Calendar of Events

For 2nd and 3rd Grades. How would you like to take a much closer look at all the earth has to offer? In our Geo-Explorer camp, we will be exploring high and low, looking at the simplest building blocks of earth to the most complex creatures we have here today. To register for camps contact Jennifer Roder: 865-577-4717, ext. 110 or jroder@ijams.org

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Visitor Center: Monday: by appointment only for tour groups and school trips; Tuesday-Saturday: 9AM-5PM; Sunday: 1-5PM (March 1 - November 30). Information: www.ijams.org

"Comedy of Errors" drama written by William Shakespeare will be performed by the Tennessee Stage Company, with Tom Parkhill, Executive Director, outdoors on the front lawn of the library. The audience should bring lawn chairs. In addition to the library’s parking lot, parking is also available in the public parking lots next to The Daily Times building (across the pedestrian bridge) and in the Harper Street parking lot across from First Tennessee Bank. If rain occurs and persists to cause cancellation of the performance, the rain date for the performance is Tuesday, August 9, at 6:30 p.m.

Blount County Public Library, 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville, TN. Information: 865-982-0981; www.blountlibrary.org

Tennessee Stage Company: 865-546-4280, www.tennesseestage.com

Opening reception on July 22, 6:30-8:30 PM. Also showing oils by the students of Aurora Harrison Bull.

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9AM-5PM; Wednesday & Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.org

Please join us for an afternoon of refreshments and fine art! Meet the artist, Wendy West, and see her show, “Then and Now: A Retrospective,” featuring her work in glass, pottery, and pastels at the Townsend Artisan Gallery from 4 to 6 pm on Saturday, August 13.

Townsend Artisan Gallery, 7277 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Townsend, TN 37882. Information: 865-448-8018, www.townsendartisangallery.com

The Playhouse kicks off its 2011-2012 season with the joyous, fast paced musical comedy "Hairspray." Turn back the clock to 1960's Baltimore when big-hearted, big-haired Tracy Turnblad dances her way onto the Corny Collins Show. With her discovery of a brand new sound comes new friends, new obstacles, and bigger hair. Can Tracy get past her fabulously snobby nemisis, integrate the television show, and snatch the boy of her dreams without mussing her hair? Get your tickets to find out!

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.com

Free and open to the public with an opening reception Friday, July 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists' talks at 7 p.m.

Carl Gombert, "Order" - Carl Gombert was born in Brimfield, Ohio in 1959. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 14 with money he earned delivering newspapers. He earned a BFA in Drawing from the University of Akron and an MFA in Painting from Kent State University. He worked as a stagehand before pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Texas Tech University. He has exhibited in more than 150 shows throughout the country, and since 1993 has taught painting, drawing and art history at Maryville College in Tennessee.

Ricky Beene, "Salt of the Earth: The Petros Portraits"
Ricky Beene is a painter from Petros, Tennessee, a small town situated in the Cumberland Mountains. A native Appalachian and teacher by training, Ricky is a self-taught artist who works primarily in acrylics on gessoed hardboard. He has had previous exhibits at Carson Newman College, the Oak Ridge Art Center, and the Emporium Center in Knoxville. "For the last ten years I have been painting portraits of people from my home town in a series called Salt of the Earth:The Petros Portraits. These paintings, currently numbering near 150, depict a large cross-section of the people who live in Petros. I also have been working on a smaller series of brushed ink drawings that are called The Wide-Spot Suite. Together all these pieces represent a single vision of the people of our town. There is a shared bravery and trust poured into the making of these portraits, and I hope that they show something of the struggles and joys of life in a small Appalachian town".

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM; Friday 9AM-4:30PM; Sunday 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

Recent photographs by Paul Lee

Gallery talk: Friday, July 15, 6:00 PM
Last Friday Art Walk reception: July 29, 6:00-9:00 PM

In the Blackberry Farm Gallery of the Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Hours: M-F 10-5. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

“Personal Perspective,” features art created by local artists with developmental disabilities and physical limitations who have utilized groundbreaking techniques to express themselves on canvas. Approximately 25 acrylic paintings by 12 local artists will be on display in the Clayton Center’s Denso Community Gallery.The artists will host a reception in the gallery on July 14th from 6-8 p.m.
The artists are clients at Open Arms Care, a nonprofit organization in Knoxville that provides intermediate care facility services and an array of residential services for adults and children diagnosed with mental retardation and developmental disabilities in the state of Tennessee.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Tickets are available at the Clayton Center Box Office M-F 10AM-6PM or by phone or online: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Haunting and beautiful photography by local artist and activist, William Isom.
Artist statement: "Traditionally working in photography to express the impressions of my environment, I'm aiming to continue my themes of the considered obsolete and discarded. Expressing this through textured materials encountered on backroads intrigues me. I hope to infect the viewer with my blurred glimpses and meditative moments found just east of town."
50% of all sales will go to benefit the Neighborhood Center at 800 North 4th Ave and Gill Street (formerly The Birdhouse). First Friday reception: 6-9 PM

URBhana, 115 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-951-5454, www.urbhana.com

Unarmed Merchants is honored to have the paintings of Cynthia Markert & Asa McEwan for the month of July. This will also be the final month that Unarmed Merchants will be open in its current capacity. I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have had for almost 4 years now. So help me celebrate a good time with these two wonderful artists - at an awesome gallery in the best city I have ever called home. Not to mention there will be plenty of refreshments, fun, surprises and free stuff.

Unarmed Merchants, 129 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-549-5769, http://www.allknox.com/businesses/4

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition of 2-D works by the Fountain City Art Guild entitled “Summer Solstice Show” in the main gallery of the Emporium Center.

An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on July 1 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and wine. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com. For more information, visit www.fountaincityartguild.com.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition opening Friday, July 1, at 5:00 PM in the Balcony of the Emporium Center featuring seven local artists:

+ Terrie Boruff-Yeatts (Knoxville, TN) - A contemporary and whimsical view on the subject matter that surrounds our everyday life - www.terrieyeatts.com

+ Stephen Brayfield (Knoxville, TN) - Watercolor paintings depicting life in and around the southern Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains - www.brayart.com

+ Regina L. Garner (Maryville, TN) - Digital photography

+ Chuck Jensen (Crossville, TN) - Contemporary portraits of people making changes on the American Landscape - www.chuckswoodstock.com

+ Terri Jordan (Clarksville, TN) - A suite of oil paintings based on the artist/muse Suzanne Valadon

+ Dawn Kunkel (Knoxville, TN) - Mixed media works

+ Linda A. Waterhouse (Maryville, TN) - An assemblage of colorful faces and instruments in Black & White digital photography - www.lawaterhousephotography.com

The group exhibition 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 July 1 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.