Calendar of Events

The Festival combines food, fun and entertainment. The Biscuit Benefit Dinner, featuring guest chef Michelle Bernstein and hosted by Blackberry Farm will be Friday, May 27 @ 7:00PM. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit Share Our Strength, and Second Harvest.
The day begins with a Biscuit Breakfast and a Biscuit Bazaar selling "biscuit-friendly" wares. Twenty restaurants will have items for tasting. The main event of the afternoon is the Biscuit Bake Off featuring competitions in four categories, Traditional Biscuits, Dessert Biscuits, Most Creative Biscuit, and Kid's Biscuits.
Musical line-up includes The Cleverly's and The Black Lillies and Tift Merritt.

For more information go to Biscuitfest.com or contact John Craig, 865-384-7290 or john@biscuitfest.com
Market Square District Association, Market Square | PO Box 2263, Knoxville, TN 37901. Information: 865-405-3135. knoxvillemarketsquare@gmail.com, www.knoxvillemarketsquare.com

A popular Imagination Library book takes the stage!
Knox County Public Library is pleased to welcome Dollywood’s Imagination Playhouse featuring the Penguin Players as they delight audiences of all ages with a musical adaptation of Otis by Loren Long. The show is free and open to the public.

The show premieres at the 7th annual Children’s Festival of Reading on Saturday, May 21st, in downtown Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park. Joining the performers will be amazing authors, illustrators, storytellers, other stage productions, a mad science experiment area, a bouncy house and even a hayride—and over 12,000 people expected to kick off a summer of literary fun! It’s the perfect way to kick off summer reading at the Library. From there, the show hits the road, visiting nearly every corner of Knox County.

Touring Schedule:
Saturday, May 21, 10:00 a.m. at World's Fair Park Amphitheatre
Monday, May 23, 3:00 p.m. at Howard Pinkston Branch Library
Tuesday, May 24, 10:30 a.m. at Murphy Branch Library
Wednesday, May 25, 10:30 a.m. at Cedar Bluff Branch Library
Wednesday, May 25, 3:30 p.m. at North Knoxville Branch Library
Thursday, May 26, 3:00 p.m. at Norwood Branch Library
Friday, May 27, 10:30 a.m. at Powell Branch Library
Saturday, May 28, 11:00 a.m. at Lawson McGhee Library
Saturday, May 28, 3:30 p.m. at Burlington Branch Library
Tuesday, May 31, 3:00 p.m. at Carter Branch Library
Wednesday, June 1, 11:00 a.m. at Karns Branch Library
Wednesday, June 1, 4:00 p.m. at Farragut Branch Library
Thursday, June 2, 11:00 a.m. at Bearden Branch Library
Thursday, June 2, 3:30 p.m. at Halls Branch Library
Friday, June 3, 10:30 at Fountain City Branch Library
Saturday, June 4, 3:00 p.m. at Sequoyah Branch Library

Knox County Public Library: http://knoxrooms.sirsi.net/rooms/portal/page/10111_Features_and_Events

http://knoxrooms.sirsi.net/rooms/portal/page/10111_Features_and_Events

Learn how to capture a perfect garden photograph while enjoying an early morning walk through the gardens. A member of our staff will lead an hour-long walk focusing on the best lighting and garden location during that particular walk. This event is a unique opportunity to have time with fellow photographers and garden lovers while having some serious photography time in the garden. Photography walks will be held every third Friday: May 20, June 17, July 15 and August 19. Walks begin at 7:30 a.m. and depart from the Friendship Plaza at the entrance to the Gardens.

We are excited to have a variety of monthly walks. Walks are rain or shine, and will be cancelled only in the event of dangerous lightening. All walks are FREE and meet at the entrance to the Gardens. (Advance registration appreciated, but not required.)

Thirty local artists have graciously volunteered to create beautiful works of art on 55-gallon rain barrels to help the Water Quality Form raise awareness about water conservation and water pollution. 87 unique rain barrels and been created and through their sale, education and conservation efforts will be funded.
On display at at the Museum of Art and online.
You can have access to the website with the following link:
http://www.drygap.com/rdbo/2011/index.html

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

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

Get involved in a research project and learn from wildlife biologists and ecologists. Ijams is conducting two biological species inventories to determine species of various taxonomic groups on the new Ross Marble site. Inventories will establish a baseline survey of different classes of organisms, including fungi, plants, insects, fishes, herbs, birds and mammals.

The BioBlitzes will take place from dawn to dusk. Children are welcome to attend but may only be able to participate in select activities. Registration is required. Please e-mail Laura Marsh at laurakmarsh@gmail.com or call 577-4717 ext. 27.

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

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