Calendar of Events

The East Tennessee Historical Society and the Tennessee State Museum are pleased to announce that the Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission’s official traveling exhibition, Common People in Uncommon Times, will be on view at the Museum of East Tennessee History through January 13, 2013.

This pictorial narrative represents a diverse array of personalities--Confederate soldiers, Union sympathizers, African-Americans, gallant women-- whose sagas illustrate a land divided. The saga 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.

The exhibition commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil Will and is accompanied by a tie-in exhibit, In Death Not Divided: Civil War Tombstones and the Stories They Tell, organized by the East Tennessee Historical Society.

From bridge burners to hangings, heroes to villains, grand monuments to simple stones, In Death Not Divided: Civil War Tombstones and the Stories They Tell is an intensely personal look at East Tennessee's Civil War experience.

November 2--January 13. Monday--Friday, 9 a.m.-4p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m.-4p.m., Sunday 1-5p.m.
Museum of East Tennessee History, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville

"2 X 20" works by Kentucky's finest working folk artists on display November 1 -February 2, 2013 at the Kentucky Folk Art Center 102 West First Street, Morehead, KY 40351,
(606) 783 2204. www.kyfolkart.org

The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) and the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville are pleased to present “Arts in the Airport: 75 Years of Making Memories in Aviation,” a new exhibition featuring selected artwork from nearly 40 artists in the East Tennessee region. “Arts in the Airport” was developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area. The selected art features contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be exhibited in the secured area behind McGhee Tyson Airport’s security gate checkpoint from October 12, 2012 – April 11, 2013 with an opening reception on Wednesday, November 7, at 5:00 PM.

A gallery of images may be viewed at www.knoxalliance.com/album/airport_fall12.html.

The Arts & Culture Alliance, with assistance from Dorothy Habel, juried the exhibition with final approval by the Airport Authority. Prizes include $1,000 in awards to be announced at the reception on Wednesday, November 7, at 5:00 PM (awards ceremony at 5:00 PM). For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

A traveling exhibition of the atomic art of Doug Waterfield with paintings of an exploration of atomic testing phenomena and subsequent 1950's atomic culture.
An exploration of atomic testing phenomena and subsequent 1950's atomic culture is captured in "DOOMTOWN," the original paintings of atomic art by Doug Waterfield in his exhibition opening October 12 at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.

When the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the Department of Energy, began 1950's testing of atomic bombs in the Nevada Test Site, the creation of several "Survival Towns" also known as "Doomtowns" were part of the test. These replica towns were built to see what the effects of the detonation of atomic weapons would have on Anytown, USA. The houses were furnished and peopled with mannequins. The photos and film footage that survives from these tests was quite influential on Waterfield's painting series, entitled "Doomtown." It is a commentary on a bygone age of American history, and is an effort to bring awareness to the past known as the Atomic Age - an age of optimism, technological advances and unmitigated paranoia.

Doug Waterfield is an Arkansas native currently residing in Nebraska with his family. He is an associate professor art at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His work has been shown nationally for the past 25 years.

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

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.