Calendar of Events

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

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

Art Market Gallery of Knoxville is pleased to present two special exhibits: jewelry by featured member artist Kristine Taylor and Reelin’ in Red, a special showing of Valentine and love themed artworks in various mediums by member artists. Ms. Taylor creates unique one-of-a-kind and limited edition pieces of jewelry using a blend of polymer clay and traditional jewelry materials including stones, pearls, glass, metals and fibers. A First Friday Reception for these exhibits is planned for February 4th from 5:30-9 pm with complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Stacy Nickell Miller and Clark Miller.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-6PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9AM-5PM; Saturday-Monday, 1-4PM. For information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

An exhibit featuring the photographs and painting of Terri Swaggerty and oil paintings of Emily Spence Stables will be on display at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Free and open to the public. Opening reception Friday, January 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists' talks at 6:30 p.m.

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

Bliss Home is kicking 2011 off with a First Friday artist that is not one to be missed! Melissa Johnson has created truly unique and playful pieces of art that are not only beautiful, but also make a bold statement. The materials she uses range from actual vintage newspapers and magazines to vintage children's encyclopedias and fabric. The pieces capture Johnson’s personal experiences by involving culture and religion, love and relationships, body image, and American social codes and roles both from the 1960's and current. Her work will be on display at the 29 Market Square location through February!

29 market square. Addn info: anne@shopinbliss.com; 865.673.6711

Sevier County artists, aged 18 and older, were invited to submit artworks for consideration and 100 works created by 54 artists were selected for exhibition in the school’s main gallery. An opening reception and presentation of awards will be held Friday, January 28th from 6-8 pm in the Main Gallery. The event is open to the public and free to attend. Martha Connell curated the exhibition and sifted through more than two hundred works in order to select the art featured in the exhibition. Connell is from Atlanta and serves as a curator for a number of museum exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. The exhibition features a diverse array of media including painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, furniture, woodturning, ceramics, fibers, basketry and jewelry. Arrowmont’s galleries are free and open to the public.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org