Calendar of Events

by Charles Dickens; Adapted by Edward Morgan and Joseph Hanreddy. For those who have embraced this Dickens’ classic as part of their holiday ritual -- and for those about to discover it for the first time -- Scrooge, the Cratchitts, and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come return to the mainstage.

December 1-3, December 8-10, December 17, Wednesday-Friday, 7:30 PM - These performances are part of the Penny Performance program for Knox County students ages 5-18. Visit www.penny4arts.com for more information.

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

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

The Farragut Folklife Museum invites the community to visit “An Old Fashioned Christmas” exhibit. This special holiday exhibit will feature items from the Museum’s collection of artifacts as well as items belonging to Folklife Museum Committee members. Three dollhouses will be on display, including one designed and built in 1929 by local architect Malcolm Rice for his daughter. The Rice doll house was a National Architecture Award recipient in 1930. Originally with electricity, the doll house was enjoyed by three generations of the Rice family. In addition, visitors will see the Colonial doll house, designed in 1970 by an Atlanta architect and built and furnished by Chester and Mattie Dunlap for their daughter. Chester is the brother of the late Bill Dunlap, who served as the Museum’s exhibits designer since its inception as part of the Tennessee Homecoming ‘86 Celebration. The exhibit will also feature an antique baby cradle donated by Museum Committee member Libbie Moulden Haynes. Built in the 1850s, the cradle was made on a Strawberry Plains farm owned by Libbie’s ancestors and passed down for many generations in the Moulden family. Other highlights of the exhibit will include a doll dating back to 1900 and numerous antique games.

Farragut Folklife Museum, 11408 Municipal Center Dr, Farragut, TN 37934. Hours: Monday-Friday, 10AM-4:30 PM. For information: 865-966-7057, www.townoffarragut.org

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

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

Inviting women singers, all voice parts, for Christmas performances throughout Knoxville with the Smoky Mountain Harmony Show Chorus.

Weekly rehearsals take place at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 6900 Nubbin Ridge Rd.

Contact Nancy at 865-521-6975, www.smokymtnharmony.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