Visual artist Roderick Turner was born in Providence, RI, and currently, residing in Washington, DC. He attended Prince George’s Community College, MD, where he received an Associate’s Degree in Fine Arts, and at the University of the District of Columbia where he received his Bachelors of Art. In addition, Turner has travel abroad in his independent studies to places as: France, Monaco, and Italy. In 1995, he joined the National Gallery of Art Copyist Program.
In addition, he has had one-man shows and several group exhibitions in the eastern United State, including Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, LaGrange, GA, Agora Gallery, New York, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Washington DC, African American Museum, Philadelphia, and John A.Wilson Building, Washington DC. His work is represented by the Foundry Gallery in NW Washington DC.
Turner has served as a panelist for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanity (DCCAH), Anacostia Museum, and American Dreams. He has painted public murals ( interior and exterior), since 1988 throughout the District of Columbia, most notably: Barry Farms Recreation Center, SE Washington DC, and the New Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, SE Washington DC. Turner has been the recipient of various honors and awards including: Arts and Fellowship Grant 2024, FY 2023 Arts and Fellowship Program(DCCAH), Commission for Kimball Elementary in 2019, Public Art Building Communities Grant (PABC) in 2008, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest International Artist Grant 1993.
Artist Statement
A few years back, I had the opportunity to travel aboard. The four month residency in Giverny, France at the Foundation of Claude Monet sponsored by Lila Wallace, Readers Digest, Arts International Program, allowed me to visit Monaco, and Italy. Prior to this, I enjoyed painting on site and painting murals. However, it was this trip that made me appreciate my surroundings. For instance, when abroad; the foliage mix in with various styles of architecture, really caught my eye. My life changed, when I was able to walk through famous painter’s subject matter. I asked myself? What made these landscapes interesting to them? Years later, I learned the answer. I learned that when we have unlimited access to our surroundings, there is a tendency to take it for granted. This was confirm with the Pandemic. Therefore, only when these sites are no longer accessible, do we realize the fullness of its beauty. My inspiration comes from the city and its surroundings. My work displays various Urban Cityscapes scenes, normally overlooked, portrayed in oil and watercolor. Like the French painters, who used everyday scenes surrounding them for future generation to see, so does these works presented here. Some works show Southeast’s neighborhoods and its changes, with cranes ushering in the new, while pushing out the old or covering up the remaining red brick housing projects. Whether, it is a boat on the Anacostia with a glimpses of an urban cityscape that’s leaves the viewer wondering, the whereabouts of the Frederick Douglas Home or the many hidden stories of the river? It's the city subtle changes, history, and culture, that at times are overlooked, however; its story is my inspiration that has to be shared visually. Just like the French Impressionist that shared their culture to the world.
