Calendar of Events

American Museum of Science & Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Monday-Saturday 9AM-5PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-576-3200, www.amse.org

Popcorn balls and paper chains… Fruits and nuts in their stockings … Carols by the fire … A cedar tree cut in the nearby woods- that’s the Christmas most rural Appalachian children knew. And it's the Christmas we recreate each year throughout the Museum village at our special Christmas in Old Appalachia.

Sing Christmas carols along with musicians in the Homestead House, where they'll be singing holiday and traditional songs every day during December. Sit and visit with the kids over some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies from the Museum Restaurant.

Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Hwy., Clinton, TN 37716 (16 miles north of Knoxville at I-75, exit 122, then one mile east). Open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Information: 865-494-7680, www.museumofappalachia.org

Reception: Friday, Dec 3, 5:30 PM-8:00 PM during the annual community tree-lighting celebration. An exhibition featuring works by: Phil Homes, Sharon Collins, Tim Frain, Caroline Blanks, Mark Goodman, Sam Bass, Barbara Miller, Janice Senter, Marie Merritt, David Davis, Paul Lancaster, Michelle Howe, Lorna Paquin, Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter, Medha Karandikar, and Caroline Blanks.

Exhibition hours: December 1st –December 24th from 10:00 until 5:30 M-S, Open Sundays 1:00-5:30

December 27th through January 6th (12th Night) Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30-5:00 (The 12 Days of Christmas Countdown)

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

Students from grades six through 12 showcase their talents at the Knoxville Museum of Art during the fifth annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition. The exhibition, presented by the Tennessee Art Education Association and the KMA, offers students the opportunity to display their artwork and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment. The awards ceremony for the artists on Tuesday, December 7 at 6pm at the KMA is open to the public and free of charge.

Awards for students total over $600,000. The Best-of-Show winner receives a purchase award of $500, and the artwork becomes a part of the collection of James Dodson, on loan to the Knoxville Museum of Art’s Education Collection.

Categories for the competition include ceramic, drawing, digital imagery, mixed media, painting, computer graphics, sculpture, traditional photography, and printmaking. The competition includes works from middle and high school students, grades six – 12, from public, private or home schools in East Tennessee.

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

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

The Fountain City Art Guild and Fountain City Art Gallery proudly present the 2010 Annual Holiday show and sale. Guild members will display a diverse range of paintings from watercolors to acrylics, oils and mixed media. Free and open to the public. Opening reception Friday, November 12, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9AM-5PM; Wednesday & Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. For information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.org; www.fountaincityartguild.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

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

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.