Turk held a position from 1960 to 1965 as director of the Richmond Arts Center in Richmond, California,[7] before serving as director of the fine arts gallery in San Diego (now the San Diego Museum of Art).[3] He was the founding director and curator of the Arizona State University Art Museum (formerly the Matthews Center) in Tempe, Arizona, starting in 1967 and he retired in 1992.[8]
Turk's own artwork was in the mediums of painting, pottery, printmaking, and sculpture.[1] He took his first art class in the 1950s, and he found inspiration in early Christian art and catacomb paintings.[3]
He died on August 14, 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona.[9] He was survived by his wife Wanda Lee Turk (née Borders) and their four children.[9]