Calendar of Events

The artistry of H.P. Ijams is commemorated in a special display, entitled Designs, Blueprints, Patent Drawings: The Illustrated Legacy of H.P. Ijams, at the Museum of East Tennessee History. A limited edition set of 16 Ijams' Christmas Postcards is also now available for $15.00 (inc. tax). Pick up a set at ETHS or Ijams.

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

The Town of Farragut Arts Council will sponsor the 2011 Private Schools Art Show this February at the Farragut Town Hall. Don’t miss this opportunity to view the work of some of the community’s most talented high school artists from Knoxville Catholic High School, Christian Academy of Knoxville and Webb High School. Awards will be given for best in show, first, second and third places at an awards receptionon Tuesday, Feb. 8, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. The art show and reception are free and open to the public.

At Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive. View the show during regular Town Hall hours: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. 865-966-7057.

For almost five decades, Jim Gray has painted in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, creating a body of work that captures, according to the artist, "the ever changing pattern of light and shadow [that moves] across the ancient faces of the Smokies." The retrospective exhibition, Roads I've Traveled, showcases these East Tennessee-inspired landscapes, as well as additional selections from Gray's life's work, including wildlife, floral, and marine paintings and assorted sculptures in bronze.

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

It’s almost February … remember those New Year’s resolutions you made nearly a month ago? It’s not too late to pursue them, and if you need a shot of motivation, here’s your incentive. Motivational speaker and author Marcus Engel is coming to Pellissippi State Community College to inspire audiences to achieve success—with “No excuses!” as he loves to say. The community is invited to attend the free presentations.

To say that Engel is well equipped to share his ideas on motivation is to vastly understate his experience and his message. While a freshman in college, he was catastrophically injured by a drunken driver. As a result, he lost his sight, endured unimaginable pain, and spent six months in rehabilitation school and two years in medical recovery.

His motivational talks are full of humor and hope. His message of overcoming adversity and achieving academic and professional success will change the audience’s definition of “possible,” and his story should inspire attendees to get out and do what’s necessary to achieve success. Engel is the author of three books: the autobiographical “After This… An Inspirational Journey for All the Wrong Reasons,” “I’m Here: Compassionate Communication in Patient Care” and “The Other End of the Stethoscope,” a tribute to health-care professionals that offers insight and strategies for excellent patient care. He travels all over the U.S. as a motivational speaker. Some of the questions he’ll tackle: What would happen if you learned to be truly optimistic, to view obstacles as opportunities? What if you could really change your life?
Engel presents “The Best You Can” at three Pellissippi State campuses:

+ Feb. 7, 10:45-11:40 a.m., Magnolia Avenue Campus, with a meet-and-greet at 10
+ Feb. 7, 12:55-1:50 p.m., Division Street Campus, with a meet-and-greet at 2
+ Feb. 8, 12:25-1:45 p.m., Goins Building Auditorium, Pellissippi Campus, with a meet-and-greet at 2

Engel speaks a third time that day, at 2:30, on “Finding Hope for All the Wrong Reasons,” also in the Goins Building Auditorium. That presentation is part of the college’s Common Academic Experience, which revolves this academic year around the theme of happiness. Engel also gives a presentation on “The Other End of the Stethoscope” to the college’s Nursing students and faculty Feb. 8 at 9 a.m. at the Blount County Campus. For more information, contact Michele DeFelice, at (865) 539-7249.

Saturday February 5, 2011 at 6pm, The Beck Cultural Exchange Center will be hosting the Opening Ceremony of the annual Beck Cultural Exchange Center Black History Month Exhibit entitled, WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!; an extensive collection of historical artifacts from the actual Civil Rights Era touring from the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. This brilliant and yet delicate display is celebrating the 51st Anniversary of the Tennessee Civil Rights Sit-In Movement and is scheduled to tour across the United States beginning right here in Knoxville, Tennessee! The WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED Exhibit contains tables, bar stools, signs, pamphlets, booklets, magazines, postcards, photos, and a host of other original treasures that have been preserved from the actual Sit-In Movement during the 1960’s and beyond! This one of a kind exhibit that also features postcards of Dr. Martin Luther King at our very own Highlander Center in New Market Tennessee, will inspire you and move you to a deeper understanding of the African American heritage and their determination to Overcome, as well as the many other cultures that aided in that “Dream” coming into fruition!

The Opening Night Ceremony of the WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED Exhibit will feature our area’s most talented speakers, presenters, musicians, actors, and dancers, including The legendary Robert J. Booker, Dr. Harold Middlebrook, Avon Rollins, Sr., Will Boyd & Kelle Jolly, Knoxville Opera’s Michael Rogers, Vocalist Horace Smith, Orator Janice Nzie, Poet Andre Canty, Dancers Mikael Merchant & Daniel Lineberger, Singer/Producer Lar’Juanette Williams & Optasia Productions cast of We Shall Overcome!, and the outstanding Blues Hall of Fame East Tennessee native, Wallace Coleman with His Band from Cleveland Ohio! WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED Exhibit will be on display at The Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Inc. during the entire month of February. Come relive history through the walls of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center with tours of the facility, exhibits, and music all month long. We invite you to enrich your life by learning more about the birth of the Civil Rights Movement and Sit-in Demonstrations here the state of Tennessee. WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED is sponsored by AT&T, Premiere Building & Maintenance, The Arts and Cultural Alliance of Greater Knoxville, and The Tennessee Arts Commission. WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED opens February 5, 2011 at The Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Avenue, 6pm and will run the entire month of February! Don’t Miss It!

1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville. TN 37915. Phone: (865) 524-8461; www.beckcenter.net

We are proud to have new paintings by Kimberly Woods-Pelton. Her nostalgic and colorful work will be on display and available for purchase all month.

URBhana, 115 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-951-5454, www.urbhana.com

The Unarmed Merchants is proud to announce that we will be featuring the photography of Charles Graves for the month of February. The show titled "People, Places and Things" will include around 20 hand selected works from Charles last 30 years. Opening reception is on Friday February 4.

Unarmed Merchants, 129 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12-7PM. Information: 865-549-5769, www.unarmedmerchants.com

In her first solo exhibition, “Threads and Fibers,” Gibson embraces fiber arts through textiles and printmaking. Gibson’s love of the outdoors and hiking has influenced all aspects of her art, and her exhibition addresses the impact that people have had on the land through the juxtaposition of manmade to natural motifs. Her work similarly explores the permeable border between humans, other animals, and plants. Marie Gibson was born and raised in East Tennessee, and she attended Ringling College of Art in Sarasota, FL, and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She has attended multiple workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Shakerag in Sewanee, TN. While at Arrowmont, Gibson discovered her love of fiber arts, and her artistic career took a turning point. Though she had loved textiles since elementary school, the instructors at Arrowmont introduced her to numerous and innovative dyeing and printmaking techniques. “I was freed from old, dated perceptions of quilting and doll making as well as printmaking,” says Gibson. Her art now sidesteps the false boundary separating craft from the fine arts.

“Threads and Fibers” will be displayed in the Balcony at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on February 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM with hors d’oeuvres and wine. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, February 9, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. For more information: (865) 523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com.

In this solo exhibition, Rice displays photographs of villages scattered throughout the countryside of Guizhou and Guangxi provenances in China, giving viewers an opportunity to visually experience the beauty of a people and place rarely seen by the west. Rice has traveled to Asia three times in the past year-and-a-half, visiting southern China twice, as well as Indonesia and Thailand. The remote mountains of southern China are home to the Miao and Dong people, two of China’s 55 officially recognized minority groups. The Miao and Dong have successfully maintained their rich language, culture and customs with little influence from the outside world. Their agrarian way of life, unique architecture, hand-crafted jewelry, and richly colored fabrics serve as a vivid reminder that, despite the rise of technology and the global economy, the world continues to be home to a diverse and often remarkably beautiful array of cultures and people. Seven thousand miles from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, the mountains of southern China offer a unique glimpse into the lives of an isolated group of people group that, not unlike the Appalachian culture of 100 years ago, is defined by a rustic lifestyle and a rich heritage of music, arts and craft. Knoxville native Dean Rice has enjoyed photography for the past 25 years. Rice serves as the chief of staff to Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and is an adjunct member of the faculty in the University of Tennessee’s College of Communication and Information.

“Another Way of Life: Photographs by Dean Rice” will be displayed in the Balcony at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, from February 4-25, 2011. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on February 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and wine. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, February 5, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM and Sunday, February 6, 12:00-5:00 PM as part of the Foothills Craft Guild’s Fine Craft in February show. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

A1LabArts announces “Insider Art”, an exhibition of work by Knoxville Museum of
Art board members, staff and volunteers, opening on First Friday, February 4, from 7-10PM at 8 Shooters Gallery at 1202 North Central Ave, in Knoxville. The show’s title “Insider Art” is a playful twist on what is known as “outsider art,” usually the art of untrained artists whose work has gained aesthetic recognition. As all of the artists in this show are associated with an established art institution, they can be considered as trained “insiders” who create works of art. This exhibition is organized and presented by A1Labarts, as part of their outreach program.

Opening Reception on Friday, February 4, 2011, 7-10 PM, with an awards presentation at 8:30PM. Closing Reception on Friday, February 18, 7-9PM. Regular gallery hours are from noon - 4PM Monday through Thursday; gallery hours can be confirmed by phone at 865-545-4480. For additional information please contact Norman Magden, President, A1LabArts at 865-805-3190 or nmagden@utk.edu. www.a1labarts.org

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will continue its Library Tour with string quartets traveling to local libraries during the month of February to read stories and play music for pre-school aged children as part of the orchestra’s Story Time Program. The theme for this season’s program is Happy Birthday KSO! The program will open with a reading of the KSO’s recently published book Better Than Cookies, As Good As Cake, written by KSO cellist Stacy Nickell Miller. The book introduces string instruments by telling the story of a young girl who receives a violin. She finds that the sound that her violin makes, both alone and as part of a string quartet, is better than cookies and as good as cake. The characters in the book, illustrated by Stephen Brown, are loosely based on members of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Pre-school children will then learn about the “treats” that animals eat in The Wide-Mouthed Frog, hear Dr. Seuss’s Happy Birthday To You! and join in wishing the KSO a happy 75th birthday! These performances will help to highlight the connections between music and literacy and introduce the string instruments to young audience members. All Story Time performances are FREE and open to the public.

February 3 11:00 AM Smart Toys and Books
February 8 11:00 AM South Knoxville Library
February 10 4:00 PM Farragut Library
February 11 10:30 AM Caryville Library
February 15 10:30 AM Murphy Library
February 16 10:30 AM Carter Library
February 17 10:20 AM Lawson McGhee Library

Information: 865-291-3310; www.knoxvillesymphony.com

Fort Craig Elementary School

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