Calendar of Events

February 1, 12:00 PM - IJAMS BIRDING SERIES: Sandhill Cranes at Hiwassee
(Ages 12 and up) Weather permitting, join Ijams Senior Naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales for a road trip to Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge to see sandhill cranes wintering at the Meigs County location. Golden and bald eagles, winter ducks, and whooping cranes are also possible. Meet at the Ijams Visitor Center. The fee for this program is $12 for members and $15 for non-members. Ijams will provide box lunches and hot cocoa. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

2:00 pm - IJAMS FAMILY WILDLIFE SERIES: Groundhog Day
Unlike the popular movie, you won't be forced to relive this day over and over, but you may want to! Come join us for a fun and informative talk about one of our favorite underground dwellers. Will he see his shadow? Free to members, $5 for non-members. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

Terrarium Workshop February 8
Full Moon Happy Hour Hike February 15
New Naturalist Workshop February 21
Build a Bluebird House February 22

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Optasia Productions in association with Beck Cultural Exchange Center has joined in partnership to pay homage to our very own “History Makers” in two moving performances of the celebrated Black History Musical Production, “WE SHALL OVERCOME” at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Avon W. Rollins, Sr. Exhibit Hall, Saturday February 1st at 6:30pm and Sunday, February 2nd at 4:00pm.
“We Shall Overcome” is a lively, entertaining presentation that follows a classroom of modern youth whisked away back in time to experience Sit-ins with Robert J. Booker, SNCC meetings with Guy Carawan, Protests with Avon W. Rollins, Sr., Marches with Rev. Harold A. Middlebrook, and Change with the Clinton 12!

“So much of our country’s fight for Civil Rights was fought right here in our own back yard”, says writer Lar’Juanette Williams. “Upon discovery and display of this piece, we have experienced the blessing of bringing knowledge, understanding, and unity to our region for many years. What was meant to be a one-time showing in 2005, turned into a celebrated Black History Month staple every year since. This time, we want to pay Special Tribute to the very people that formed the foundation of the “We Shall Overcome” phenomena… while we have a chance”.

We Shall Overcome is comprised of a 25+ member multi-talented and multi-generational cast, featuring Christopher Frith, Jeni Kitts, LaKia Marion, Daniel Lineberger, Lar’Juanette Williams and an array of other local favorites. The show reaches audiences of every age and every ethnicity and demonstrates that the success of the Civil Rights Movement was only possible due to the many persons of differing ethnic backgrounds unifying for this cause…Our Freedom. You do not want to miss this display of arts at its finest!

“WE SHALL OVERCOME” for two performances only: Saturday, February 1st at 7:00pm and Sunday, February 2nd at 4:00pm. Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Avon W. Rollins, Sr. Exhibit Hall, 1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915. Let us begin 2014 Black History Celebration paying Tribute to Our Own! For more information call the Beck Cultural Exchange Center: (865) 524-8461. Donation of $7.00 at the door is suggested. Don’t Miss it!

Monroe Area Council for the Arts 2013-2014 Performance Series

Public show: Saturday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m.
Tickets available at the box office, at all Citizens National Banks in Monroe County & Century 21 Hendershot Realty in Madisonville: $10/adult; $5/student; children ages 4 & under Free

For Event & Ticket Info: www.monroearts.com
All performances at Hiwassee College, 225 Hiwassee College Drive, Madisonville, TN 37354

It came from the desert. What "it" was, exactly, is still a matter of debate. Whatever kind of strange and terrible mutation slouched out of the irradiated California wasteland in 1996, it’s evidently still around. It lives. It breathes. It can’t be stopped. ...LIKE CLOCKWORK is the first Queens of the Stone Age album since 2007’s ERA VULGARIS, and one of the most fully realized rock albums in recent memory.

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Blessed with what the New York Times described as a “beautiful countertenor,” singer Art Garfunkel has made an indelible mark on the music world as both a solo artist and half of the unrivaled Simon & Garfunkel. “I’m a singer trying to get away with a lucky job. I try to soothe, to lift... That’s my life,” said Garfunkel.

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Last Real Cowboys
The Cowboys, based in Charleston SC, are all East Tennessee ex-pats with strong Knoxville musical connections -- Hector (guitar, vocals) with Balboa, RB Morris, Lonesome Coyotes, and his own hq band; Kevin Crothers (bass) with Home Boys, Thirteenth Generation, and Sea 7 States; and fiddler and mandolinist Roger Bellow, recipient of the South Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Together they’ll give us their often spontaneous take on a lot of original acoustic music, including even the occasional cowboy’s lament. Tickets, if available, will be for sale at the door for $14.

Jubilee Community Arts, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916. For information: 865-522-5851, www.jubileearts.org. For tickets: 865-523-7521, www.KnoxTIX.com

USA Today bestselling novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt will teach a workshop on developing character in fiction from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Stone House on the grounds of Church of the Savior, 934 North Weisgarber Road. Sponsored by the Knoxville Writers' Guild, cost is $35 for KWG members and $40 for nonmembers. "Credible, engaging characters drive your plot; their journeys are the force of fiction," Schoenewaldt said. "Fun, fast-moving exercises help you build or refine your characters, as you discover/create their strengths and limits, options and defining characteristics." Those attending should bring pen, paper and a few photographs or illustrations of people you'd like to know better. It's open to writers and aspiring writers of all genres.

Schoenewaldt is the author of two historical novels, the bestselling When We Were Strangers and Swimming in the Moon, which was released in September. Her short-stories have been published internationally. She taught fiction writing for 17 years, first at the University of Maryland's European Division and then at the University of Tennessee. She's currently under contract with HarperCollins for a third novel.
Info: www.knoxvillewritersguild.org

The Jewel Building at 525 North Gay Street will host one of the most creative fundraising events in town, the 5th Annual Breaststrokes- Knoxville Paint the TaTas Auction and Gala cancer fundraising event, featuring guest emcee Madame Onca O’Leary, along with Sidecar Symposium and The Follie Girls, The Jabal Connection, and even a breast-themed songwriting contest. But the real stars of the show will be the rather unique photographs of over 200 volunteer “canvases” who gathered at Ironwood Studios in November 2013 to have their chests painted in a variety of designs and photographed from chin to navel to be auctioned off at the event. Additional items to be auctioned off include a private house party with singer-songwriter and host of the ‘The Writers Block’ on 105.3 FM Karen Reynolds, as well as golf lessons, dinner and spa packages, a 2-night stay at the The Oliver Hotel and more. “This event will truly be like no other in Knoxville, from the vaudeville entertainment to the art on the walls, there will be something fun and different for everyone to enjoy” says Fundraising Committee Chair Jennie Caissie.

This year, for the first time ever, the all-volunteer, committee-driven grassroots group used photographs from previous years to produce a calendar, which is available at a variety of locations around Knoxville such as Green Earth Emporium, Big Fatty's Catering Kitchen, Union Ave Books, Pioneer House, Chop Shop Hair Studio, The Well, and Suttree's High Gravity Tavern. Paint the TaTas originally began as the idea of Bekki Vaden as a way to raise money to help an uninsured friend who was struggling to pay for her breast cancer treatments. With the help of local artists and photographers such as Ammi Knight and Tovah Greenwood over the past five years the event has grown exponentially as more and more local women want to be involved. “This event has grown from just 7 local ladies to over 200 this year and we couldn’t be any happier. And this year, with so many women willing to volunteer their time and talents, we are able to establish a framework for this to not just be one event per year but a series of events and projects that marry the worlds of art and healing. Though this year we will be offering help to 2 local women facing financial concerns resulting from cancer treatments, we hope to be able to do more in the future. There are even plans to establish a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.” says Jennie Caissie. According to photographer and event organizer Tovah Greenwood, “We have not worked with any organizations to get potential beneficiaries; sadly they have come to us each year. It all started with a close friend who was recently diagnosed and the next year it was a friend of a friend and so on.” For photographs of previous events, please contact Tovah Greenwood at (865) 363-3599 or tovahlovephotography@gmail.com

(828) 989-8049, jrcaissie@hotmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/#!/breaststrokes.knoxville

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Sight and Feeling: Photographs by Ansel Adams January 31-May 4, 2014. This exhibition of 23 prints by Ansel Adams emphasizes the role of the artist’s intuitive and emotional response to the landscape in the creation of his powerful and enduring images. Also included in the KMA’s special presentation of this exhibition are three rare prints Adams made during his little-known visit to East Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains in 1948. Adams is widely considered to be America’s greatest landscape photographer. His ability to create black and white photographs with a remarkable range and subtlety of tones is legendary. Yet for all Adams’ technical mastery, he recognized that what made a compelling photograph was far more elusive.

Few are aware that in 1948 Adams traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park—his first and only recorded visit to Tennessee—in order take photographs as part of a Guggenheim Fellowship on America’s national parks and monuments. The resulting images represent an extensive and important artistic record of the Smokies approximately 14 years after the park was established.

There will be an opening reception Thursday, January 30 at the KMA, which includes a members-only preview from 5 to 6pm, and a public opening from 6 to 8pm.

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

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Contemporary Focus January 31-April 6. This annual exhibition series is designed to serve as a vital means of recognizing, supporting, and documenting the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year, the exhibition series features the work of artists who are living and making art in this region, and who are exploring issues relevant to the larger world of contemporary art. The three artists selected for this year’s exhibition have a common interest in creating layered works dealing with memory, identity and the surrounding environment—whether suburban, rural, synthetic, or natural. Jean Hess produces dense, intricate collages made up of fragments culled from eclectic sources such as topographical charts, children’s writings, and the natural landscape. In addition to her studio practice, Hess is active as a freelance art writer and curator. Althea Murphy-Price is a printmaker and installation artist who uses hair—both human and artificial—rather than a drawn line as the basis for her elaborately textured compositions. Murphy-Price is an assistant professor of printmaking at the School of Art, University of Tennessee. Jessica Wohl is a mixed media artist based in Sewanee whose sprawling installations, obsessively detailed ink drawings, and sewn portraits are largely inspired by contemporary suburban life. She currently lives in Sewanee, Tennessee where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at The University of the South.

There will be an opening reception Thursday, January 30 at the KMA, which includes a members-only preview from 5 to 6pm, and a public opening from 6 to 8pm.

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

By Matthew Lopes; Directed by John Sipes

Everyone has scars in this stirring period drama. In April 1865, a wounded Jewish Confederate soldier returns to his home in Richmond only to find it ruined and abandoned--except for two former slaves also raised in the Jewish faith. As the three men celebrate Passover, they uncover a tangle of secrets and grapple with an uncertain future brought on by the end of the Civil War.

This production contains strong language and content and is recommended for high school and up.

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

In Kaufman and Hart’s 1940s comedy, famed author and personality Sheridan Whiteside, invited to dinner during a speaking tour, slips on the doorstep, breaking his hip. A tumultuous six weeks of confinement follows as the irascible and disagreeable invalid takes over the host family’s home and destroys their domestic tranquility with the arrival of strange and exotic get-well gifts, a parade of celebrity friends, and a devious plot to undermine his secretary’s budding romance.

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