Calendar of Events

The American Enka and the Modern Labor Movement exhibition, curated by Dr. Jennifer E. Brooks, examines the 1950 strike at the American Enka plant in Hamblen County. The plant provided much-needed jobs to the rural workforce of Hamblen and surrounding counties, including Jefferson, Greene, Cocke, and Grainger. The strike began in March 1950, when workers at the at the rayon plant walked out on strike. Before long, the company advertised for replacement workers. Tension built as people from local and surrounding communities appeared at the Enka gates to apply for the jobs to replace the striking workers. In the violence that followed, shots were fired, cars damaged, and a home dynamited. Tennessee Governor Gordon Browning dispatched National Guard troops to restore order. Before its end, the strike became national front-page news and was later the subject of onsite congressional hearings held in Morristown and led by Hubert Humphrey for the Democratic majority.

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

Loggia Gallery. Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 20, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

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

Now in its fifth year, this world-class exhibition of 25 large-scale sculptures can be viewd in downtown Knoxville and the McGhee Tyson Airport. The 2011 exhibition juror will be John Henry and will feature up to 35 large-scale, outdoor sculptures. The selected sculptures will be exhibited in downtown Knoxville. For more information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

"Cold War Crisis: The U-2 Incident" exhibit details the story of Francis Gary Powers, a U-2 pilot flying photographic reconnaissance missions for the CIA. His plane was downed by a Soviet surface-to air missile on May 1, 1960 and he was convicted of being a spy and held in Russian prison until February 11, 1962, when he was dramatically exchanged for a Soviet spy in New York, in the first Cold War Spy exchange.

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

There will be an opening reception on Friday, April 8 from 5:30 * 7:30, free and open to the public.

Knoxville Arts and Fine Crafts Center, 1127 Broadway Suite B, Knoxville, TN 37917. For information: 865-523-1401, www.cityofknoxville.org/recreation/arts

The Tennessee Iris Invitational sponsored by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center will be on display at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center, overlapping the Greene County Iris Festival, May 20-22. A Meet the Artists reception will be held May 1 from 1-3 p.m., followed at 3 p.m. by a Greeneville High School band concert. Featured works include reverse painting on plexiglas, manipulated digital images, oil on canvas, watercolors and sculpture by dozens of artists from across the state. Viewing hours are Monday — Friday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

212 Tusculum Boulevard, Greeneville, TN 37745. Info: 423-638-1679, www.greenevillenpac.com

2nd annual juried photographic exhibition.
Opening Reception : March 26, 7—9 PM with a gallery talk at 6:30.

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

The Knoxville Watercolor Society will be showing their newest works in a Spring Show and Sale at the Knoxville Museum of Art's Community Gallery from March 18th to May 15th. On Sunday, March 20th an opening reception which is free to the public will take place from 2 to 4 PM. Refreshments will be served.

Call Wilda Clark at 865-588-6828 or the Museum at 865-525-6101 for more information. 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: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

February 17, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments March 11–May 15, 2011.
Amplified Moments is the first major U.S. exhibition to survey the work of Xiaoze Xie (pronounced shout-zah shee-ay), an important Chinese contemporary artist. More than 30 works document his achievements in painting, drawing, photography, installation, and video, and represent his use of books and newspapers to symbolize the fragile nature of history and memory.

Although Xie intended to pursue a career in architecture, the violent military crackdown on student protesters at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 compelled him to shift his energies. He left the People’s Republic of China three years later after completing his training as a painter, and began using symbolic imagery derived from newspapers, decaying books, museum libraries, and media images of current events. For Xie, stacks of printed pages represent not only cultural memory and the passage of time, but the ways in which history is interpreted and recorded according to various belief systems and political agendas.
Xie’s labor-intensive paintings consist of successive layers of pigment applied over several weeks. Working largely from photographs, the artist paints in a manner that is influenced by his camera. Some imagery appears cropped, blurred, and hazy, as if viewed through a photographic lens or perhaps through the filter of memory. The resulting compositions reach near-photographic precision without losing the evidence of the artist’s masterful brushwork.

KMA members are invited to an exhibition preview Thursday, March 10, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. The artists and exhibition curator Dan Mills will present a short gallery talk at 6:30pm. A cash bar will be available.

Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Friday, 10AM-8PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. www.knoxart.org

The 11-month residency program is an opportunity for emerging artists to further develop both artistically and professionally. This exhibition showcases their progress.
Reception: April 9, 6:00-8:00 PM

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

What: Art exhibit

Elizabeth Porter: "Disconnected"
Mixed media

Conrad Reinhardt: "Beyond Time and Place"
Digital photographs and oil paintings

Free and open to the public

When: March 6 through May 6, 2011
Opening reception Friday, March 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists' talks at 7 p.m.
Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918
An exhibit featuring the art work of Conrad Reinhardt and Elizabeth Porter-Moses will be on display at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919.
Contact: Roy McCullough
Sperrin@bellsouth.net
865-281-2435