Calendar of Events

Vocalist Carmen Bradford was discovered and hired by the great Count Basie and spent nine years touring as the featured vocalist in his band. She has since performed and recorded with artists such as George Benson, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, Lena Horne, Joe Williams, Patti Austin and countless others. This concert is sure to be the perfect Valentine's Day treat for your special someone.

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com. Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

In association with the Better English Fund, Writers in the Library, Ready for the World, the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Judaic Studies Program, and the Commission for Women. All events take place at 7 p.m. at Hodges Library Audtorium unless otherwise noted. All events are free and open to the public.

Wilson is the author of the short story collection, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2009), which received an Alex Award from the American Library Association and the Shirley Jackson Award. His fiction has been featured in Ploughshares, Tin House, One Story, and elsewhere, and has appeared in four volumes of the New Stories from the South: The Year's Best anthology. Ecco will publish his novel, The Family Fang, in the summer of 2011.

Wilson lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his wife, the poet Leigh Anne Couch, and his son, Griff, where he teaches fiction at the University of the South and helps run the Sewanee Writers' Conference. For more information: Marilyn Kallet, Director, Creative Writing Program. mkallet@utk.edu, 865-974-6947

The Fountain City Art Center is having a dinner and dance with the theme “Une Soiree a Paris”! Broadway Swing will provide the music. Holland Rowe will take dance photos. Tickets are $20 per person including dinner, but must be purchased in advance. 60 tickets are still available if you call or come by the Center.

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. For information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityart.org

Faculty voice recital, classical works
Performance Hall 32, Alumni Memorial Bldg.
FREE and open to the public.

1408 Middle Drive on the UT campus. Please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events

Roald Dahl’s splendid allegory of family, friendship, solidarity, and sacrifice (author of "Charlie And the Chocolate Factory" and "James And the Giant Peach").

THE COMPLETE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE is:
Fridays, Feb. 11, 18, 25 at 7 PM
Saturdays, Feb. 12, 19, 26 at 1 PM and 5 PM
Sundays, Feb. 13, 20 at 3 PM
Thursdays, Feb. 17, 24 at 7 PM

Located at 800 Tyson Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-599-5284, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com, info@childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition featuring oils, acrylics, pastels, photography, fiber, and more by the visual artists of the Emporium Center. The exhibition will be on display February 11-25, 2011 in the main gallery at the Emporium Center at 100 S. Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

The artists featured in the exhibition include:
Mike C. Berry – Oil, pastel – www.mikecberry.com
Bobbie Crews – Mixed media – www.bobbiecrews.com
Judi Gaston – Fiber, hand-woven garments
Bob Leggett – Watercolor, pastel
Pam Radford – Oil, watercolor
Alex Smith – Oil landscapes and portraiture – www.alexsmithstudios.com
Ray Snyder – Weaving
Kurt Weiss – Photography – www.weissphotography.com
Sandy White – Oil, watercolor

For more information on the exhibition, please call (865) 523-7543 or visit www.theemporiumcenter.com

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

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

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.