Calendar of Events

Knoxville Area Transit is pleased to announce the upcoming events surrounding the unveiling of our new suspended kinetic sculpture.

The sculpture, by internationally-known artist Bob Emser, will be suspended from the vestibule entryway of Knoxville Station. The commission, juried by a panel of both art experts and transit passengers, was approved by the City’s Public Art Committee and will be installed in February.

LECTURE AND SCULPTURE VIEWING
Mr. Emser will speak at the Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive, 37919, www.knoxart.org) on Monday, February 20, 2012, at 3:30 p.m. Following the lecture, participants will take a shuttle to the transit center to see the artwork. A return shuttle should arrive at the KMA around 5:00pm. The KMA and lecture are FREE and open to the public. For more information, call KAT at 215-7800.

FIRST FRIDAY ART INTRODUCTION
KAT will host a First Friday introduction to this dramatic work on Friday, March 2, 2012, from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Bob Emser is an internationally-recognized sculptor, with exhibits on 4 continents, 7 countries, and 27 states in the U.S. During his 30-year career he has served as a visiting artist and has taught at several universities, held a tenured professorship, and founded a not-for-profit art center that is still in existence. Currently he is the president of the Chicago Sculpture International, a local affiliate of International Sculpture Center, on whose Board of Directors he has served.

Pre-order your 2012 Limited Edition Print, Scenic Road!
We are thrilled to announce that Scenic Road by Andrew Saftel was chosen as the 2012 Dogwood Arts Limited Edition Print!

Born in Massachusetts, and receiving his B.F.A. from San Francisco Institute of Art, Andrew’s interest in art began after working to publish editions of prints and sculptures at a printmaking workshop in San Francisco. He moved to Knoxville in 1985 and immediately felt inspired by the landscape and folk artists.

Scenic Road will be on sale for $100 to the public for the first time at the Dogwood Arts House & Garden Show, February 17-19, at the Knoxville Convention Center. The original artwork will be available for purchase at Bennett Galleries for $5,000 during the month of April.

Due to limited reproduction, we encourage you to pre-order your Scenic Road print via dogwoodarts.com or by calling [865] 637.4561.

Part one of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy. The poignant and funny memoir captures the life of a struggling pre-war Jewish family living in a crowded, lower middle-class Brooklyn home. Adolescent Eugene Jerome, dreaming of baseball and girls, must somehow cope with the mundane existence of his family life: a formidable mother, overworked father, and his worldly older brother. Add in his widowed Aunt Blanche, her two rapidly aging young daughters, and Grandpa the Socialist and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style.

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

Reception: Friday, February 24, 2012
Open Monday - Saturday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Horizons is an installation by noted Icelandic artist Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir. The exhibition includes 12 androgynous, life-sized iron figures in the KMA’s South Garden. Each is unique in pose and expression, and has a polished glass band inserted in its torso. The artist explains this juxtaposition of glass and iron, “The color of the iron signifies their primal quality—as if they are emerging from the earth” while “Glass as a material has a lot of different connotations. It can be fragile, yet dangerous. It can be translucent, or solid . . . It's like water, but also like air.”

Thorarinsdottir has exhibited widely in Europe, Japan, and Australia over the last 30 years, as well as in the United States, where Horizons has been traveling for the past three years. The installation is featured in the documentary Horizons by independent filmmaker Frank Cantor, which won the CINE Special Jury Award in Washington as the best documentary of 2008. Thórarinsdóttir’s work is held by collectors worldwide, and she has been commissioned by both the Icelandic and English governments for major sculptural installations. She has received numerous awards including the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland in 2009.

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

Athens Community Theater will present GUYS & DOLLS – a Musical Fable of Broadway by Frank Loesser on February 16 – 26, 2012 in the Sue E. Trotter Theater at The Arts Center in Athens.

Guys & Dolls is considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy. Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, the musical features a cast of 30+ singers, dancers, actors and a live orchestra introducing a cast of vivid characters who have become legends in the canon: Sarah (Brittany Duggan), the upright “mission doll”, out to reform the evildoers of Times Square; Sky Masterson (Perry Philpott), the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet and ends up falling in love; Adelaide (Sandra Boyd), the chronically ill nightclub performer whose condition is brought on by the fact she’s been engaged to the same man for 14 years; and Nathan Detroit (Art Kimball), her devoted fiancé, always desperate to find a spot for his infamous floating crap game. Guys & Dolls features many of Broadway’s hit songs, including “Luck Be a Lady,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,”, “Fugue for Tinhorns,” and many more.

Guys & Dolls is directed by Melonie Carideo with musical direction by Ellen Kimball.

Show dates are February 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25 at 7PM and February 19 and 26 at 2PM. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students. Come at 6PM on opening night to roll the dice for prizes. “Dolls” who bring “Guys”on Thursday, February 23rd receive a $3 discount on each Guy’s ticket. Tickets are available on line at www.athensartscouncil.org, by phone at 423-745-8781, and at The Arts Center located at 320 North Jackson St. in downtown Athens.

Black History Month celebrations are ongoing throughout February for all four Pellissippi State Community College campuses. All events are free and open to the public:

Through Feb. 29: Information about Black History Month is available in the lobby of the Division Street Campus, 3435 Division St., 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday.

· Feb. 17: Local historian and author Robert Booker speaks in the Community Room of the Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave., 10:45-11:40 a.m. His lecture is titled “History of the Civil Rights Movement.”

· Feb. 20-29: The African-American inventors mini-museum is on display in the Community Room of the Magnolia Avenue Campus. The exhibit includes pictures, information and some modern-day versions of original inventions.

· Feb. 26: The Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir performs at 4 p.m. in the Clayton Performing Arts Center at the Pellissippi Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road.

· Feb. 28: The Caribbean Festival, featuring the Carib Sounds Steel Band, the Hotep Dancers and Caribbean food, is 4-7 p.m. in the Goins Building College Center on the Pellissippi Campus.

· Feb. 29: The Magnolia Avenue Campus’ “I Am” a cappella gospel choir performs 1-1:45 p.m. in the Community Room of that campus.

For more information, call (865) 694-6400. To request accommodations for a disability, contact the executive director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action at (865) 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.

Sunday February 12th at 2:00 pm:
Signing and reading with Allen R. Coggins, author of "Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal Disasters in the Volunteer State" published by UT Press.

Saturday February 18th at 2:00 pm
Poet Edward Francisco reads from and signs his new collection of poetry, "Only the Word Gives Us Being."

Sunday February 19th at 3:00 pm
This month's Poet3 features poets Kory Wells, Susan Underwood, and Dawn Coppock

Saturday February 25th at 2:00 pm
Author Silas House reads from & signs his new novel for middle readers and up, "Same Sun Here." His other novels include "Coal Tattoo" and "Parchment of Leaves."

Wednesday February 29th at Noon Join The Bookaholics Anononymous Book Group in a discussion of "The Kitchen Daughter" by Jael McHenry

The Month of February Union Ave Books presents the art of Stephanie Untz

By David Lindsay Abaire; at the Carousel Theatre. A woman whose memory is erased when she sleeps…a limping, lisping "brother" who kidnaps her…an accomplice with a sock puppet...a husband with murky intentions…a gibberish-speaking mom…and a foul-mouthed teenage son. A farce about aphasia, and other oddities, from the playwright of The Rabbit Hole.

Clarence Brown Theatre 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Joe Letitia, our January First Friday artist, will be making himself at home for another month. Please join us for our First Friday reception on Friday, February 3 from 6-9 p.m. at Bliss Home, 29 Market Square.

His art makes a statement, and it's one that we want to keep around for awhile longer. If you missed his fantastic pieces we hope you will not miss this opportunity.

For more information please contact Anne at anne@shopinbliss.com or 865.673.6711.

Innovative home building technologies and strategies that can help restore the health and viability of natural systems are explored in "Sustainable Shelter: Dwelling Within the Forces of Nature," exhibition opening February 1 and on display through April 20, 2012 at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.

Through graphics, cartoons, interactive computer games, model homes and mock shelters, visitors can explore how ordinary activities -- from reading a book to drying clothes -- impact the planet's carbon and water cycles. The exhibit also compares and contrasts human dwellings with those of other animals, offers a cross-cultural look at human dwellings from around the world and looks at the changes in building methods and consumption patterns of U.S. houses over the past 150 years.

The American Museum of Science and Energy, located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 am - 5 pm and Sunday 1 - 5 pm. Admission is Adults $5, Seniors (65+) $4, Students (6 - 17) $3 and Children (5 and under) are free. AMSE members are free. Group rates are available for 20 or more with advance reservations. For more information on AMSE membership, exhibits, programs and events, click on www.amse.org To schedule a group visit, call AMSE at (865) 576-3200.

Penguin Discount Days
December 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012
10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Knoxville Zoo becomes the coolest place in Knoxville to visit during Penguin Discount Days! Beginning December 1, 2011 and continuing through February 29, 2012, admission to Knoxville Zoo is half-off.

Half-price admission tickets can be purchased at the zoo ticket office during regular zoo hours. Tickets can also be purchased at all Knoxville area Kroger stores and online at www.knoxvillezoo.org. Discounted admission tickets must be used by Feb. 28, 2012, and cannot be combined with any other promotion, discount, or coupon.