Calendar of Events

Join hummingbird aficionado, Chris Mahoney, and learn about the fascinating world of ruby-throated hummingbirds. The hummers live in our valley April through October. How do you attract and keep them in your yards? This program will give you the answers. Hummingbird feeders will also be on sale. Fee: $5 non-members/free to members.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Visitor Center: Monday: by appointment only for tour groups and school trips; Tuesday-Saturday: 9AM-5PM; Sunday: 1-5PM (March 1 - November 30). For information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Our annual Stars on Stage fundraiser, presented by Regal Entertainment Group, is a swell time—and an aptly named one at that. We've hosted some major entertainers in the past, and this year's guest of honor, Al Green, delivers some sweet soul music. VIP ticketholders are invited to a pre-show catered reception and a silent auction including items such as autographed posters and photos of Kris Kristofferson and Tony Bennett, as well as a Gibson guitar signed by Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald and David Cook! All attendees get to participate in an exciting live auction conducted from the stage. It's a fun night to support the Historic Tennessee Theatre!

Historic Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Mabry-Hazen House Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located on 6 acres and situated on the highest hill east of downtown, the Mabry-Hazen House offers a panoramic view of Knoxville unlike no other. While one of the Foundation’s most well attended functions has been their Boomsday, Bluegrass, and BBQ event, there are many others to choose from that are sure to peak your interest. For more information: 865-522-8661, www.mabryhazen.com

ETTAC's HeartSong Festival of the Arts -- includes a performance of the 2010 eXceptional Orchestra with the Oak Ridge Symphony and the Children's Dance Ensemble, instrument making with George Reynolds, puppet-making and story telling with Georgi Schmitt, and a community music-making event with Sean McCullough. Come and see demonstrations of remote-control boats and much more! The event is free; donations are welcomed! For more information or to volunteer, call Lois at (865) 219-0130. At the Tennessee Amphitheater in Knoxville.

At the Tennessee Ampitheatre, World's Fair Park, Knoxville.

Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble: 865-588-8842, www.tcdedance.org

May 22, 9-5 CST and May 23, 11-5 CST

FREE ADMISSION & PARKING! Located at 108 Log Cabin Lane, 2 miles north of Pikeville on U.S. Hwy. 127. Information: 423-533-2664 or 423-618-7386. Great Food -- 100% handmade crafts--Live Music, Porch Pickers, Demos & Entertainment; Civil War re-enactors --canon; Quilt & tractor display; heritage living skills; B.A.B.S.-Blooms & Baskets Spinners; children’s train rides & make-it & take-it art projects; master gardeners; costume contest; antiques; Dog agility/ obedience; cornhusk dolls; limber-jacks; “shave horses;” drop-spindle; leather tooling; blown glass; stain glass; puppets; doll furniture; rag rugs; rock candles; honey; butter-making; herbs; tin-punch; basket weaving; wool spinning; antique toys; fly-tying and casting; woodcraft and carving; candlemaking; jewelry; gourd art; soapmaking; dulcimer-maker; wooden trunks; photography; fabric / felt art; oils / watercolor/ acrylic; purses; dolls; birdhouses; scroll saw art; barnwood / cedar furniture; silhouettes; tole painting; mosaics; mailboxes / arbors / swings, and much more. See our website at www.logcabindays.org

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

An exhibit featuring the work of TVUUC members and friends will be on display at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. This show displays the TVUUC congregation's wide range of artistic talent and is displayed in the entry exhibit hall at TVUUC. The public is encouraged to share the vision and artistic skill of the TVUUC community. Free and open to the public!

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

With instructor Mary Biggs. Part of the "Diversity in Dance" series.
Sundays.

Circle Modern Dance: 865-524-7615, www.circlemoderndance.com

As a special fundraiser for Jubilee Community Arts and the Laurel Theater, Jim Lawler, a meditation teacher certified by the American Meditation Society, has agreed to teach a 3-session meditation course at his home (about one mile south of UT Hospital on Alcoa Hwy) in exchange for a $40 per person contribution directly to JCA. Sessions will be three consecutive Sunday afternoons at his home. Jim has been teaching meditation for 10 years and has taught through ads in Metro Pulse, at the Laurel, through various churches, and through UT non-credit programs. The course through UT costs $99. A brief description of that course is included below. Space is limited, so please register by contacting him at jlawler@utk.eduor 573-9142. Additional information will then follow.

Meditation for Stress Management: We are bombarded by constant, external demands in our lives, which impact both the body and the mind. Our lives are chronically out of balance. Instead of doing, we need to spend some time just being. Come join us to learn how meditation can reduce your stress levels by allowing you to sink into silence and train your mind to release the negative thoughts that rule your life. Classes will include a discussion of the physiology of stress and relaxation, and an introduction to a mantra-based meditation, which calms the mind and relaxes the body. Individual feedback will be provided to ensure that all students are practicing the technique correctly. We will also discuss the changes that typically occur when you meditate regularly.

Many high quality pieces produced in East Tennessee will be on display!

Opening reception May 8, 7-9pm; gallery talk at 6:30 pm.

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9AM-5PM; Saturday-Monday, 1-4PM. For information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org