Calendar of Events

The Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival (GFAF) is an outdoor family event that features quality artists from around the country along with Appalachian music from area artists. Volunteers from the community produce the festival to benefit the Sevier County Arts Council and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, an internationally recognized visual arts center, providing creative experiences year round. 2010 will be the sixth year of the festival and large crowds are expected. Gatlinburg is a thriving tourist destination and a gateway city to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with over 9 million visitors annually. The festival is being held in the center of the city along River Road and on the grounds of Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies.

Free admission! http://gfaf.net/

Celebrate the music, dance, crafts and arts of the British Isles and Appalachia. Featured performers include: The Cluster Pluckers, The Boys of County Nashville, Liz McGeachy & Tim Marema, Lark in the Morn English Country Dancers, and more! Plus some 60 artists and craftspeople demonstrating and selling their wares; children's activities, historic building visits, dance, and more. Admission $8; two-day $12; K-12 $4.
Information: 888-214-3400, rugbylegacy@highland.net, www.historicrugby.org

6th annual MayFest Fine Arts and Master Crafts Faire produced by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center. Coinciding with Greeneville’s Iris Festival, the MayFest Fine Arts and Master Crafts Faire is the brainchild of James-Ben Stockton, director of Greeneville’s regional destination gallery in the downtown historic district. The MayFest Faire will be located in the parking area between James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center and the General Morgan Inn, at the corner of North Main and Church Streets. Hours for the festive occasion are from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, May 15th, and from noon until 5 PM on Sunday, May 16th. As in previous years, the artist and artisans assembled will stimulate sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Visually focused art will be represented by Barbara Miller, Sam Bass, Lorna Paquin, and Michele Howe. Visual with the added element of touch is represented at the MayFest Faire by Claude Harden, Tom Cogburn, and Dell and Jane Hughes. Sound, taste, and smell will be brilliantly represented at the Mayfest Faire. Local recording artist Dane Hinkle, joined by friends and special guests, will sing a fine mix of his compositions and classics to the accompaniment of acoustic guitar and his amazing harmonica.

James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center, 129 North Main Street, Historic Morgan Square, Greeneville, TN 37743. Information: 423-787-0195.

The 2009-2010 News Sentinel Pops season will conclude with Cirque de la Symphonie. As KSO Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum leads the orchestra in classical favorites such as “Les Toreadors” from Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Ravel’s Boléro, Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances and music from John Williams’ Harry Potter and Star Wars; aerialist, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen will perform routines choreographed to the music. It’s a feast for the eyes and the ears!

At the Civic Auditorium, 500 Howard Baker Ave, Knoxville, TN 37915. More information: (865) 291-3310, www.knoxvillesymphony.com

Several of Knoxville's leading women are coming together on May 15 to help the women of Knoxville cultivate body awareness, self-esteem and confidence in their bodies. Angela will partner with Angie Collins and Awakened Reiki yoga to help you empower yourself. The workshop includes tea and will last from 3 - 7. Call 865.748.6885 for registration and information.

Knoxville Zoo invites the royalty in your family to a fairytale adventure in our animal kingdom. Bring your little princess (or Prince Charming) to enjoy enchanting activities at Princess Day. Of course, all frogs are welcome, too! On Princess Day, young ladies ages 12 and under who come to the zoo dressed as princesses and young gentlemen ages 12 and under who arrive dressed as a prince receive free admission with a paid adult admission to Knoxville Zoo. And since no fairy tale would be complete without a frog in the mix, any little visitors age 12 and under who come to the festivities dressed as their favorite amphibian will receive free admission with a paid adult admission as well. (Free admission cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount, and one child free with each paying adult on May 15, 2010, only.) Princess Day will also feature some special activities to make it a majestic day, including the chance to meet
pretty princesses from far and wide, and a treat fit for a king or queen to the first 300 attendees aged 12 or under. One lucky regent will win a Royal Prize Package for six that includes free admission to Knoxville Zoo and a ride to Princess Day in a white limousine on May 15. Details on how to register as well as contest rules and requirements are available on Knoxville Zoo’s web site at www.knoxville-zoo.org.
For more information on Princess Day at Knoxville Zoo, please call (865) 637-5331 or visit the zoo’s web site at www.knoxville-zoo.org.

At the UT Visitors Center.
For information: 865-524-0795, www.knoxvilleopera.com

Vision, Language, and Influence brings together for the first time the work of three photographers of the American South over a 50-year period. Walker Evans (1903-1976) is represented by incisive images of Alabama sharecroppers stemming from his epic collaboration with James Agee on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern writer and photographer who traveled across Mississippi in the 1930s and early 1940s taking photographs and documenting rural and small-town life in her home state. Baldwin Lee (born 1951) is a professor of photography at the University of Tennessee, and a former assistant to Walker Evans. Complementing the 50 or so works by Evans and Welty are more than 30 of Lee’s images of African-American life in the South taken during the 1980s with the support of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Vision, Language, and Influence was organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art in collaboration with Baldwin Lee.

Free admission. Hours: Tues-Thurs 10-5; Fri 10-8; Sat 10-5; Sun 1-5. 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37916. 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org, info@knoxart.org

The Knoxville Watercolor Society will host a showing of new paintings by its members at the Fountain City Art Center from May 14 to June 11. There will be an opening reception on May 14 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Center. The reception is free and open to the public.

In “Student Exhibits,” Mary Secrist’s students’ watercolors will be on display at the same time as the KWS exhibition, a perfect teamup!

213 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.com

The Tennessee Artists Association is hosting a fine arts show and sale in Farragut in a BIG WHITE TENT located in Village Green Center on Kingston Pike. This is an opportunity for local artists to display and sell their fine art in a festive environment.

Tennessee Artists Association: 865-675-2285, www.tennartists.org

The Tennessee Artists Association is hosting a fine arts show and sale in Farragut in a BIG WHITE TENT located in Village Green Center on Kingston Pike. This is an opportunity for local artists to display and sell their fine art in a festive environment.

Friday, 12-7 PM (with reception at 5 PM)
Saturday, 9-6
Sunday, 12-4

Tennessee Artists Association: 865-675-2285, www.tennartists.org

As festival season approaches, music lovers and mountain protection activists have a great opportunity to kick the season off right. AMP (Appalachian Mountain Protection) Music Fest will showcase a variety of artists that would rarely be seen on the same playlist, let alone in the same venue. Lucky for festival-goers, this diverse combination of musicians is easily accessible between three stages at the same event.

AMP Music Fest will be held in Knoxville’s Old City at Southbound Bar and Grill. AMP is an event devoted to celebrating the beautiful Appalachian Mountains and gathering support to prevent mountain top removal in the Tennessee area.

The festival aims to spread awareness of the harmful and tragic effects that mountain top removal has on our mountains and our communities, and it gives local artists who are not everyday activists the opportunity to get involved. All of the proceeds from AMP Fest will go to support the United Mountain Defense Fund, which seeks to eliminate the practice of mountaintop removal and directly benefits counties right here in East Tennessee.

AMP boasts an eclectic lineup with every musical genre from folk and bluegrass to electronic and slam poetry. You’ll hear fiddles, banjos, guitars, drums, bass and dirty, filthy beats for those who love to dance. Over 20 artists will perform on Southbound’s three stages. The AMP performers include Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Truly Grimy, Big Country's Empty Bottle, Mac Comer, Midnight Radio, Lane Shuler w/ Black Atticus, Skytown Riot, Magma Blood, Mamma Jamma, DJ JMarsh, Uncle Mountain, BlackJack, Refried Grass, Red County Gospel and more to come.

Knoxville’s own Big Country’s Empty Bottle will be playing the headlining spot on Friday night with their funky mix of bluegrass, acoustic and folk rhythms. They are known for gettin’ the crowd boogie’n with their playful Americana music infused with blues, jazz and bluegrass overtones.

On Saturday, Fletcher, NC-based BLACKJACK will be kicking off the second day of AMP with their outrageous intensity and wild stage energy. They'll playing everything from Ozzy to Skynyrd– which is impressive considering their average age is 14. Saturday night will bring forth two amazing headlining performances by Holy Ghost Tent Revival and Truly Grimy. The Greensboro-based six-piece ensemble that goes by Holy Ghost Tent Revival will be bringing music that is even more creative than their name. They meld brass and banjo with guitar, bass, drums and keys into nothin but foot stompin' "guaranteed-good- time" music. Saturday night will close with a late-night DJ set by Truly Grimy, Johnson City's premier experimental/hip-hop producer. More artists will be added to the AMP lineup in the coming weeks.

Complete information about AMP Music Fest, including the full list of performers, can be found at www.ampmusicfest.com. Tickets can be purchased via the Internet as well as at the gate on each of the festival days. Stay tuned to www.ampmusicfest.com for more information on tickets and artist additions!

For more information about this please contact Emily at emily@supremalexmusic.com. 828-242-4537, www.supremalexmusic.com