Calendar of Events

Featuring artists John Bissonette, Brian Jobe, and Greg Pond. Contemporary Focus is an annual KMA series that serves as a vital means of recognizing, supporting, and documenting the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year the series presents emerging artists who work in new and experimental ways. Contemporary Focus 2011 features three artists who work through different methods but share an aesthetic concern exploring concepts of space in innovative ways. John Bissonette uses traditional materials such as paint and canvas to produce colorful scenes of urban decay. His images reference banners or flags from abandoned storefronts and display windows once used to attract the attention of passersby, but now exist as mute abstract shapes. Brian Jobe transforms three-dimensional objects using brightly colored zip-ties. The thousands of ties extend otherwise ordinary objects into new, imposing forms. Greg Pond works with computer technology to program interactive, responsive sculptures, often using sound as a primary medium. His structures act as generative bases for tracking, manipulating, and projecting sounds made by audience members as they move through the exhibition space.

Opening reception is Thursday, August 25. KMA members are invited from 6-7pm, with the event opening to the public at 7pm. Artists will be on hand for questions and a cash bar will be provided.

Throughout the run of Contemporary Focus 2011, each artist will present a lecture or workshop about their artwork:
Saturday, September 17, 1-4pm Artist in Action with Greg Pond
Friday, September 23, 1-4pm Artist in Action with Brian Jobe
Wednesday, October 19, noon-1pm, Dine & Discover with John Bissonette
Saturday, October 22, 1-4pm, Artist in Action with John Bissonette

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Friday, 10AM-8PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

The exhibition consists of faxes submitted by nearly 100 artists sent to the initial showing of FAX at The Drawing Center, New York, along with seminal examples of early telecommunications art. The KMA will invite additional artists to submit works through a working fax line in the gallery throughout the duration of the exhibition. All the transmitted pages will be archived or displayed together with the active fax machine, which may produce new faxes from invited artists at any moment. The result—an ongoing cumulative project—is a show concerned with ideas of reproduction, obsolescence, distribution, and mediation. Here, reproducible yet erratic faxes displace traditional notions of the hand‚ still commonly associated with the medium of drawing, and foreground the role of drawing as a generative process.

FAX is a traveling exhibition co-organized by The Drawing Center, New York, and Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, and circulated by ICI. The guest curator is João Ribas. The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue were made possible, in part, by members of the Drawing Room, a patron circle founded to support innovative exhibitions in The Drawing Center’s project gallery; and by support to ICI from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and ICI Benefactor members Agnes Gund, Gerrit and Sydie Lansing, and Barbara and John Robinson.

Opening reception is Thursday, August 25. KMA members are invited from 6-7pm, with the event opening to the public at 7pm.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. For information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

The three Magrath sisters gather Mississippi to await news of their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest, is unmarried at thirty with diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Overflowing with humor and infectious high spirits, this Pulitzer Prize winner is also, unmistakably, the tale of a very troubled family escaping their past to seize the future.

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

It will be a jam-packed weekend of family-oriented fun that you won’t want to miss! During the two day celebration, stages at the World’s Fair Park will be utilized to showcase mainstream Christian artists and groups such as MercyMe, Third Day, Jars of Clay, Hawk Nelson, and many others. The Festival of Choirs will be showcasing a variety of musical talent from Knoxville and the surrounding area. In addition to live music, attendees will have access to exciting entertainment, exhibits, a Christian art walk, a special children’s pavilion, food vendors, and more.

During the event the community is invited to participate in Feed the Need 2011, an initiative designed to help alleviate hunger here and around the world. In order to accomplish “feeding the need both near and far,” Worship in the City has joined forces with both Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee and Kids Against Hunger. Festival-goers will be asked to donate one hour of time over the course of the weekend celebration to help prepare one million highly-nutritious, prepackaged meals for Kids Against Hunger. From the staging area in the Knoxville Convention Center, Kids Against Hunger will redistribute those meals to starving children and their families in over 60 countries. Ten percent, or about 100,000, of the meals packaged for distribution to those experiencing chronic hunger, will be given to East Tennesseans.

http://worshipinthecity.com/

Erick Baker has a unique and soulful voice that Knoxville fans have obviously come to appreciate (as he’s sold out show after show at the Bijou)! His songs and performances are marked with a passionate, emotional transparency that resonates with audiences of all ages.

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

The Last Friday Art Walk is a recurring event to celebrate the arts on the last Friday of every month in Downtown Maryville. What's unique about it is that it's not just galleries participating. It's also businesses like bars, retail stores, restaurants, theaters, and coffee shops. Each participating business hosts a "featured artist," this includes all disciplines of art; visual arts, performance artists, actors, writers, dancers, musicians, etc. New artists and new art are required each month, which gives the community a new experience each time they come.
http://www.maryvilleartwalk.com

Hollywood has it wrong! You should not be afraid of bats, but captivated. They are marvels of bio-engineering. The only true flying mammal, they flutter about our darkened skies eating insects all night long. Join Ijams naturalists and learn the truth about bats and go on a bat hunt outside after dark. Great family fun. Free to members, $5 for non-members.

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: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Some of the “region's finest jazz musicians” playing hard swinging 40s big band music and Fifties rock. A free dance lesson will be offered 20 minutes before the band opens. Pre-show music videos start at 7:00PM, and the band starts at 8:00PM. Tickets are $12 online or $15 at the door. Students $10.

127 W. Broadway, Maryville, 980-1966, www.bookthecapitol.com

Now on display at Farragut Town Hall, Farragut Arts Council member Pam Ziegler is showcasing her collection of "Woodland Creature and Dogwood Blossom Pottery" by Douglas James Ferguson. Founder of Pigeon Forge Pottery (which closed in 2000), Ferguson created internationally known handmade pottery for more than 50 years. In addition, Farragut resident Carlyle Urello has loaned her collection, "Butterflies of the World," by McCulloch.

For more information about this exhibit or to access a Featured Artist of the Month application, please contact Lauren Cox at lauren.cox@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057 or visit www.townoffarragut.org.

The Knoxville Museum of Art hosts an exhibition of original Haitian art in the Community Gallery through September 4. Works in the exhibition will be sold at a silent benefit auction on Sunday, August 28 2-4pm. Must be present to bid. The sale will also include works done by local artists. The exhibition and sale are organized by God’s Planet for Haiti to benefit the Community Elementary School of Hatte-Cotin, Haiti. For questions regarding the artwork, or the upcoming silent auction, contact Jemps Maignan at 856.257.7680 or Jemps@GodsPlanet4Haiti.org. The KMA Community Gallery is available to not-for-profit organizations.

1050 World’s Fair Park; open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10 am–5 pm, and Sunday 1 pm-5 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

By Agatha Christie - Directed by: Windie Wilson
Performances: Oct 14-30, 2011
Audition Times: Saturday, Aug 20, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Sunday, Aug 21, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Sunday, Aug 28, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Available Roles - 5 men and 3 women of varying ages
Please bring a headshot or recent photo, if possible. Resumes are helpful but not required. No prepared monologue is needed; auditions will be cold readings from the script.
Auditions will held at the theatre, 319 N. Gay Street [directions]. For more information, call 544-1999 or email info@theatreknoxville.com. www.theatreknoxville.com

The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to exhibit the work of our first year graduate students who are entering the UT School of Art Graduate program within their various disciplines. The exhibit showcases the outstanding talent and artistic visions of these new students, which includes painting, printmaking, graphic design and sculpture works.
The following artists will be exhibiting their work: Andrew Merriss, April Bachtel, Eric Cagley, Cierra Reppert, Daniel Ogletree, Hannah Skoonberg, Jennifer Scheuer, Jonathan Lisenby, Justin Clay, Tamra Hunt, and Victoria Buck

Please join us for an opening reception Friday August 19th, 6:00 – 9:00pm
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. 865-673-0802. Gallery Hours: Wed – Fri 11 -6pm & Sat 10 – 3pm