Calendar of Events

Learn about the plants and animals that come out in the evening! Wear your walking shoes and let us guide you and your family through the Gardens during twilight.
Meet the Flowers - Tuesday, June 7, 6:30 p.m.
Explore your Senses - Tuesday, July 5, 6:30 p.m.
Taste Buds - Tuesday, August 2, 6:30 p.m.
Going on a Bug Hunt - Tuesday, September 6, 6:30 p.m.

The 70 photographs presented in this stunning exhibition are drawn from the recent book, Sudan: The Land and the People, written by U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney ( the last ambassador to Sudan) and his wife and collaborator, journalist Victoria Butler. Award-winning photographer Michael Freeman spent over two years compiling extraordinary images of the rich ethnic, cultural and geographical diversity of Africa’s largest country. Bordered by nine nations, Sudan holds the key to regional stability and prosperity. It has long had the potential to be the engine of economic development for the whole of northeastern Africa. Sudan’s wealth lies not only in its plentiful natural resources, but in its ethnic and cultural heritage.

For millennia, immigrants and invaders from the Mediterranean and the Middle East have come together and blended with African ethnic groups to produce peoples of great beauty who share a turbulent past and rich cultural heritage. Armed conflict, drought and famine have plagued Sudan since its independence in 1956.

McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. For information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

"NIKON SMALL WORLD" traveling exhibition of 20 award winning photomicrographs that allow the museum visitor to see the unseen. Dynamic images at the intersection of science and art show the beauty and complexity of life as seen through a light microscope. AMSE Lobby.

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

K-Town Sound Show Chorus is the NEW chorus in Knoxville that's dedicated to FUN, FELLOWSHIP, AND EXCITING MUSICAL GROWTH!. We are an a cappella show chorus affiliated with Sweet Adelines International. Our members consist of women of all ages and walks of life. If you can carry a tune, WE WANT YOU!

We meet every Tuesday night. Our music selections come from pop, gospel, barbershop, and broadway songs all sung in the 4-part, a cappella, barbershop style. We teach exciting music with good vocal production.

You will find our chorus to be extremely helpful musically and very friendly. We are an easy group to become a part of and we are very supportive of each other. We think you'll like us!!!

Be part of this NEW chorus from the beginning. Come join us at our open rehearsals every Tuesday evening, 6:30pm, at the Fountain City Presbyterian Church, 500 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37918. (Near the duck pond)

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.)

Tours will be held every third Tuesday of the month: May 17, June 21, July 19, August 16, September 20 and October 18. The noon tour will begin at 12 p.m., and the twilight tour will begin at 6 p.m. Tours depart from the Friendship Plaza at the entrance to the UT Gardens.

The public is encouraged to bring food, kids, and friends to this weekly free event! Some chairs will be provided, but you may also bring your own. Featuring members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra each week at the Market Square Stage.

No performance July 12.

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.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

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

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