Calendar of Events

Justin Randolf Thompson's "The Pits" is a multi-disciplinary installation and performance that investigates the political employment of sound, both in realm of propaganda and as protest, and the visual hierarchies of the architectural organization of theatre space. The work involves a direct collaboration with sculpture, architecture and music department students and can be broken down into four interrelated parts:
-A raised stage supporting a faux marble inlay floor
-A pit orchestra performance
-A chandelier
-A series of three freestanding sculptures

This orchestra will be a collaboration with students and faculty of the UT music department. Jazz musician and composer Jason Thompson (a Knoxville local and UT Graduate) will work with this group to create an 8-10 piece pit orchestra that will be conducted to perform a score that shifts from classical, triumphant marches, into the drum and flute sound of Black Power poets, through folk styles of spiritual praise, and finally into abrasive Hip Hop. The score will be recorded with each instrument taken separately, and following the opening performance; the orchestra will be replaced (in each of their seats) by their recording. The mix of sound references is meant to associate triumph with climax and climax with ascent and the skewing of the elements geographical and cultural identity addresses sound's social transcendence and simultaneous role as entertainment.

The stage and sculptural elements will be created as a collaboration with the artist, UT's architecture department, and UT's sculpture department.

Opening Reception: October 7, 5-9pm with live musical performance as part of First Friday opening.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Wednesday-Friday: 11AM - 6PM; Saturday: 10AM - 3PM. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition by the Tennessee Artists Association (TAA) entitled “The Fall Juried Show: October Brushstrokes”, featuring original art by over 40 Tennessee artists including oils, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, photography, and mixed media. The exhibition will be displayed at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from October 7-28, 2011.

An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on October 7 from 5:00-9:00 PM, and awards for the show will be given at 6:00 PM.

Art Market Gallery, a cooperative of over 60 regional artists, is pleased to present a New Member’s Show October 4-30 highlighting the work of following 10 artists that have been juried into the gallery this year.

The gallery will host a First Friday reception on October 7 from 5:30-9 p.m. with complimentary refreshments and live music.

Joe Parrott of Knoxville is an award-winning painter who is dedicated to a lifelong pursuit of creative evolution and exploration. Represented by several regional galleries, his paintings are in many public and private collections.

Artist Hollie Strom of Knoxville paints minimalist compositions of natural elements in Encaustic, one of the oldest forms of painting. She creates her Encaustic paintings by layering multiple coats of beeswax (which she procures from local beekeepers) with acrylic resins and oil paints.

Painter Francie Entz of Loudon is a member of both the Knoxville and Tennessee Watercolor Societies and has had paintings accepted into multiple juried exhibits. She feels that the process of painting—the journey—is most important.

Jay Hollopeter of Tazewell creates vividly-colored, whimsical paintings that include three dimensional elements. He says that his paintings come from a long time passion for humor, color and simplicity.

Painter Jonathan Howe of Knoxville is an award-wining landscape, still-life and portrait artist. His passion lies in the intimate details that form a true likeness in oil portraits and the subtle lighting of rolling landscapes.

Artist Kathy Lovelace of Knoxville primarily creates functional art in the form of painted small furniture pieces and accessories. The various species of trout found in the streams of the Great Smoky Mountains are her subject matter.

Artist T. P. Dunn, who studied art at UT, has been involved in both the commercial and fine art worlds. Feeling that there is nothing more interesting and beautiful than the human form, his focus is on figurative subject matter which he renders in pencil and charcoal.

Artist Cynthia Patrick of Knoxville , who was previously juried into the gallery last year as a lampwork bead and jewelry artist, has now had her fiber works accepted into the gallery as well. She enjoys experimenting with color, pattern and texture.

Nelson Ziegler of Sevierville, who was previously juried into the gallery in 2008 as a painter, has had his woodturning works accepted into the gallery this year. An accomplished painter for over thirty years, he has been turning wood since 1994 and is merging both his turning and painting skills into his wood works.

Award-winning painter Mary Ann Valvoda studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She is a Signature Member of both the Ohio and Knoxville Watercolor Societies, and is very active in the Tennessee and Southern Watercolor Societies.

Member owned and operated by over 60 regional artists, Art Market Gallery is located at 422 South Gay Street in Knoxville next to the Downtown Grill & Brewery. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11 am-6 pm & Sunday 1-5 pm. For more information, call 865-525-5265, visit artmarketgallery.net or like us on facebook: facebook.com/Art.Market.Gallery

Elaine Barnes, Lauren Karnitz and Annamaria Gundlach will present their works October 3 through October 28 at the Denso Gallery at the Clayton Center for the Arts. There will be a reception during Last Friday Artwalk 6-8 pm, Friday, October 28, 2011.

Elaine Barnes has a BA from University of Florida and MA from University of Central Florida. She lives in a beautiful, rural setting in East Tennessee, where the natural beauty that surrounds her inspires and influences her artwork in both clay and glass. Her education continues through classes by local artists, as well as national and international workshops with renowned artists. She has won awards in juried shows and her work is exhibited in several galleries in Tennessee.

Lauren Karnitz earned a B.A. in English Education and Russian Literature from New York University in 1992, taught English in New York City, then accepted a job in Seattle. In 2001 she returned to academia to pursue her first love, painting. In 2004, while completing her Fine Arts degree at University of Tennessee, Lauren opened Three Flights Up Gallery in downtown Knoxville, where she was founding partner and curator through 2009. Lauren remains active in Knoxville's art community, while exhibiting her own work and raising two boys. Her work is in private collections around the country.

Annamaria Gundlach creates pieces that are on-of-a-kind, hand-sculpted forms with figurative overtones. Many are large, slab-constructed or sculpted. Gundlach uses numerous coats of oxides, engobes and paints to get her patinas and finishes. Her figurative pieces reflect her Italian/Greek heritage and love of myths and nature. She has received numerous grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission to study sculpture in the United States and Italy and exhibits her work in fine arts exhibitions, museums and galleries.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

In observance of the Civil War’s 150th anniversary, Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is hosting an exhibition from the Tennessee State Museum, Common People in Uncommon Times: The Civil War in Tennessee. The exhibition focuses on how the war affected the lives of Tennesseans through personal stories of participants whose sagas illustrate a land divided.

The narrative of personal struggle and endurance during the Civil War is presented on 10 graphic panels taken from the State Museum’s collection of photographs and artifacts from the era, as well as from other collections across the state. Each panel portrays a different theme: Confederate leaders, Union leaders, African-Americans, civilian home front, common soldiers, war on the water, reconstruction and commemoration.

Admission to the special exhibition is included in the museum admission price, and free for Heritage Center members. For current hours and admission rates, visit www.gsmheritagecenter.org

At the Palace Theatre, 72 South Main Street in Crossville.

www.isiksonmez.com

Isik Sonmez, whose oil paintings are done with a palette knife, is exhibiting at the Palace Theatre in Crossville during the month of October.

Born in Turkey of a noted military family, he went to Military High School and became a soldier in the Turkish Army and became an apprentice to Professor Dr. Gulbin Yalim and began his study of abstract art. Later he was mentored for a year under the instruction of Nesin Us, a well known abstract artist.
He has been accepted and won prizes in prestigious exhibits both in Turkey and the U.S. In Tennessee, this includes the Oak Ridge Art Center Open Show and 1st in the landscape category in the Art Guild’s juried show.

Sonmez described his work as his own versatile blend of impressionism and surrealism. The exhibit theme at the Palace consists of horses, clients at a café, and Turkish peasants, great fields, storm clouds, and a piece that comments on both joy and pain.

The Palace Theater, 113 West Broadway, Maryville TN 37801. Information: 865-983-3330, www.palacetheater.com

Photographer Molly Harrell is exhibiting her photography series "The Nudes" at URBhana. This recent collection of nudes, photographed over a period of several months, will be on display throughout the month of October.

A graduate of The University of Tennessee 1986, and The Art Institute of Atlanta 2002, Molly currently resides in Columbia, SC, as a commercial photographer specializing in portraits. Her fascination with the beauty of the human body has led to a continued love of photographing people in the nude.

For this show, Molly works primarily with black and white images. A mix of framed works, images printed on canvas, and mixed media will be featured.

The Oak Ridge Art Center announces their annual juried, mixed media exhibition. The exhibition is intended to showcase exceptional work produced throughout our region.

The opening reception is September 17 at 7 PM. A gallery talk will precede the opening at 6:30. Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9AM-5PM; Saturday-Monday, 1-4PM. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

Traveling Exhibition: "Common People in Uncommon Times: The Civil War Experience in Tennessee"

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Townsend, TN 37882.
Hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Saturday
Closed on Sunday
For Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Exhibit by Hispanic artists that live and work in the U.S., particularly in the Southeast region and the Knoxville area.

Opening: October 14, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Exhibit: Sept. 15 through Nov. 5, 2011

HoLa Hora Latina is pleased to present “Petit Gallery”, an exhibition by Hispanic artists that live and work in the United States, particularly in the southeast region and the Knoxville area. The exhibition is on display in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage month in Knoxville and HOLA Festival on September 24. Fourteen artists will showcase works in the following media: oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, collage, and more. This exhibition shows the diversity of media and style produced by contemporary Hispanic artists who explore what it means to now live and work in the United States. The artists included in the exhibition are: Antuco Chicaiza (Ecuador); Rafael Casco (Honduras); Valeria Eiler (Chile); Astrid Galindo (Mexico); Jorge Gómez del Campo (Mexico); Stella C. Martin (Colombia); Aida Reyes (El Salvador); Dina Ruta (Argentina); Patricia Tinajero (Ecuador); Loren Velázquez (Puerto Rico); Eugenio Wade (Argentina); Patty Wade (Argentina); Ruth Chang White (Perú); and Jorge Yances (Colombia).

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