Calendar of Events

2012 Hot Summer Nights Line-up Announced for Blount County Public Library
With the outside temperatures reaching the “sizzling” range, the variety of music by the lineup of professional performers for the 11th season of Hot Summer Nights concerts at the Blount County Public Library will also be “sizzling.”

Musical genres will include Americana, Rhythm and Blues, Contemporary Country, Popular, Classical and even Opera!

All concerts will be at 7 p.m. on seven consecutive Thursday evenings, starting August 2 and concluding September 13. All concerts are indoors in the air-conditioned library facility.

Karen E. Reynolds, award-winning singer/songwriter, producer, publicist and promoter, will kick off this year’s series on August 2 with her new CD, “Read the Book.” Reynolds & Sanctifried with Kitt Rogers & Brandon Kottingen, in an interactive engagement with the audience, plays Americana on acoustic instruments. Her sound and creativity are reminiscent of Mary Chapin-Carpenter, James Taylor and Carole King. She has published on labels and is a host and producer on “The Writer’s Block,” a radio program.

The John Myers Band, appearing on August 9, features John Myers who has been engulfed in the rhythm and blues tradition since starting his career with his brothers and three others as The Five Pennies. Then becoming The Four Pennies and playing some of John’s original pieces, they recorded with Brunswick Records. The current band is a blend of multiple traditions and includes Sean McCollough on keyboards, banjo and guitar; Chris Durman on guitar; Steve White on mandolin; Maria Williams on upright bass and Steve Corrigan on drums.

Gritte Fritter - John Dupree Gritte Fritter (John Dupree), singer-guitarist, will perform on August 16 with Abigail Sinders on fiddle and vocals and Roscoe Morgan on electric bass and vocals. They will perform folk and Americana song selections ranging from the traditional (When The Work’s All Done This Fal)l, to popular (Still Crazy After all These Years), and the classic (Gentle On My Mind). Dupree moved to Tennessee from North Carolina in 2001.

The Standards/Spencer’s Own, performing on August 23, sing a cappella with a smoothly blended harmony that only five brothers can achieve. The quintet of Morgan, Nathan, Jordan, Nicholas and Quinn Williams, present a high-energy program of choreography, comedy and audience interaction. While this group hails from Nashville and is currently changing their name to Spencer’s Own to honor their father, they have performed previously at several schools in Blount County.

Fritz Beer Acoustic - June 2012 Fritz Beer, solo singer/songwriter, will perform on August 30. Fritz Beer writes and sings down-to-earth, spirited, song stories about good-hearted people who sometimes go astray. His music touches on multiple American traditions of rock, country, soul and blues. He has won songwriting awards and recently received an ASCAP songwriting award for publishing achievements. He has composed songs for short films, two feature films and multiple televisions shows, including four current shows.

Knoxville Opera Company, on September 6, will preview the coming season’s operas, Die Fledermaus, The Girl of the Golden West and Cinderella. Executive Director, Brian Salesky, will accompany one or two of the performers from this season’s productions as they sing excerpts from the three operas.

Bill Robinson Strings Quartet, on September 13, will perform a strings concert of music ranging from classical to Celtic, tangos to Turtles. All teachers, the quartet includes Bill Robinson, violin; Allyson Finck, violin; Christy Graffeo, viola; Sarah Cline, cello. With the varied selections of music, there should be something to suit everyone’s taste, and these teachers especially invite students to the concert.

At most of the Hot Summer Nights concerts, CDs by the performers will be available for sale.

Free and open to the public, these concerts will be at the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville.

For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org .

African Dance class will consist of African dances styles, techniques, songs, and culture. Classes are designed to educate, motivate, and inspire you about the positive awareness of African Cultural Dance as a Whole. Class will consist of a mild warm-up of stretching, cardiovascular endurance, and developing footwork/body mechanics.

SUMMER/FALL 2012 SCHEDULE

Tuesdays 6:00PM-7:00PM at the Broadway Performing Arts Ctr. 706 Broadway Street
July 31 - September 25, Cost: $10 Adults $5 Children

Saturdays 3:00PM-4:30PM at The Glowing Body, 711 Irwin Street, Knoxville, TN 37917
Aug. 4 - September 25, Cost: Donations (Karma Series)

FOR MORE INFO: Takia Faniyi Phone:(865)455-0772
Email: ifaa2012@gmail.com

A traveling exhibition about General Groves and includes insight into his family, West Point graduation, leadership style, personality and achievements in overseeing the Manhattan Project through eye-catching graphics and a 10-minute documentary film. AMSE Lobby.

American Museum of Science & Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Monday-Saturday 9AM-5PM; Sunday 1-5PM. Information: 865-576-3200, www.amse.org

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Beverly Semmes: Starcraft June 8-September 9, 2012.

Semmes, a Brooklyn-based artist, is known internationally for her unique multi-media installations. She challenges the conventional definitions of craft and “women’s work” by creating completely non-functional pieces out of traditional materials such as fabric, clay and glass.

The KMA hosts a preview party Thursday, June 7, from 5:30-7:30pm. The party is free and open to the public and includes a cash bar. Semmes will host a gallery talk earlier that day at 4pm, and will attend the preview party as well.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is located in downtown Knoxville at 1050 World’s Fair Park and is 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, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Features selections from the History Center's collection of works from the 1800s to the 1900s. Extended through October 14, 2012.
Exhibition open daily, Mon. - Fri. 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Sat. 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM,
Sun. 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Admission: ETHS members free, children 16 and under free, Adults $5, Seniors $4.
For more information call 865 215 8830 or visit www.eastTNhistory.org.
The Museum of East Tennessee History is located in the East Tennessee History Center at 601 South Gay Street in downtown Knoxville.

Marble Springs State Historic Site is proud to present the 2nd Season of ‘Shopping at the Farm’ – the Marble Springs Farmer’s Market for our South Knoxville community.
The market will be held Thursdays from 3-6pm. All vendors must grow, make or produce the products they sell.

Marble Springs: 1220 West Gov. John Sevier Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920. Information: 865-573-5508, www.marblesprings.net

Art in Public Places Knoxville is a monumental installation of large-scale outdoor sculptures by regionally and nationally acclaimed artists. The sculptures enliven downtown Knoxville as well as McGhee Tyson Airport. Awards for the Art in Public Places exhibition will be presented by world-acclaimed sculptor, Allen Peterson. The ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Nouveau Classics on 128 South Gay Street on April 6.

Most of the Festival’s wide range of arts events, performances, and exhibitions are offered to the public free of charge. For more information, including a complete Festival Calendar of Events and ticket information, visit dogwoodarts.com

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

Tennessee Mountain Writers January Jumpstart workshops - January 13-15, 2013
Tennessee Mountain Writers will present "January Jumpstart XIII" featuring a fiction workshop led by Darnell Arnoult, Writer-in-Residence at Lincoln Memorial University, and a poetry workshop led by Nashville poet Bill Brown. The event, to be held at the Magnuson Hotel in Sweetwater, will open with an informal social hour on Friday evening; workshop sessions will run from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Participation is limited to 20 per workshop. The registration fee of $110 includes lunch on Saturday; there will be an optional catered dinner at the hotel Saturday night for an additional $16. For registration information, see www.tmwi.org, or email theorrs@usit.net.

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