human representations in art throughout history to try and identify the effects different representations have had on a person’s body image.

“The pieces in the show represent not only the evolution but also the underlying effects art can have on the way a person views themselves and their body. The pieces are meant to serve as reminders to designers and advertisers the responsibility we have to represent people in realistic and healthy ways.”

A native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Turner is a graduate of Oakland High School and a standout goalkeeper on the MC Women’s Soccer team, which recently clinched the Collegiate Conference of the South championship and earned a first-round bid to the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament.

Gallery hours at the Blackberry Farm and William “Ed” Harmon galleries are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. An artist’s reception for Turner will take place from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, in the Clayton Center galleries, located on the MC campus. The reception is free and open to the public.

Photo of one of Sophie Turner's artwork for her senior show
“Not Enough” is one of the pieces in “Past, Present, and Impact” MC senior Sophie Turner’s Senior Study exhibit.
Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”