Calendar of Events

The Knoxville Watercolor Society will have a mixed-media exhibit at the Village Fine Art Gallery. The gallery is located at 4600 Old Broadway in Fountain City. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, April 26th from 2:30 to 4:30 PM. The public is invited. Refreshments will be served. Information about the show and the gallery is available on line at www.villagefineart.com or you may call owner/director, Carolyn Mullins at 687-0411. Gallery hours are 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through Saturday. They are closed on Sundays.

Twenty-one 8th graders of The Episcopal School of Knoxville will present the school's annual Hunt for History dramatization in Old Gray Cemetery. In an event made atmospheric by gravestones and spring flowers, the students wear period costumes and tell the stories of historic characters buried in the cemetery. FREE. Parking available at St. John's Lutheran Church.

543 North Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917. For more information, visit the Web site or call (865) 522-1424.

1050 World's Fair Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10am-5pm, Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. For more information: (865) 525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Knoxville Zoo invites party animals of all ages to celebrate conservation of the local environment and Earth's diverse inhabitants at Party for the Planet. This Earth Day bash is one of more than 100 parties being thrown across the country at Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoos and aquariums. Environmentally conscious organizations will have representatives on-site with interactive displays and family activities. Area students will also have the opportunity to make recycling a fine art-literally! Elementary and middle school students can compete in The Recycled Art Project, a challenge to create art out of reused and recyclable materials. High school students can show off their artistic abilities by participating in the Barrel Project, a competition in which teams design and paint recycling barrels with conservation and environmental themes. The art projects will be on display during Party for the Planet, and visitors and Knoxville Zoo's Green Team will choose the winners. Selected projects will be displayed after the event on zoo grounds. Teams will receive free admission to Party for the Planet to cheer on their creations, and the first place teams will win special zoo prizes. Registration for The Recycled Art Project and The Barrel Project is required by April 15. For more information or to register, contact Kellie Burns, Party for the Planet coordinator at (865) 637-5331, ext. 371, or by email at kburns@knoxville-zoo.org.

Knoxville Zoo is located off exit 392A from Interstate 40 and is open every day except Christmas Day. Hours: Weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and weekends from 9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Admission and ticket sales stop one-hour before the zoo closes. Next-day admission is free after 3:00 p.m. For more information, please call 865.637.5331 ext. 300 or visit www.knoxville-zoo.org.

Row, row, row your cardboard boat at the Cardboard Cruise benefiting Knoxville Zoo at the lake at Chilhowee Park. The Cardboard Cruise challenges teams of four to design and build a cardboard boat that can navigate a 250 meter course on the lake at Chilhowee Park. Registration begins at noon, and racing begins at 2:00 p.m. Boats will be on display by 1:00 p.m. Boats must be constructed of cardboard, paint, tape, glue, caulk and varnish or polyurethane. Teams are encouraged to decorate their boats as well as themselves! Awards will be given for first, second, and third place finishers. For teams that are more into form than function, there will also be awards for most stylish boat, ugliest boat, and best sink.
Registration for the Cardboard Cruise is required by April 22. The $200 entry fee for a team of four is donated to Knoxville Zoo, and discounted rates are available for schools and nonprofit groups. For more information or to register a team for the Cardboard Cruise, contact Preston Cloud at (865) 599-8431. The lake at Chilhowee Park is located near the Jacobs Building and Knoxville Zoo. Traveling west on I-40, take the Rutledge Pike exit 392A and follow the signs to the zoo. The lake is next to the zoo's lower parking lot.

Annual Victorian Tea. Guests will enjoy traditional tea and food as well as a guided tour of the museum. Ticket costs are $30 per person and all proceeds go towards the preservation of the museum. P lease RSVP by calling 865-522-8661 or visit www.mabryhazen.com for more details.

This semester students in Art 461: Advanced Print Workshop completed a collaborative project with ten tattoo artists in Knoxville. The completed print, in an edition of 25 impressions, includes zinc etching plates by each of the participating artists. Tattoo studios represented include Saint Tattoo, Knox Vegas Tattoo, Hard Knox Tattoo and Ace High Tattoos. Join us at the Downtown Grill and Brewery, 424 S Gay St. in Knoxville, TN 37902, (865) 633-8111.
For more information, contact Beauvais Lyons, 974-3202.

The first art show. Admission is free. An opening reception will be held on April 25 from 6:30-8:00 PM in the Hiawassee College Library, Madisonville, TN. The Association was established approximately two years ago and meets on the 4th Monday of each month at 1:00 PM at the Hiwassee College Science Building. For more information, contact Stephen Hankal at 423-295-5784.

In celebration of Earth Day next month, we're putting together an exhibit showcasing artwork created from recycled and reused materials, and we would love for you to participate! All entries must be made of at least 50% recycled/reused materials. The opening is scheduled for April 24th from 6-9pm. The work will be judged and eco-friendly prizes will be awarded during the gallery opening. All the proceeds Mighty Mud collects from the show will be donated to Keep Knoxville Beautiful.

865-595-1900, www.mightymudclay.com. Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00am - 5:00pm

April 24-25, May 1-3, 7-10, 15-17. When a broke and failing Broadway producer and his accountant discover they could make more money with a flop than with a hit, they set out to raise 2 million dollars and produce the worst show ever. The result is a German sausage of a musical featuring dancing storm-troopers and a very gay Hitler. The biggest smash in Broadway history and winner of a record 12 Tony Awards.

227 Broadway in Historic Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For more information, call (865) 482-9999 or visit the Web site.

In the history of opera there is perhaps no iconic image more well-known than that of tenor Enrico Caruso as the clown in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. His million–seller recording of the opera's famous heartbreaking tune "Ridi, Pagliaccio" launched the opera on a journey of unequaled popularity in songs, movies, commercials, cartoons, and television! Knoxville Opera's Rossini Festival production of Pagliacci with projected English translations will tear up the stage at the Tennessee Theatre on Saturday, April 25 at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 26 at 2:30 p.m. The dynamic cast, under the baton of Maestro Brian Salesky, stars tenor Michael Hayes as the betrayed clown, turning laughter into tears.

Preceding the opening performance, a complete scene from the Festival opera will be performed on the outdoor Opera Stage at Knoxville Opera's free admission Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair (Saturday, April 25 , Noon – 9:00 p.m.) on Gay Street. The Pagliacci cast and chorus in costume will delight the crowd at 5:15 p.m. with the opening scene during which an Italian travelling clown comedy troupe arrives to announce its evening performance. Pagliacci will be performed in its original two-act, uncut 1½-hour version with one intermission. Maestro Brian Salesky will offer an onstage Opera Preview at 1:45 p.m. prior to the Sunday performance. For tickets ($10 and up for students, $15 and up for adults), please call the Knoxville Opera Box Office at 865-524-0795, extension 1.

Thursday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 26 at 8:00 p.m.

Bijou Theatre, 803. S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. More information: (865) 974-8935, www.music.utk.edu/events