Calendar of Events

The Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus presents “Distant Conversations: Paintings of Marcia Goldenstein and Tom Riesing”. The exhibition in the Clayton Center’s Blackberry Farm Gallery features paintings by Marcia Goldenstein, a professor at UT’s School of Art, and Tom Reising, chair of the Department of Art at Ball State University. A reception will be held Nov. 22 from 6-8 p.m.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

The Fifth Annual Southern Appalachian International Film Festival is bringing films from around the world to Pellissippi State Community College. The event, which comes to Knoxville following screenings in Kingsport, is free and open to the public. Screenings take place at all four Pellissippi State locations: the Pellissippi Campus, Blount County Campus, Division Street Campus and Magnolia Avenue Campus.

Among this year’s films is “Broken Springs: Shine of the Undead Zombie Bastards.” A locally made production, the film stars regional cast members and was shot in Rogersville and the surrounding area.

“Broken Springs” is one of more than 130 features and short films submitted to the festival from 10 countries. More than 20 new films arrived from China. Short films include documentaries, live action and animation.

Here are a few of the SOAPIFF highlights:
· “Alfred Noyes’ The Highwayman,” the tragic tale of an 18th century outlaw. The film is by Knoxville filmmaker Kent McQuilkin, with lyrics and music by Grammy-nominated Loreena McKennitt.
· “Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau,” a short feature about Henry David Thoreau’s final two days at Walden Pond. The film focuses on his environmental concerns.
· “Perry County,” a short film by Matt Durning and N’Jeri Eaton (www.perrycountyfilm.com). A true story of legacy, waste and environmental justice, the film documents the controversial decision to dump millions of tons of coal ash from the 2008 spill in Kingston into a landfill in a poor, predominantly black county of rural Alabama. One of the film’s central voices, Perry County Herald publisher and co-editor John Allan Clark, has agreed to attend the screening at Pellissippi State. He will talk about the film and the situation in Perry County at a special pre-festival showing. The event is at 5 p.m. Oct. 27 on the Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1601 E. Magnolia Ave. While in Knoxville, Clark also will testify at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing on coal ash regulation. The hearing is at the Marriott Hotel before the screening.

Visit www.pstcc.edu/filmfest/ for schedule and screening locations. Visit www.soapiff.com for additional film information. Or, e-mail Pellissippi State Media Technologies faculty member Michael Tomlinson at mjtomlinson@pstcc.edu. Individuals with a disability who need accommodations should contact Ann Satkowiak, asatkowiak@pstcc.edu or (865) 539-7153.

Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu

By Connie Ray & Alan Bailey. Country holiday songs blend with traditional favorites, including handbells and Christmas ornaments. A joyful, funny, touching, and heartwarming show! Playing for the 11th season.

Crossville, TN. Information: 931-484-5000; www.ccplayhouse.com

By Joe Masteroff, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. A romantic musical comedy about anonymous pen pals who are co-workers in a gift shop and unknowingly fall in love.

Crossville, TN. Information: 931-484-5000; www.ccplayhouse.com

The exhibition includes more than 40 works Bates produced in response to Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it brought to the Gulf Coast. His iconic images capture in dramatic fashion destroyed property and displaced people, as well as the emotional devastation in the wake of this event. Many of the paintings are monumental in scale, including The Storm, a triptych that measures 21 feet in width. In this series, Bates’ paintings affirm both horror and life and serve as powerful reminders of the ability of art to represent the spectrum of human experience.

Bates, a well-known Texas artist who has long chronicled the people and places along the Gulf Coast, is based in Dallas. His work has been presented around the country in solo exhibitions at major galleries and in numerous important group shows.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is the only venue in the eastern United States hosting this exhibition, which is organized by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

A members-only preview party is scheduled for Thursday, October 28 from 5:30 – 7:30pm and will include a gallery talk by the artist.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Friday, 10AM-8PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. For information: 865-934-2036, www.knoxart.org

by Gale Fury Childs; Adapted from The Story of Opal – The Journal of an Understanding Heart by Opal Whiteley. Based on the childhood diary of naturalist Opal Whiteley, the play tells the magical story of a young girl in the Cascade woodlands in early twentieth century Oregon. Surrounded by singing creeks, talking trees, and invisible fairies, Opal’s story charms and educates. Studio Series: Performances will take place in the Lab Theatre. Great for young audiences!

1714 Andy Holt Avenue on the UT Campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.org

By Lerner & Lowe. The magic and beauty of the Scottish Highlands form a backdrop for the enchanting story of a magical village that only appears for one day every hundred years.

Crossville, TN. Information: 931-484-5000; www.ccplayhouse.com

Interested in learning what role Jewish community members Sam and Virginia Morrison played in Elvis Presley’s career? (Hint: It happened on Market Square.) Ever wonder what Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” would have been called if one of Knoxville’s Jewish community leaders, Max Friedman, had not spoken up? Curious about what distinguishes the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge as unique in American history?

The story of Jewish immigration to Tennessee and how those who came here embraced the culture they found is the subject of this touring exhibition from the Tennessee State Museum. It follows the Tennessee Jewish experience from the 1770s, when the first Jews immigrated to upper East Tennessee to escape religious persecution in Europe. The exhibition then guides visitors through more than 200 years of history by way of compelling stories and images that illustrate the development of Jewish communities across the state; in East Tennessee, congregations located in Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Chattanooga, and Blountville are featured. The exhibition also explores how Jews were able to preserve their religious and cultural heritage while at the same time embracing and supporting the culture found in Tennessee.

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

Celebrating the Human Form. In the Sandra J. Blain Galleries. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

A juried and judged show. Open to the public. Opening reception on Friday, October 8, 6:30-8:00PM.

213 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.com

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

A traveling exhibition from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. One of the most celebrated styles of Maya pottery is Chamá Polychrome, named for a small site tucked into a curve of the Chixoy River in the Alta Verapaz of modern Guatemala. Other than the beautiful ceramic cylinders, spectacularly painted with multi-hued portraits and narrative scenes, very little is known about the site. Through artifacts, text panels, rare photographs, maps, graphics, and videos, this unique exhibit reveals the world this Maya region during the Late Classic era (AD 700-900). The exhibit portrays a time of political change in a troubled outpost of the Maya world, and a human story of power and intrigue among people who lived more than 1300 years ago. Nineteen Chamá Polychrome vessels are accompanied by more than 100 objects that illustrate Maya daily life, religious ritual, and shifts in rulership. The history of one Maya group unfolds in the exhibit’s themes:
• Class and hierarchy among the Maya.
• Trade along the Chixoy River, down to Tikal and the other great Maya cities of the Petén.
• Pilgrimage journeys to sacred caves and rivers.
• Religion and ritual in the sacred landscape of the Popol Vuh, the great Maya creation myth.
• Chiefly power and artistic style in scenes on polychrome vessels that illustrate historic events.
• The Maya of Chamá today, heirs of a culture the survives more than 500 years after the Spanish conquest.
• New techniques of scientific analysis that help us understand the ancient Maya through their material remains.

1327 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Mon - Sat: 9:00A to 5:00P, Sun: 1:00P to 5:00P. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu