Calendar of Events

Blount Mansion will host an exhibit opening from 5:30-7:30pm entitled Furniture on the Frontier, a showing of the Blount Mansion’s finest collection pieces on display at the Blount Mansion Visitors Center. Admission is free with light appetizers and a special gift for our members. Blount Mansion is currently closed to the public for a historic restoration and preservation project; the Visitors Center remains open Tuesday-Saturday 9:30-5 with the exception of Game Days in Volunteer country. This exhibit, Furniture on the Frontier, will be on display for the duration of the closure and is always free to the public, with a suggested donation! Come and see some of William Blount’s most valuable possessions and a wonderful example of the splendor of the Blount’s during the founding of Knoxville. Blount Mansion is the home of William Blount, Tennessee’s only signer of the United States Constitution, as well as where the Tennessee State Constitution was drafted and signed. It will be an opportunity for all Knoxville citizens to learn about their vital historical importance in the founding of our government. Blount Mansion is Knoxville's only National Historic Landmark given by the National Park Service and is the oldest house museum in Knox County. It is owned and operated by the Blount Mansion Association, Inc., a nonprofit, educational organization.

Blount Mansion, 200 W. Hill Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-525-2375, www.blountmansion.org

East Tennessee PBS will host six screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens as a new participant in Community Cinema, a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative by The Independent Television Service (ITVS), producer of Independent Lens and other documentary film programs.

More than 95 cities participate in Community Cinema, a film series that brings together leading organizations and community members to learn about, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time.

After each screening, community leaders will hold a panel discussion addressing the issues broached in the films. Participating panelists will be announced in advance of each screening.

Community Cinema begins Thursday, September 26, at 6 p.m. with The Graduates/Los Graduados.
All screenings will be held at the East Tennessee PBS studio, at 1611 East Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville. Screenings are free and open to the public. Doors open an hour before screenings begin.
For additional information, visit www.EastTennesseePBS.org/news-and-events/community-cinema/ or call Amy Hubbard at 865-595-0230 or email ahubbard@easttennesseepbs.org.

Community Cinema films:
The Graduates/Los Graduados
Thursday, September 26
Part 1 at 6 p.m., Part 2 at 7:30 p.m.
The Graduates/Los Graduados is a two-part, bilingual documentary that explores pressing issues in education today through the eyes of six Latino and Latina adolescents from across the United States, offering first-hand perspectives on the barriers they have to overcome in order to make their dreams come true.

Pack a picnic, grab the family and head to the Gardens for a wonderful evening of great local music surrounded by the sounds of nature. The concert will be held rain or shine. Tickets for members are $15, non-members are $20. Kids 12 years and under are FREE!
Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum, 2743 Wimpole Ave, Knoxville, TN 37914. Hours: Gardens open daily from dawn to dusk. Information: 865-862-8717, www.knoxgarden.org

The preliminary rounds for the 2014 International Blues Challenge (IBC) will be held at the Whammy Bar Cafe, 8426 Kingston Pike, in Knoxville at 8:00 p.m. on September 24, 2013 and September 26, 2013. The finals will follow at the Whammy Bar on Saturday, September 28th at 3:00 p.m.

The Whammy Bar Cafe is non-smoking and family friendly. The cafe offers a full menu of coffee & latte drinks, along with a light food menu. Beer will be available during the IBC Competition dates. Youth are encouraged to enter this year.

The cover charge for competition nights will be $5.00, $3.00 for Blues Society members. Monies collected will go into a fund to help the winning band travel to the IBC in Memphis. The IBC is the world's largest gathering of Blues acts ready to take their act to the international stage.

The entry fee for bands, duos, and solos is $25. All entry fee money will go into the fund to help the winning band travel to Memphis. Applications will be available at the Smoky Mountain Website.

To enter the competition, one member of the entering act must be a member of the Smoky Mountain Blues Society. Basic backline will be provided, (two guitar amps, a drum set, and a bass amp). P.A. system and sound engineer will also be provided, all courtesy of Riks Music & Sound.

If you wish to enter, wish to judge, or simply want more information, please contact Steve Krempasky at (717) 448-9532 or Robert Higginbotham at (865) 300-3648. The Whammy Bar and Riks Music and Sound can be contacted at (865) 691-9590.

Further information available at www.smokymountainblues.org

Weave your way to the Bagwell Center for Media and Art at Pellissippi State Community College and gain a new appreciation of an Appalachian heritage craft, basket weaving. “A Celebration of Baskets” by the Foothills Craft Guild Basket Weavers is on display at the Bagwell Gallery with an opening reception 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24. The event is free, and the community is invited. “The Foothills Craft Guild exhibit will present original work created by guild members, along with examples of work done by a special guest,” said Jennifer Brickey, an art instructor at Pellissippi State. “A Celebration of Baskets” features the work of Pam Parham, a Shaker-basket weaver from Sevierville. According to Virgil Davis, a Pellissippi State adjunct faculty member and also a guild member, the basket exhibit pays homage to a timeless Appalachian craft, as well as introduces traditional and modern weaving techniques. Like Parham, Davis creates Shaker baskets. Whether baskets, furniture or architecture, Shaker style is intended for longevity and usefulness. The display includes not only Shaker pieces but also nesting baskets, Nantuckets with solid wood bases and lids, and Appalachian berry baskets, which were traditionally made quickly, on site, from carved poplar bark. Heritage basketry is joined in the exhibit by more modern creations. The display is meant to encourage visitors to be conscious of space and enclosures and to find beauty in everyday items.

“A Celebration of Baskets” is one of the events that make up Pellissippi State’s arts series, “The Arts at Pellissippi State.” The series brings to the community cultural activities ranging from music and theatre to international celebrations, lectures, and the fine arts. Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. For more information about The Arts at Pellissippi State, contact Pellissippi State at (865) 694-6400 or visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.

The musical play is based on the 1998 film Mulan by Walt Disney Pictures. Mulan is set in China during the Han Dynasty. The film's title character, Fa Mulan, is the only daughter of aged warrior Fa Zhou. She impersonates a man and takes her father's place during a general conscription to counter a fictitious Hun invasion led by Shan Yu. Along with her guardian dragon Mushu, her captain, Li Shang, a lucky cricket, "Cri-kee," and her companions, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, she battles the invading Hun army.

COMPLETE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Friday 9/20 at 7 PM, Saturday 9/21 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sunday 9/22 at 3 PM
Thursday 9/26 at 7 PM, Friday 9/27 at 7 PM, Saturday 9/28 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sunday 9/29 at 3 PM
Thursday 10/3 at 7 PM, Friday 10/4 at 7 PM, Saturday 10/5 at 1 PM & 5 PM

TICKET PRICES: $12. SPECIAL RATE: Any adult & Child entering together = $10 each

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-599-5284, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com. Reservations: tickets@childrenstheatreknoxville.com

"The Science Maze" where visitors get lost in science facts as they discover interesting tidbits of science fields from astronomy to zoology. AMSE Second Level.

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

A juried, mixed-media exhibition open to all artists and intended to showcase exceptional work produced throughout our region. Juried by Jeffrey Adams, Director of the Appalachian Center for Craft.

Opening reception: September 14, 7-9 PM with a gallery talk at 6:30 PM.

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

The Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture is pleased to present Fransje Killaars: Color at the Center from September 12 - October 21, 2013.

Fransje Killaars is a remarkable colorist who approaches her medium – textiles – in challenging and innovative ways that are as much cultural statements as they are vigorously conceptual. Killaars places color at the center of her practice, production, and viewer’s experience. Her installations exist in a space that merges art, architecture, fashion, and interior design.

Killaars’ primary media has strong associations with the handwork of craft traditions. At the same time, her work is also discussed within the context of deskilling, the continued removal of the artist’s hand from the creation of art, an artistic practice embraced by artists primarily with the advent of Modernism.

Killaars will be lecturing on Thursday, September 12 at 7:30 pm in room 109 of the Art and Architecture Building on the UT Campus. There will be an opening reception for Color at the Center immediately following the lecture in the Ewing Gallery. All events are free and open to the public. The Ewing Gallery is open Monday - Friday from 10 am - 5pm and on Sundays from 1-4pm. Additional evening hours may be added at a later date.

Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture
1715 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, TN 37996

865.974.3200
www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Pueblo pottery of the Southwest is one of the most beautiful and enduring artistic traditions in all of Native North America. It is a tradition rich with history—not only as an expression of cultural identity, but also to serve as a reflection of the relationship between Pueblo peoples and the influences from outside their own community. Today, there are about twenty pueblos with a total population in excess of 50,000. It is a practice flexible enough to adapt as necessary over time, while still adhering to established social norms.

Pottery-making in the American Southwest is a tradition that first emerged about two thousand years ago. Historically, it was a functional art form, passed from generation to generation over the span of centuries by people living in permanent villages known as pueblos. The pottery of each pueblo was unique and distinguished by a variety of characteristics, such as the individual clay source and shape of the vessels and designs, or lack thereof, painted onto the surface. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, these traditions were well established; and as more and more people began to travel and move to the Southwest, pottery production was quickly transformed from a functional art form (used primarily within Pueblo communities) to a highly marketable cultural expression.

Curated by Bill Mercer, this exhibition consists of seventy-four Pueblo Indian pottery vessels and supporting materials, dating from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twenties centuries, illustrating the remarkable variety of pottery created during that very dynamic time of transformation. Some of the vessels in the exhibition are very conservative and adhere to the traditional style of a particular pueblo, while others incorporate innovations specifically designed for the retail market.

It is also during this time period that certain individuals, such as Nampeyo from Hopi and Maria Martinez from San Ildefonso, became recognized for the quality of their work. The exhibition includes outstanding examples of their work as well.

Through this exhibition, drawn exclusively from the rich collections of the Kansas City Museum and Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, visitors will be introduced to the various styles of Pueblo pottery, as well as an understanding of the narrative behind its continued development.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

"Collage as a Strategy for..." an exhibition of work by Jean Hess.
Reception, Friday, September 20, 2013, 6:00-7:30 PM. Artist talk at 6:30 PM.

Jean Hess’s work is influenced by her studies in cultural anthropology as well as in art. She creates obscure and playful collage paintings, combining natural materials and recycled ephemera to reference dream, memory and nostalgia as well as issues of loss, particularly environmental degradation.

Solo shows include the University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Tennessee Arts Commission, University of Alabama – Huntsville, East Tennessee State University, University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Maryville College, Association for Visual Arts (Chattanooga), Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (Atlanta) and Savannah College of Art and Design. Hess’s solo show at the Huntsville Museum of Art in 2004 was accompanied by an award-winning catalogue. Her work has been included in juried or curated shows at Hunter Museum of Art (Chattanooga); Knoxville Museum of Art; William King Museum, Abingdon, VA; Huntsville Museum of Art; Evansville Museum of Art, Science and History; Carroll Reese Museum (Johnson City); Clarksville (TN) Museum and Cultural Center; McKinney Avenue Contemporary (Dallas); and University of Texas – Dallas. Hess’s mixed-media collage paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Huntsville Museum of Art; Evansville Museum of Arts, Science and History; University of Virginia.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM; Friday 9AM-4:30PM; Sunday 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

African American Appalachian Arts, Incorporated (AAAA, Inc.) is hosting an Opening Ceremony for an Artist Exhibition at the Downtown African American Art Gallery. Artist Hawa Ware Johnson native of Liberia West Africa, who now resides in Knoxville, will install a Visual Art Exhibition. The exhibition will be on display in the office of African American Appalachian Arts, Inc., Suite 106 of The Emporium Building, 100 South Gay Street, Knoxville TN, 37902.

Celebrating the Ten Year Anniversary of “First Friday” - Baba Beats & Edutainment will be conducting a Drum Circle/Jam session. Feel free to bring an instrument; some hand instruments will be provided. Djembe Gear drum bags and gear will be for sale and on display. On Friday, October 4th, 2013, from 6:00pm – 8:00pm in the office of African American Appalachian Arts, Inc., Suite 106, The Emporium Building, 100 South Gay Street, Knoxville TN, 37902. A taste of Liberian cuisine will be available.

African American Appalachian Arts: 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 106, Knoxville, TN 37902. 865-217-6786, kuumbafest@gmail.com