Calendar of Events

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Knoxville Opera: Rossini Festival

Category: Culinary arts, food, Dance, movement, Exhibitions, visual art, Festivals, special events, Fine Crafts, Free event, Kids, family, Music and Theatre

Join us for Knoxville Opera’s annual Rossini Festival, an international street fair celebrating the music, food, art, and culture that shape East Tennessee! This beloved event transforms downtown Knoxville into a vibrant, family-friendly celebration with non-stop entertainment, delicious food, and local artisan vendors. April 12 & 13, in Downtown Knoxville Admission: Always FREE!
• Live Performances on Four Stages – Enjoy opera, jazz, gospel, classical, ballet, modern, and ethnic dance for 11 hours each day!
• Food & Drink Vendors – Savor delicious international and local flavors!
• 75+ Artisans & Vendors – Discover handmade jewelry, clothing, home décor, and more from talented creators across East Tennessee.
• The Y FunZone – A special area packed with activities to keep the kids entertained!

For over 20 years, the Rossini Festival has been a must-attend event, bringing together more than half a million visitors to experience the arts and culture of Knoxville. Don’t miss this fun, family-friendly celebration—there’s something for everyone at the Rossini Festival!

Knoxville Opera: 865-524-0795, https://www.knoxvilleopera.org/rossini/

Townsend Visitor Center: Exhibition and Sale

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

April 11-13, 9:00-4:30

We are excited to share our artwork reflecting the Spring season. Sixteen artists will be displaying their fiber arts, jewelry, paintings, photography, pottery, and woodworking. Demonstrations are planned for each day so you can explore our techniques and, maybe, answer questions about some of your own pursuits.

Meet the artists, enjoy unique locally created arts, and find gifts for yourself, friends and family.

The Gallery will also be open and the original work of forty artists will be displayed. The work will include fine art, fine craft and gifts of drawings, fiber arts, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, pottery, stained and fused glass, and woodworking.

Join us at the Townsend Visitor Center, 7906 East Lamar Alexander, and at the Townsend Art Center, 7719 East Lamar Alexander in Townsend. https://www.tnvacation.com/local/townsend-smoky-mountains-visitor-center-townsend

Gallery 1010: All Roads Lead to Nowhere

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

Gallery 1010, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 114, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Reception Thu 5-7 PM, Sat 10 AM – 1 PM, or by appointment. Information: https://gallery1010.utk.edu/

The showing is a painting installation by Maxwell Edmonds.

He built many shaped canvases which will suspend from the ceiling for the audience to take in the double sided oil paintings.

This show centers fictional subjects based in the unsettling nature of America’s highways and the feelings the artist has experienced as a driver and passenger. Maxwell Edmonds is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Two Dimensional Arts with a Painting and Drawing concentration. He aims to unsettle and delight with all of his work.

Gallery 1010 is a contemporary art exhibition space located at 100 S. Gay Street in Suite 114 of the Emporium Center of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. As one of three University of Tennessee School of Art galleries, Gallery 1010 is the only fully student-run, non-profit, off-campus exhibition space in the state of Tennessee. The mission of Gallery 1010 is to provide space for the School of Art students of the University of Tennessee to experiment and develop new ideas while gaining educational gallery experience in professional standards and practices.

UT School of Art: MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Group 2

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

In partial fulfillment of their graduation requirements, students pursuing the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree are required to mount a solo exhibition of work. Due to the number of graduate students enrolled in the UT School of Art, these exhibitions generally take the form of small groups of students presenting concurrent solo exhibitions in the gallery space.

Reception: April 11, 5-7pm

Kaitlyn Anderson - Tethered
In Tethered, Kaitlyn Anderson considers the inherent tension of gendered issues within the religious spaces of southern Appalachia. Through animal forms, the installation draws attention to the duality of resilience and shame; highlighting how this disproportionately impacts marginalized groups.

Kyle Cottier - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
In Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Kyle Cottier’s sculptures form an intricate lattice of interwoven wood and collaged photographs, exploring systems of mending, containment, and loss. Their fluid, permeable structures dwell in the tension between ruin and repair, where repetitive gestures oscillate between care and control, shaping both material and environment.

Hannah Langer - Dispersal: The Choice of Rediscovery
On December 8th, 1998, I was abandoned in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Changfeng County, Anhui Province, China; eleven months later, I was adopted by a Caucasian couple from Beverly, Massachusetts. As a transracial adoptee, I have felt that a portion of myself was left in China, resulting in a lifelong struggle to understand a sense of home, culture, and race. Through the exhibition Dispersal: The Choice of Rediscovery, I explore the loss of relating to my own origin.

Ruchi Singh - Multiplied by Infinity
A space transforming the ordinary into extraordinary - Ruchi Singh's time-based installations are inspired by everyday life, childlike wonder, Indian philosophy and its relation to science. These artworks represent the story of discovering the bigger truths of life, while making the intangible tangible.

https://ewing-gallery.utk.edu/upcoming-exhibitions/

Tri-Star Arts: Featuring Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi & Meg White

  • April 4, 2025 — June 14, 2025

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

MAIN GALLERY
A solo show, Injury: Thirteen Studies, featuring recent work by artist Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi (Johannesburg, South Africa)

PROJECT SPACE
From Dark To Blue by Meg White (Milwaukee, WI)

Tri-Star Arts at Candoro Marble Building, 4450 Candora Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-5. Information: https://tristararts.org/visit

Art Market Gallery: Carol Quinn and Patrick Deason

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

First Friday Reception: April 4th, 5:30 - 9 pm
April Featured Artists

Carol Quinn, Mixed Media
Carol has painted and exhibted since the late 1980’s, mostly in the Southeast. She has also been in exhibitions in
NYC through World Fine Art Gallery, Ariel Gallery, and Abney Gallery. Carol is inspired by nature and the local beauty of her local area, as well as the psychological processes that create this inspiration. She has been a member of Art Market Gallery since 2018. In the last few years Carol has participated in many solo and group shows in the Knoxville area. Carol was educated at the University of Tennessee (BS, MS, and PhD.) in Human Ecology. She began painting in the early 80’s as a watercolorist painting mostly nature, and rapidly moved into various mixed media, larger creations, and more abstraction in design. Her work consists of self-exploration and experimentation with different mediums, and the passion of exploring color and textures.

Patrick Deason, Sculpture
Patrick's art in metal grew out of other interests. His skills are self-taught and many of the tools he uses to shape metal were made by him. Patrick spent a large part of his career on the coastal waters of Georgia and Florida, hence the many marine related pieces. His whimsical works are intended to bring smiles and curiosity. Patrick's studio is in a house in the woods he shares with his wife, two dogs, and a very talkative parrot.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-6. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net, www.Facebook.com/ArtMarketGallery

Pour Taproom: Exhibition by Holly Pawlowski

  • April 4, 2025 — April 27, 2025

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

They will be on view and available for purchase until the end of April.
First Friday reception, April 4, 6-8 PM
Instagram @hollypawlowskiart
https://www.facebook.com/holly.pawlowski.71

Address: 207 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 337-5726

Awaken Coffee: Emily McTyre

  • April 4, 2025 — April 27, 2025

Category: Culinary arts, food, Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

Friday, April 4 from 6-8 Awaken Coffee will host an opening reception for Emily McTyre

Emily McTyre is a photographer, filmmaker, and mixed media artist from East Tennessee. Her photography is often inspired by travel, evoking a sense of place for the viewer.

More about this collection: Emily enjoys working with black and white film as it emphasizes light and shadow, texture and pattern. Photos in this collection were taken around the world: England, Germany, Georgia, and Tennessee. Whether it be our own backyard or many miles away, we can capture moments and symbols of familiarity that tie us together.

Please join us for some amazing art and of course great coffee!

Awaken Coffee, 125 W Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Open daily. Information: 865-951-0427, www.instagram.com/awaken_coffee or www.facebook.com/awakencoffeeoldcity/

Arts & Culture Alliance: No Bigger Than a Breadbox

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, April 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM. A free gathering with the exhibiting artists will also feature live music by Robinella and friends.

No Bigger Than a Breadbox – Biennial Small Works Show in the upper gallery
The Arts & Culture Alliance’s fourth biennial juried exhibition features selected works from 48 artists throughout the region. The exhibition was designed to celebrate the innovation of artists who create work on a small scale (under 12”) and in a broad range of media and styles. Over $1,500 in cash awards will be announced at a brief awards ceremony at 5:30 PM on Friday, April 4 with remarks from the juror, Julie Lohnes.

Exhibiting artists include:
+ Mary Burk Smith of Wallingford, CT
+ Ashley Helton of Cleveland, GA
+ JoEl Levy Logiudice of Ashland City, TN
+ Terri Jordan of Clarksville, TN
+ Thomas Neckvatal of Crossville, TN
+ Brent Quarles of Jefferson City, TN
+ Sally Brogden, Jordan Butzine, Raeus Cannon, Heather Casteel, Victor Costantino, Rachel Sevier Dallery, Landin Eldridge, Drew Ellis, Shannon Ferguson, Gordon Fowler, Deana Fulton, J. Leigh Garcia, Karen Hall, Drew Justice, Hannah Jun Langer, Ashton Ludden, Shelley Mangold, Paulina Marchant, Sara Blair McNally, Sonja Oswalt, Amber Purdy, Rebecca Robinson, Robin Rohwer, Adam Rowe, and Chloe I. Wack of Knoxville, TN
+ Steven McQuilkin of Lenoir City, TN
+ Bernard R. Sizemore II and Lois Trader of Loudon, TN
+ Betty Bullen of Luttrell, TN
+ Brooke Holmes of Maryville, TN
+ Yvonne Dalschen, Garrett Durland, Lynn Fisher, and Robert Grassel of Oak Ridge, TN
+ Shana Goethals of Sevierville, TN
+ Carra Artis of Seymour, TN
+ Suzette McCauley of Townsend, TN

The exhibitions will be on display April 4-26, 2025 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and additional hours TBA. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, April 21, for the holiday. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley: Seasons of Change

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event and Kids, family

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, April 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM. A free gathering with the exhibiting artists will also feature live music by Robinella and friends.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley: Seasons of Change in the Atrium
Seasons of Change embraces the vibrant artwork of young artists from the Youth Arts Initiative Program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley. Through classes and workshops, these young creatives are encouraged to explore and grow in their artistic practice. Featured in the exhibit are a diverse range of works, including fiber arts, ceramics, photography, and more. Each piece reflects the theme of change, inviting students to reflect on their personal experiences of transformation.

Over the course of several months, students have honed new skills and built confidence, often working in art forms they are discovering for the first time. We are proud to share the art created by our talented students and celebrate their journey as emerging artists within our community. For more information, visit www.bgctnv.org

The exhibitions will be on display April 4-26, 2025 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and additional hours TBA. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, April 21, for the holiday. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

Arts & Culture Alliance: Jack Retterer – POETOGRAPHY; Blending Poetry and Photography

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event and Literature, spoken word, writing

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, April 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM. A free gathering with the exhibiting artists will also feature live music by Robinella and friends.

Jack Retterer – POETOGRAPHY; Blending Poetry and Photography on the North wall
POETAGRAPHY … Blending poetry and photography. On the surface, poetry and photography appear to be two very different and unrelated art forms. But, as legitimate arts forms, they have much in common. Both help us explore, communicate and understand the human experience. Both can bring our deepest emotions to the surface. They can also help us recognize how we are all more alike than different. As an artist, poet and photographer, my biggest challenge is maintaining a balance in my Poetagraphy creations so that the poetry is not just a caption nor is the image simply an illustration. Each poem and image must be able to stand on its own, and when presented together, create a new and more complete emotional experience beyond what either can accomplish alone.

Originally from the Chicago area, Jack Retterer was introduced to photography at age 16. Early education came from a combination of trial and error and self-study of photography by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Yosef Karsh and others. He later took classes at the Chicago School of Photography. Frequent attendance at workshops, photography club seminars and conferences helped further his skills. Before moving to Tennessee, Retterer taught photography at Benedictine University in Naperville, IL; currently, he teaches Fine Art Photography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is active as a teacher and speaker for art and photography groups, and his work has sold and received recognition in numerous Tennessee venues. His present and past professional affiliations and memberships include Professional Photographers of America, Professional Photographer of East Tennessee, Tennessee Artists Association, Arts & Culture Alliance, Art Market Gallery, Art Guild of Fairfield Glade, Tellico Village Art Guild, Foothills Craft Guild, and the Tennessee Poetry Society. He has served on the boards of artist and photography associations in both Tennessee and Illinois. For more information, visit jackrettererphotography.com

The exhibitions will be on display April 4-26, 2025 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and additional hours TBA. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, April 21, for the holiday. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

Arts & Culture Alliance: Roberta Smashey: Birds and the Bees

Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville opening on Friday, April 4, from 5:00-9:00 PM. A free gathering with the exhibiting artists will also feature live music by Robinella and friends.

Roberta Smashey: Birds and the Bees in the display case
Roberta Smashey is a stained glass artist creating both nature-themed and abstract works using the glass foiling technique developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. By utilizing hand-made glass sheets of various colors and textures, she produces dynamic depictions of the beauty found in nature. The variations in artisanal glass give a unique feeling of depth and movement with this challenging medium. Using the Tiffany technique coupled with the beauty of glass and a lifelong study of wildlife, Smashey seeks to evoke appreciation of our natural world in all who view her creations. Whenever possible, she adds antique glass repurposed from old church windows and often incorporates at least one feature made from the older glass. In addition to her glass creations, Smashey is a nationally recognized wildlife artist represented in several museum collections and fine art galleries. Besides using traditional acrylic painting methods, she creates many of her art works using a combination of abstract with pointillism which produces a distinctive texture and appearance and enhances certain textures and colors. Using this technique, she has produced a series of paintings that incorporate Braille messages, and all of the pointillism paintings are meant to be touched.

The exhibitions will be on display April 4-26, 2025 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM; and additional hours TBA. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, April 21, for the holiday. Most of the works on exhibition will be for sale and may be purchased by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.

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