Calendar of Events

Xavier Rudd is an Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a globally influenced style. He mixes reggae, funk, blues, folk, and nearly every other sort of song to create organic melodies and dynamic beats.

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Edye Ellis hosts a discussion on environmental toxins’ link to cancer rates.
The popular Brown Bag Green Book series from Knox County Public Library and the City of Knoxville continues in the East Tennessee History Center, as Edye Ellis, breast cancer survivor and host of The Good Life, discusses Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber.

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

In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United States, where cancer rates have risen alarmingly since mid-century.

Ellis came to Knoxville in 1982 to do a magazine show and report on the 1982 World’s Fair for WBIR-TV. When the Fair ended, she stayed on to co-anchor the station’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. Since leaving the station in 1994, she has worked as a free-lance broadcaster and communications specialist, hosting The Good Life and Today at Home for Home and Garden Television.

The public is invited to join the conversation. Copies of the books are available at the Library.

The series will continue on June 15, with Frank Cagle, Metro Pulse columnist, talking about The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by James Gustave Speth.
For more information, please call Emily Ellis at 215-8723.

Featuring nineteenth century Tennessee-made earthenware and stoneware
Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900 is a major exhibition of nineteenth-century pots made in East Tennessee. This once-in-a-lifetime grouping of more than 200 distinctive regional pieces will make for an unforgettable exploration of this chapter of Tennessee history.
“This pottery, of which we are justifiably proud, provides a unique link in the continuum of the American potting tradition as it spread across the United States.”

The exhibit will explore all aspects of nineteenth-century pottery production in East Tennessee, as well as featuring comparative examples from other parts of the state. Visitors will learn how to “read” a pot, how a pot was made in the nineteenth-century, the difference between earthenware and stoneware, and the importance of pottery for households.

On Friday, June 3, ETHS will host the Smoky Mountain Pottery Festival at the History Center for an opening reception, pottery demonstrations, and a viewing of the Tennessee Turned exhibit. Two special “Pottery Day” events to be held June 25 and September 17 will invite the public to bring in pottery objects they may have in their families for possible identification and to be documented photographically for historical purposes.

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

AIGA Knoxville is proud to present Knoxville's first Design Week-five days of activities and events that will allow designers, creatives and non-designers to explore the profession of design as practiced in East Tennessee. Let's celebrate great design, engage each other and grow our expertise. Together, we will explore answers to the question: What is Design?
MAY 16TH--DESIGNWEEK KICK-OFF + KEYNOTE at the Emporium Center--6:00 - 8 PM

MAY 17TH--1:1 - DAY IN DESIGN KNOXVILLE--Various locations--Various times

MAY 18TH--PANEL DISCUSSION & OPEN STUDIOS - WEST KNOXVILLE
Latitude 35, Various locations lunch 11:30 - 1, tours 3 - 6

MAY 19TH--OPEN STUDIOS - DOWNTOWN & MIX & MATCH SOCIAL
Various locations--tours 3 - 6, social 6:15 - 8:30

MAY 20TH--ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 5.5 WORKSHOP
D.E.N. at Ivan Allen--2:00 - 5 PM

www.designweek.com

Map
Satellite
10+ Studios

On Wednesday and Thursday several Knoxville-based design firms are holding open studios. You're invited!

Downtown:
Elastic Pictures
Kate Moore
Morris Creative
Robin Easter
West:
Bluegill
Designsensory
Pyxl
Tombras Group
Participating in 1:1:
Elastic Pictures, Robin Easter, Designsensory, Pyxl, Tombras, 2313 Creative, Orange Apple Branding, Morris Creative, Metro Pulse, Richards Design Group, Luna Creative, The Village

Opening Reception: May 14, 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

An exhibition of artworks by current workshop instructors that represents their most recent explorations or relates directly to the class they are currently teaching. The Instructor Exhibition augments classroom and studio experiences by providing examples of contemporary work by national and international visual artists. 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

This is the first solo exhibition of works by the prominent Chinese artist to be presented in the United States outside of New York.

Ai Weiwei is perhaps China’s most famous contemporary artist. His artworks simultaneously celebrate and call into question Chinese culture and history. Organized by Arcadia University Art Gallery, Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn features a selection of ceramic works and photographs ranging from 1993 to the present. In these works, Ai Weiwei transforms ancient ceramic objects, including 7,000-year old Neolithic urns and Han dynasty vessels, by painting them with a “Coca-Cola” logo, dipping them into vats of industrial paint, smashing them on the ground, or grinding them into powder.

The largest piece in the exhibition is what appears to be a large pile of tiny sunflower seeds, a common street snack in China. Each seed, produced to scale, was painstakingly hand-crafted from porcelain. Weighing precisely one ton, the porcelain seeds were created by a team of workers in the town of Jingdezhen, China where porcelain has been produced for the past 1,700 years.

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

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Anne Wilson: Local Industry, the first public exhibition of the Local Industry Cloth, produced in 2010 by 2,100 volunteers alongside 79 experienced weavers at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The cloth, 75’ 9” long, was created over the course of three months during the artist’s project Local Industry, part of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave.

The Local Industry Cloth was formed entirely from donated fibers, often from mills facing closure throughout the southeastern United States. The thread was prepared on hand-crank bobbin winders by visitors to the KMA. Wound bobbins were then used by experienced weavers to compose this single bolt of cloth, made up of only stripes, on one loom inside the gallery space. Once made, the cloth was donated to the Knoxville Museum of Art by the artist alongside an “Archive of Production” identifying all contributors to Local Industry. The “Archive of Production” is on view alongside the cloth during this exhibition.

The public is invited to the Knoxville Museum of Art Thursday, May 12 from 5:30-7:30pm for the opening reception.

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

The Market Square Farmers’ Market is a open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Everything at the MSFM is grown or made by the vendor in the East Tennessee region. Products vary by the seasons and include produce, eggs, honey, herbs, free-range meat, bread, baked goods, salsas, coffee and artisan crafts.

Market Square District Association, Market Square | PO Box 2263, Knoxville, TN 37901. Information: 865-405-3135. knoxvillemarketsquare@gmail.com, www.knoxvillemarketsquare.com or www.marketsquarefarmersmarket.org

Features the artwork of TVUUC members' and friends. Free and open to the public

This annual exhibition is a celebration of the many talented artists in the TVUUC community, whether enthusiastic beginners, "Sunday painters," or competent professionals. Many works will be for sale.

Exhibit will be on display at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Art Gallery hours: Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

Celebrate Ability through the Arts at the 3rd Annual Artism Day!
Opportunities to explore art, music, and dance 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in downtown Sweetwater, TN

Facepainting by Margie/ Art Activities 10 am until 12
Percussion with Bob Stagner 10 am until 12
Cages Bend ~performances at 12:00 and 2:00
Dance workshop by dance education specialist Dr. Angelina Peggy Hunt-Richter.

Artwork by individuals with and without disabilities exhibited on a designated walking tour through the community May 7 through May 21.

Email: vsa.arts.tn.vol@att.net for more information or call (717) 515-2336.
Visit VSA TN at www.vsaartstennessee.org

Observe, investigate and experiment with fully functioning replicas of machines, structures and amusement park rides, when K'NEX: Building Thrill Rides at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.

Where does a Roller coaster car have the most Potential Energy and how is it converted to Kinetic Energy? This is just one of many questions that is answered in K'NEX: Building Thrill Rides, a special exhibition that captivates young visitors and provides them the opportunity to explore the science, math and technology behind hair-raising amusement park thrill rides.

There are 15 working thrill ride models, constructed solely from K'NEX rods and connectors, that combine the principles of geometry, physics, and mechanics. The realistic actions of the models bring scientific and engineering concepts to life for students, who can conduct simple experiments to explore physical forces such as potential and kinetic energy, and linear and rotational motion.

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