Calendar of Events

Work by Jason Shoemaker
627 N Central St, Knoxville TN
865.386.8848

Opening reception March 6, 2:00 PM.
Visit a fantastic world full of magic created by Marta Goebel: strange machines, people, and animals - illustrations of never-written fairy tales.

Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 West Outer Dr, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For information: 865-482-1074, www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org

The Art Market Gallery of Knoxville will spotlight the work of two member artists, Lisa Kurtz, clay and Diana Scott-Auger, paintings. The Gallery will host a First Friday Reception for the Featured Artists on Friday, March 5 from 5:30-9 p.m. with light refreshments and music by Webford Brown & the Town.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-6PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net

String quartets from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will travel to local libraries during the month of March to read stories and play music for pre-school aged children as part of the orchestra’s Story Time Program. The theme for this season’s program is dancing animals. Musicians will read books such as Giraffes Can’t Dance and When Cats Go Wrong and explore different types of dance music including the tango and the Hokey-Pokey. These performances will help to highlight the connections between music and literacy and introduce the string instruments to young audience members. KSO Library Story Times are made possible by the Arts Fund of the East Tennessee Foundation. All Story Time performances are FREE and open to the public.
March 2, 11:00 AM - South Knoxville Library
March 3, 11:00 AM - Carter Library
March 12, 10:00 AM - Caryville Library
March 16, 4:30 PM - Lawson McGhee Library
March 17, 10:30 AM - Halls Library
March 17, 2:30 PM - Murphy Library
March 24, 11:00 AM - Lawson McGhee Library

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, 100 S. Gay St, Ste 302,Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

Providing visitors with a fascinating glimpse into aspects of Appalachian culture that are fading from the scene, among them some that were infrequently practiced but that nevertheless came to be associated in the public consciousness with the region. With camera and recorder in hand, photographer Don Dudenbostel and field recordist Tom Jester documented places, practices, and personalities, such as churches where they “take up the serpent,” moonshining, Mennonite communities where life is lived much as in the mid-1800s, religious symbols, and the less savory aspects of cockfighting and KKK meetings. Also included are roadway scenes, such as tourist courts, ferries, filling stations, peanut stands, and grocery stores. The exhibit also examines the concept and stereotypes people often have of Appalachia by placing the featured subjects within the larger historical context. Among the several items featured are a game cock transport box, male and female serpent-handling dolls and folk-art by the Reverend Jimmy Morrow, the hat of Popcorn and a half-gallon jar of moonshine autographed by him, wood-carved crafts, a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe c. 1920, a tent revival sign, and more. A catalog and CD of recordings featured in the exhibition is available for $10 in the Museum Shop. Both the exhibition and catalog are made possible through a grant from the Gene and Florence Monday Foundation.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: Monday-Friday: 9AM-4PM; Saturday: 10AM-4PM; Sunday: 1-5PM. For information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

At the O'Brien Art Gallery. For specific dates and updates to exhibits: 865-882-4649, wilkersonbs@roanestate.edu, or www.roanestate.edu/art/gallery.

Reception February 26, 6:30-8:30 PM
213 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.com

In this recent series of photographic studies of botanical subjects-Flora and Fauna, Maryland artist Robert Creamer concentrates on a blending of his interests in technology and the aging process. These photographic images were captured using a scanner as a camera. The work began as “look what technology can reveal.” Digital technology is a vital and integral part of this process but is not what interests the artist the most. The scanner is a tool that enhances his ability to observe. These images are about time, transformation and transitions. As noted by the curator of Creamer’s 2007 exhibition Transitions at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History, “Robert Creamer has a deep respect for change—its subtle palette and patterns, the surprising structure of decay, and the integrity that graces every stage of life. In a Creamer photograph a browning petal becomes as glorious as the newly opened bloom. The numbered museum specimen transforms into contemporary sculpture. The arresting detail and Baroque luminosity of these photographs are the result of a lifetime behind a camera and a recently discovered technique—the flatbed scanner. Creamer’s careful use of rich blacks or negative space helps emphasize the light of the subjects and allude to the mystery of an ever-present dark.”

To quote Creamer,” Photography has been very good to me. Photography most of all has given me the opportunity to explore, be curious, and allowed me an avenue to interpret the world around me as an artist, a teacher and as a professional architectural photographer.”

First Friday Opening Reception March 5, 5:00 – 9:00pm; the artist will be present.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Wednesday-Friday: 11AM - 6PM; Saturday: 10AM - 3PM. For information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

Celebrating their 15th anniversary season, The WordPlayers aims for the sky with this entertaining and thought provoking musical revue. With book and lyrics by Helen Kromer and music by Frederick Silver, this unique work promises an extraordinary evening. For Heaven’s Sake! will make you laugh, cry and think as it takes a satirical look at the church of today. You will be stirred to ask important questions and inspired to make a difference in your world.

Feb. 25, 26, 27 @ 7:30 pm, Feb. 28 @ 2:30 pm, and March 4, 5, 6 @ 7:30 pm
TICKETS: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors/Students; $8 Groups of 10 or more; Thursdays are “Pay What You Can” nights. Tickets may be purchased online at www.cmajor.net (Events) or at the door (cash or check) All seats are general admission. Performed at The WordPlayers' Theatre at Middlebrook Christian Ministries, 1540 Robinson Rd. at Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37923. For information: 865-539-2490, www.wordplayers.org

Celebrating their 15th anniversary season, The WordPlayers aims for the sky with this entertaining and thought provoking musical revue. With book and lyrics by Helen Kromer and music by Frederick Silver, this unique work promises an extraordinary evening. For Heaven’s Sake! will make you laugh, cry and think as it takes a satirical look at the church of today. You will be stirred to ask important questions and inspired to make a difference in your world.

Feb. 25, 26, 27 @ 7:30 pm, Feb. 28 @ 2:30 pm and March 4, 5, 6 @ 7:30 pm.
TICKETS: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors/Students • $8 Groups of 10 or more • Thursdays are “Pay What You Can” nights. Tickets may be purchased online at www.cmajor.net (Events) or at the door (cash or check) All seats are general admission. Performed at The WordPlayers' Theatre at Middlebrook Christian Ministries, 1540 Robinson Rd. at Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37923. For information: 865-539-2490, www.wordplayers.org

RACHEL CLARK, BRIENA HARMENING, and JESSICA KREUTTER. Reception on March 5, 5:00-9:00 PM.

RACHEL CLARK: I consider the contemporary artist a deejay, mixing eclectic signs of culture and art. Using this analogy, I’ve created a painting index of one hundred paintings using personal and cultural icons to construct a range of associations within a grid installation. Rachel Clark received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. That same year she was an artist-in-residence at the Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan. In 2009, Clark curated a group of forty-two art students and professional artists to form the exhibition “Seven Times Standard”. Clark is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and lives between Knoxville, TN, and Athens, OH.

BRIENA HARMENING: The alter ego has been used by many performance artists to explore alternate personalities or to investigate identities other than themselves. Two years ago I created an alter ego, “Ilene”, as a way to explore autobiography through storytelling. Ilene’s character is a combination of my southern heritage, the southern stereotype, and myself. The stories, not always flattering, are nonfiction and comment on the diverse personalities of family members, relationships, class, and the belief systems within family units. Briena Harmening is an autobiographical, narrative artist that works in multi-media. She received her BA from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida, and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Recently, her work has been exhibited in Video Artists Explore Southern Identity, at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee, and the 2nd Annual Narrative Shorts International Film Festival at California State University, Chico, California.

JESSICA KREUTTER: I am interested in the discarded object that retains a trace of time. These objects hover on the rim of what is acceptable and what is not, of life and death, of remembering and forgetting. They connote a time of transition, an intermediate time where another realm is absorbing the previous. It is also a place of fantasy and imagined time, where the histories buried in the object are invented and the future is anticipated, yet unknown. In this atmosphere, I want to imagine what forms materialize from the shadows left behind. Jessica Kreutter graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in Anthropology and Sociology, and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Before enrolling in her graduate studies, Jessica worked as a ceramic sculpture artist and art teacher in Portland, Oregon. Her work can be found at Guardino Gallery, Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, and Beet Gallery. This year, she will take part in a group exhibition at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, as well as Clay? III , a show that investigates the increasingly important role of ceramics in contemporary art. Last year, Jessica was a visiting artist for the ceramics department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as working as the summer ceramic studio assistant at The Mendocino Art Center


Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday & Thursday: 10AM-8PM; Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 10AM-5PM; and Sunday: 1-4PM. For information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Each year the Sevier County Arts Council organizes the exhibit to showcase the talent of students from all grades, including those who are home schooled. All media is represented in this year’s show, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and glass. This year’s entries were juried by Karen Green, the Gallery Coordinator at Arrowmont. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org