Calendar of Events

Reception - Nov 15, 6:30PM in the Ewing Gallery, immediately following the 5:30 PM lecture.

Photographing Auschwitz By Robert Heller

Featuring over 30 black and white and color photographs, Architecture of Evil is an extension of Heller’s travels while completing a separate documentary photography project. In 2005, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville opened Living On , a major travelling exhibition of Heller's photographs and interviews of Tennessee Holocaust Survivors and Liberators. After its exhibition in Knoxville at The East Tennessee History Center, in 2006, Polish Ambassador and former Knoxville mayor Victor Ashe helped to arrange its travel to Warsaw during the summer of 2007. When Heller travelled to Poland for the opening, he was able to spend time photographing Auschwitz, the notorious concentration camp. His work had come full circle: first photographing Holocaust survivors in Tennessee, and then documenting the place where many of them were imprisoned during the war. Heller spent only six hours photographing the concentration camp and describes it as the most difficult assignment he’s ever undertaken.

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

This show will feature primarily oils and watercolors and will be judged. Guild members encourage everyone to attend the reception or at least come by the Center to view the exhibition. Reception November 12, 6:30-8:30 PM.

Also featuring Knox County Schools Student Art Exhibit: Bearden High & Middle, Cedar Bluff Middle, A. L. Lotts Elem., Cedar Bluff Elem., Rocky Hill Elem., and West Hills Elem.

Closed Dec 20 - Jan 3 for Christmas Holidays. 213 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.com

Opening reception on November 12, 6-7:30 PM with artists' talk at 6:30 PM. www.clinart.biz

Lil Clinard bases her watercolors on many of the photographic images she and husband John have taken on their wide ranging travels. She seeks expression in a loose and impressionistic manner of brush stroke, texture, color, light and composition, rather than photographic realism, allowing the viewer to complete the picture. "Watercolors lend themselves to this style and approach perfectly" she says.
She and John enjoy painting together and support each other's very different painting techniques. Lil has shown her work in regional group exhibitions, galleries and juried shows winning numerous awards. Her work has been juried into the Knoxville Arts & Cultural Alliance National Juried Show for the past three years. One of her cityscapes won “Best of Show” in the 2008 Tennessee Artists Association Juried Show, and she was awarded “Best Watercolor” in the 2010 Fountain City Art Center’s Juried Show. She participated in Artclamation! in 2009, and ArtXtravaganza in 2010. She is a member of the Art Market Gallery and active as an officer of the Knoxville Watercolor Society, Tennessee Artists Association and Art Guild of Tellico Village. She also is a member of Fountain City Art Center, Oak Ridge Art Center, and the Arts and Culture Alliance.

John Clinard
Though an Oak Ridge engineer by trade for 30 years, John Clinard's interest in art has existed since an early age. "Encouraged by my mother, Dot, to begin pencil drawings and oils I was inspired and taught by Dixie Snapp starting at the age of thirteen. (Dixie Snapp, now deceased, remains Greeneville’s most famous artist.) Later at UT in Knoxville, Charles Kermit Ewing taught both my wife Lil and me art appreciation and art history." John is, nevertheless, a mostly self-taught artist who has been painting for over 50 years. "I focus primarily on oil painting using a variety of subjects. Some paintings are composed from photographs from TN and from places visited, domestic and foreign. My work is mostly impressionistic, though certainly representational, with my focus on depth and perspective, contrast, simplified palette, and non-complicated but interesting composition." John is a member of the Fountain City Art Center, the Arts and Cultural Alliance, the Tennessee Artists Association, and the Tellico Village Art Guild.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Art Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM; Friday 9AM-4:30PM; Sunday 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

By Barbara Robinson. Join us for a laughter-filled, heart-warming evening and remember the true reason for the season!

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

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

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

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

Direct from a highly-acclaimed run on Broadway, the Tony-nominated Soul of Shaolin will premier at the Eastern Shanghai Theater in April. A Chinese martial arts spectacular, Soul of Shaolin features over 30 Chinese performers skilled in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu and tells the touching story of Hui Guang (pronounced “whey gwong”), an orphan boy who is discovered by the legendary monks of the Shaolin Temple and is raised among them. The show debuted at New York's Marquis Theatre in January 2009 as part of the China on Broadway series of productions. It received rave reviews from many American critics, with the New York Post describing the show as "a dazzling display of skill", while the Associated Press called it "astonishing and amazing".

In addition to a spectacular show, the Eastern Shanghai Theater will feature state-of-the-art sound and lighting and a spectacular 198-square foot LED backdrop. According to the show's executive producer, Lizhi Zhao: “The story of Shaolin is timeless and appeals to all audiences, young and old.” People coming to the Smoky Mountains this year may not want to miss limited engagement of Soul of Shaolin.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. each night with matinee shows Tuesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. For ticket prices and bookings call 865-453-8888 or visit www.EasternShanghaiTheater.com.