The New Gallery at APSU opens ‘Lost at Sea’ by alum Khari Turner
By: Michael Dickins February 20, 2025
APSU alum Khari Turner’s artwork explores Black history and personal narratives using water collected from oceans, lakes, and rivers.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The New Gallery, with support from The Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and the Department of Art + Design, is continuing the 2024-25 exhibition season with Lost at Sea, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist and Austin Peay State University alum Khari Turner.
The exhibition is open now through March 28 at The New Gallery, located at 15 Henry St. inside APSU’s Art + Design Building.
“Through abstraction and realistic renderings of Black features, Turner’s work explores ancestral connections to water—both spiritual and physical,” said Michael Dickins, the director of The New Gallery. “Turner collects water from oceans, lakes, and rivers tied to Black history and personal narratives, blending it with ink to pour onto his paintings. Crackled lines emerge as the ink and ocean water dry, resembling lightning, roots, and veins—traces of embedded memory.”
Transformation is central to Turner’s process, echoing water’s cycle from liquid to vapor. He shapes a world where water holds stories with each piece, guiding the journey like a vessel on an open sea.
“I am also excited to welcome Khari back to Austin Peay and to host his work in The New Gallery,” Dickins said. “His professional career has been exciting to watch as he has exhibited his work in various galleries and museums nationwide and in Sweden and Italy … but I am mostly looking forward to him returning to the Department of Art+Design to talk about his journey and artistic practice to our current students.”
Turner will present an artist lecture on his work and creative practice at 6 p.m. on March 4, in room 120 of the Art+Design Building. A reception and gallery talk with Turner will be held in The New Gallery beginning at noon on March 5.
This exhibition will also be open during Clarksville’s ArtWalk on March 6, with Turner in attendance from 5 – 7:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.
Hours for The New Gallery are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Closed on weekends and holidays, and follows the university’s academic calendar. For more information on this exhibition, which is free and open to the public, contact Michael Dickins, Director of The New Gallery, at dickinsm@apsu.edu.
About the Artist:
Khari Turner (born 1991) is an emerging artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Khari is currently living in Brooklyn, New York, after finishing his residency in Miami, Florida, with AIRIE. His early inspiration was his grandfather, who worked as a draftsman drawing small images that Khari would recreate at an early age. Growing up in Milwaukee, his landscape consisted of vast nature and dense cityscapes fighting amongst a city well known for its continued segregation. This created a relationship with Black people, water, and his environment that plays a major role in his work now. He currently takes water directly from different bodies of water, including the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, his hometown’s Lake Michigan, and Milwaukee River water. He incorporates them in his work, either mixing the water with paint or pouring it directly on the surface. He aims to eventually start work related to water health, environmental conservation, and bringing art to low-income neighborhoods.
Turner currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from APSU in Spring 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University.
You can learn more about his work on his website or follow him on Instagram: @khari.raheem.