Calendar of Events

This is the first annual Ijams Hike-a-Thon, a fundraising event for Ijams! Hikers will be able to collect pledges from family and friends and then spend the month of March hiking Ijams Nature Center and the Urban Wilderness Trail. Why? Because you love hiking! To make your miles count! To protect the trails you love! For the exercise! To get your family out on the trail – or just to motivate you! Funds raised will help preserve and protect the environmental and historical resources of Ijams Nature Center and the Urban Wilderness and provide educational opportunities to our local schools and citizens.

Everyone can participate. Young and old, newbie or experienced hiker – anyone who loves hiking and hiking trails or the greenway can participate. Hike as an individual or a team of 2 to 10 people. Ijams Hike-a-Thon runs the entire month of March, 2013.

Saturday, March 30 - HIKE-A-THON: Closing Events
5 p.m. HIKE-A-THON: Closing Hike
6 p.m. HIKE-A-THON: Closing Ceremony
7-10 p.m. HIKE-A-THON: Hikers Ball. After a full month of hiking, it's time to scrape the mud off your boots and kick up your heels at the Hiker's Ball! This event will feature hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, and live music from The Bearded. Party attire is optional, but hiking boots are mandatory!

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition by the Tennessee Artists Association (TAA) entitled “March Brushstrokes: Tennessee Artists Association Juried Show”, 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 March 1-28, 2013. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 1 from 5:00-9:00 PM, and awards for the show will be given at 6:00 PM. “This is TAA’s fourth show at the Emporium Center, and we are very excited about the opportunity to present the breadth and quality of Tennessee artists’ works represented by our members,” says Sharon Gillenwater and her co-chair Michael McKee.

“March Brushstrokes” will be on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, from March 1-28, 2013. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 1 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, March 2, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Friday, March 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

View the 77 piece new show, "Reflection," on view until March 28. Also on view are wonderful works of imagination by students from Powell area schools.

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9AM-5PM; Wednesday & Friday, 10AM-5PM; Saturday, 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition featuring drawings of the human figure by nearly 25 local artists entitled “Body Language”. The juried exhibition includes charcoal, pastels, pencils, inks, watercolors, oil paints, digital imaging on computer tablets, clay, and more and is coordinated by the Knoxville Monday Night Life Drawing Group. "Body Language" will be on display in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from March 1-28, 2013, and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on March 1 from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and wine.

“The practice of drawing the human form from personal observation is as valid in the 21st century as it was with the old masters,” says Bobbie Crews, exhibition coordinator. “Artists have always studied life in order to express what is seen and experienced as creative work connecting them to the world.”

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, March 2, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Friday, March 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

On display March 1 - March 26, the HIGH SCHOOL ART STUDENT EXHIBIT will feature some of the best works from this year’s art classes at McMinn County and McMinn Central High Schools. The visual art teachers whose students are represented are Joyce Simpson of McMinn Central, and Sara Gaston and Patricia Compton of McMinn County High School. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, from 5:00 – 6:00 pm at The Arts Center. Students, friends, family and the public are invited to attend.

The Arts Center is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information or directions, call The Arts Center at 423-745-8781, or visit the website at www.athensartscouncil.org.

ART LINKS: 2013 Knox County Elementary Art Show at The District Gallery,
5113 Kingston Pike Knoxville, Tennessee
March 1st through March 18th, 2013
Gallery: 865-200-4452

Several Knox County Elementary Schools have art on display at The District Gallery March 1st- 18th. The 2012 Youth Art Month state flag winner along with the top finalist designs are on display as well.

The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to present and installation by William Lamson. Lamson is a Brooklyn-based artist who works in video, photography, performance, and sculpture. His work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and a number of private collections. Since graduating from the Bard M.F.A. program in 2006, his work has been shown at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, P.S.1 MOMA, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, among others. Lamson is currently working on two installations for Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York.

William Lamson will be giving a public lecture on his work at 7:00pm in room 109 of the Art and Architecture building on Thursday February 28th. Lamson's lecture is part of the University of Tennessee School of Art's VADSCO lecture series.

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

Saturday 2/23
Locust Honey Stringband
Mary Gauthier

Monday 2/25
The Town Pants
The Dulcimer Guys

Tuesday 2/26
Driftwood
Mandi Rae

Wednesday 2/27
Tim Haggerty
Patchwork

Thursday 2/28
WestWend
Tim Lee 3

Friday 3/1
Star and Micey
Carolina Story

Saturday 3/2
The Emancipators
Small Houses

Monday 3/4
Carolina Bound
Marmalakes

Tuesday 3/5
Pat Hull
The Mumbles

Wednesday 3/6
The Howling Brothers
Sara & Lindsay

Thursday 3/7
Grass Monkey
Joe Fletcher

Friday 3/8
Muriel Anderson
Nora Jane Struthers &The Party Line

12:00 Noon, Knoxville Visitor Center, 301 South Gay Street, 37902

The first play to portray African American characters, themes, and conflicts in a natural and realistic manner on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play of the Year. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry was the youngest playwright, the fifth woman, and the first African American writer to win the award. Recently widowed, Lena Younger receives a life insurance check and plans to buy a house, freeing her family from the cramped tenement she shares with her two children, daughter-in-law and grandson in Chicago’s south side. Her son, Walter, has other ideas for the money. In the struggle that ensures one dream will be fulfilled, another deferred. Will the family collapse or will they seize this opportunity to create a better life?

Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel 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

The Inspiring Classic “A Raisin in the Sun” shines on the Clarence Brown Theatre Mainstage, February 21 - March 10.

The Clarence Brown Theatre will bring to life Lorraine Hansberry’s inspiring classic story about a working class African American family struggling to make it in 1950s America February 21 – March 10, 2013 on the main stage. Directed by African American theatre icon, Woodie King, Jr., the production will feature actors Lonette McKee and Jaymes Jorsling in the lead roles.

“A Raisin in the Sun” was nominated for four Tony awards when it opened on Broadway in 1959, and hailed by “The New York Times” as a show that “changed American theater forever.” It was the first time in history that a production had an all-black principal cast, a black director and a black playwright. Its 29-year-old author became the youngest American and the first black playwright to win the New York Drama Critics’ Best play of the Year award.

For more information and tickets: www.clarencebrowntheatre.com.

The Fountain City Art Center’s theme exhibit, “Reflection,” will run from February 15 – March 28, 2013.
Fountain City Art Center is located in the old library building at 213 Hotel Avenue next to the Fountain City Park.

Public viewing hours are Tuesday and Thursday 9-5; Wednesday and Friday 10-5; and Saturdays 9-1.

February 1 - July 28 "JAPAN 1945: IMAGES BY U.S. MARINE PHOTOGRAPHER JOE O'DONNELL" is a traveling exhibition organized by the Tennessee State Museum that showcases 22 of the most compelling images to document the aftermath of U.S. bombing raids on the Japanese cities struck by the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Artifacts and explanatory panels complete the exhibition. 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