Calendar of Events

Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, TN is offering a beginning and an advance beginner Cherokee language class on the following Monday evenings, February 17, 24, March 3, & 10 from 6:30 – 9 p.m. The cost of the class is $40 for all four evenings. If you have taken the class before with the museum a discount of $5 will be given. The class will be taught by Shirley Oswalt and Mary Brown who are members of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian. Anyone interested in taking this class should contact the museum at 423-884-6246 to reserve your space. In case of inclement weather please be sure to call ahead first.

Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, 576 HWY 360, Vonore, TN 37885. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 12-5PM. Information: 423-884-6246, www.sequoyahmuseum.org

American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Knoxville’s mission is, on the local level, the same as on the national level: to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. We are here for graphic designers at all stages of their expertise, and across the diverse areas of practice that design encompasses. AIGA represents a variety of professions under the umbrella of communication design, ranging from book and type design to interactive design and experience design. We support design professionals, educators and students throughout their careers. Whether you are just getting started or are a seasoned designer, student, veteran designer, in-house designer, or creative independent, AIGA Knoxville’s mission is to inform, inspire, and engage the design community throughout East Tennessee. We are seeking Sponsors, at least on an event-by-event basis, to help us bring in speakers and hold events that will help form better connections between creatives amongst the East Tennessee community. AIGA Knoxville has two major events planned as February marks AIGA's 100th year of existence. Our events are as follows:

Monday, February 17th — 5:00 PM AIGA100: The Mural Project at Remedy Coffee
Free to attend / Donation required to participate in the mural project On the evening of Monday, February 17, 2014 AIGA Knoxville will be holding an event at the Remedy Coffee to kick off the AIGA 100 celebrations. AIGA is coordinating a large scale, modular, mural project where we will tether a multitude of canvases together, that will be unified by an over-arching “AIGA 100″ design. Different people, from sponsors to students, will have the opportunity to come join us on the evening of February 17th to paint their specific piece of the mural. The overlay of AIGA 100 will be their only guidance. We will then hang this piece on the night of Curran’s speech, which falls on February 20th (see below). Following that event, we anticipate this collaborative piece will become a featured permanent installation at the Emporium on the 100 Block of Gay Street.

Thursday, February 20th — 6:00 PM AIGA100: Speaker – Stewart Scott-Curran, Art Director at CNN Digital
Emporium Center for Arts & Culture
Free to AIGA Knoxville members / $5 for AIGA at-large members / $10 to KAMA and AdFed members / $15 to the public
AIGA Knoxville welcomes Stewart Scott-Curran. Stewart is Art Director at CNN Digital in San Francisco. Over the course of the past 20 years, Stewart has made his way from a Scottish cell phone call center in the 90’s, to across the pond, working in Atlanta at CNN corporate before branching out to the digital side in San Francisco. Stewart will speak on his journey, and how hard-work can lead to places never imagined. We welcome Stewart to the Knoxville creative community to share his wit and wisdom.

These two events will be at some cost. Being a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, it is vital that we raise funds to hold these events. Varying levels of sponsorship are available, please contact ebeck@moxleycarmichael.com for information.

http://knoxville.aiga.org/

Featuring Jon Whitlock & Friends + poet RB Morris

Tennessee Shines is a weekly radio show performed live for an in-studio audience at the Knoxville Visitor Center Mondays at 7pm and broadcast live on WDVX FM and WDVX.com. Hosts are Bob Deck and Paige Travis. Tickets are $10, free for students with valid ID and children ages 14 and under. Tickets are available in advance at the WDVX Blue Plate Special, noon weekdays and Saturdays at the Knoxville Visitor Center, or at the door beginning at 6 p.m. on the night of the show. For more information, visit WDVX.com.
Information: 865-544-1029, www.wdvx.com, http://www.tennesseeshines.com

Riding a bike is all fun and games until someone gets a flat. Knox County Public Library is pleased to introduce a new series called Life 101 to help teens develop some practical skills, including bike maintenance. Life 101 will be held at Lawson McGhee Library on Saturdays at 2:00 pm. It's aim is to teach teenagers some important life skills for their future. The programs are free and open to all area teens. No reservation required.
February 15: Bike safety
The first leg of this 2-part program will focus on urban bike safety. Local organization, Kickstand, will be on hand to guide participants through the rules of the road and offer other suggestions on how to become a safer, more aware cyclist.

March 1: Bike maintenance and repair
Flats, broken chains, and wobbly seats, oh my! Meet up with volunteers from local organization, Kickstand, to learn essential bike maintenance and repair techniques.

March 8: Stress management: yoga for teens
March 29: Financial literacy

For more information, please contact Bess Connally at bconnally@knoxlib.org, or (865) 215-8767

Let Them Eat Cupcakes by Leslie Agron
Coming home from the war doesn’t always provide a release from the effects of the war as the home front is not always as welcoming as we would like to believe. Please come see our table reading of Leslie Agron's Let Them Eat Cupcakes this Saturday, February 15th, 2 pm at the Bearden Library. Jennifer Brown of Tiger Lily Theatre directs this modern drama. We will also perform the play Tuesday, February 18th, 6 pm at the Farragut Library.

Found Objects by Marilynn Barner Anselmi
Does the truth always set us free? When a mother and daughter attempt to deal with the accidental death of their son/brother, the truth may keep them from healing.

Please come see our table reading of Marilynn Barner Anselmi's Found Objects this Saturday, February 15th, 12 pm at Fountain City Library. Jennifer Alldredge of Tiger Lily Theatre directs this poignant play.

Tennessee Stage Company: 865-546-4280, www.tennesseestage.com

Athens Community Theatre announces their upcoming musical production of Into the Woods, book by James Lapine, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Show dates for Into the Woods are February 13-23, 2014.

In this fairytale mash-up of epic proportion, familiar faces embark on the unknown: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack (of beanstalk fame), dwell in a sylvan community where a meddling witch and a baker are next-door neighbors and the handsome princes from classic fables are competitive and comically vain paramours. Propelled by Sondheim’s majestic score, these characters venture “Into the Woods” and down a different path than that of the stories you’ve heard. The baker and his wife travel in search of a cow, a red cape, yellow hair, and gold slippers to lift a spell placed on them by the haggard witch. Cinderella, Jack, and Little red, too, have set out on inspired quests of their own. As the plot unfolds, these characters’ individual stories intersect through unexpected plot twists, and cameos by other characters of fairytale lore add to the thrill of the journey. In turn farcical and contemplative, James Lapine’s book examines themes of childhood and parenthood, ambition and desire, and takes on allegorical gravity when the tale does not end with “happily ever after.”

Performances are February 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21 and 22 at 7:00 PM and February 23 at 2:00 PM. Tickets for all performances are $15 for adults, $8 for students, except for February 14, which is BE MY VALENTINE NIGHT, when you can bring your prince or princess to the theatre for a “buy one get one $3 off” ticket deal; and February 20, which is FAIRYTALE FUN NIGHT, when you can come at 6:00 PM dressed in a fairytale costume for a complimentary magic potion (hot beverage) and $1 off ticket price.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, January 16th and will be available online at www.athensartscouncil.org, by phone at 423-745-8781, or in person at The Arts Center, 320 N. White St., Athens, Tennessee. For more information, contact The Arts Center at 423-745-8781.

Sculptor Raymond Padrón brings a one-man show of his far-ranging and eclectic pieces to Pellissippi State Community College in February, part of The Arts at Pellissippi State. "Journeyman," featuring the artist many may know from his public art installations in Chattanooga, exhibits at the Bagwell Center for Media and Art gallery with an opening reception 4-6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10.

Some of the pieces Padrón will display were done specifically for this exhibit. According to Brian Jobe, a Liberal Arts adjunct faculty member, the sculptor uses a variety of techniques for his work, including casting and woodworking.

The Bagwell Gallery is located at Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Campus. Both the opening reception and the exhibit are free and open to the community. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Ample parking is available on campus.

Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Painter Diana Dee Sarkar and wood-turner Gordon Fowler, both of Knoxville, are the Art Market Gallery’s February featured artists. Their recent works will be on exhibit with an opening reception to be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, during the monthly First Friday Art Walk in downtown Knoxville. At the opening reception visitors may enjoy complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Living Room Roots.

Gordon Fowler, whose background includes carpentry and a degree in microbiology from University of Tennessee, studied at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts and the Kentucky School of Craft. He has been turning wood since 2002, concentrating on creating pleasing shapes with an eye to proportion. "I love the symmetry and symbolism of circles, and am inspired by the patterns and contrasts found in nature," he says. With his three children now grown, this fulltime stay-at-home dad spends time in the kitchen, tending to the chickens, volunteering, and at the lathe, where he enjoys creating works from recycled logs that would otherwise have gone into someone's fireplace or the landfill.

Diana Dee Sarkar grew up in Wichita, KS, with a formal education focused on chemistry and medicine. Painting portraits, still life and landscapes on her own, she became serious about art in 2005, studying various media with Hongnian Zhang at the Woodstock (NY) School of Art, Lois Woolley, Anthony Ryder, Susan Ogilvie, Nelson Shanks and others. She holds a certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and is completing work on an MFA at Academy of Art University. Her paintings have been juried into a show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Museum, and the International Miniature Painting competition. She paints representationally, currently in oil and pastel.

Owned and operated by more than 60 professional regional artists, the Art Market Gallery, at 422 S. Gay St., is a few doors away from Mast General Store and next to Downtown Grill & Brewery. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday. The gallery is wheelchair accessible, and parking in the abutting garage and on the street is free on weekends and after 6 p.m. weekdays. For more information, call 865-525-5265, or visit artmarketgallery.net, or facebook.com/Art.Market.Gallery.

Silvia has been on a journey punctuated by artistic endeavors and service to others; a journey where her love of painting and her desire to help victims of domestic coexist. Having worked as bilingual advocate for a domestic violence program she is now in the process of creating a non-profit organization tohelp immigrant women in similar situations. As opposed to her first book, “I Wish…I Wish…I Wish…” which she wrote for children, Silvia’s current book, inSpanish, is on domestic violence. Silvia is a graduate of Leadership Plenty, the Citizen Police Academy, and the Knox County Community Action LeadershipProgram. And when she has extra time, Silvia is a professional chef and loves making fine custom jewelry.

HoLa Hora Latina: 865-335-3358, www.holafestival.org

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present its National Juried Exhibition of 2014, a new exhibition featuring selected works from 36 artists in the Southeast region. The National Juried Exhibition was developed in 2006 to provide a forum for local artists to compete on a national scale and display their highest quality work. The exhibition encompasses all styles and genres from both emerging and established artists working in a variety of media such as drawing, photography, digital media, watercolor, oil painting, encaustic, ceramics, and woodworking and will be displayed in the Emporium Center from February 7 – March 1, 2014. Most of the works are for sale. A public reception will take place on Friday, February 7, from 5:00-9:00 PM with a brief awards ceremony at 6:00 PM in which $1,000 in cash awards will be announced. The First Friday reception also features a performance by Tennessee Stage Company from 6:30-6:45 PM and a Jazz Jam Session hosted by Vance Thompson and Friends from 7:00-9:00 PM, both in the Black Box Theatre. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be available and chocolate fondue will be provided by the Melting Pot of Knoxville.

Paul Collins served as juror for the exhibition. He is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Nashville. Collins makes drawings, paintings and sculpture that combine humor, tactility and observation to examine the world around us. He has an MFA from Yale and has been a resident at Skowhegan, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and the Vermont Studio Center. Collins works as Gallery Director and Assistant Professor of Art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. “This exhibition offers a powerful view of artists’ narratives and responses to the challenge of creating images in today’s day and age,” says Paul Collins. “The works all evidence a strong sense of voice in answering their own questions of what makes us vital as people and what compels us to make artwork.”

The National Juried Exhibition of 2014 is on display February 7 – March 1, 2014 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM and Saturday, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit our web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

The Arts & Culture Alliance proudly presents “Afghanistan: Unordinary Lives”, a new exhibition of 20 photographs by Slovenian artist Manca Juvan that portrays civil society in Afghanistan. Juvan made several trips to the country between 2003 and 2009, documenting the lives of Afghans who, after the fall of the Taliban, had been promised much by the international community. Their lives, unfortunately, were little changed for the better. The images have been published in a book of the same title that aims to encourage continued discussion of Afghanistan, particularly of the daily lives of ordinary citizens who are usually omitted from the political/war discussions in the media. The photographs will be displayed in the Balcony of the Emporium Center from February 7 – March 1, 2014. A public reception will take place on Friday, February 7, from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres available and chocolate fondue provided by the Melting Pot of Knoxville.

“Despite the international community’s efforts to crush the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after 9/11, and its promises of bringing democracy and rebuilding to this war-torn nation, the ongoing war and instability continues to diminish the hopes of the Afghan people,” says Manca Juvan. “Stories on the lives of ordinary Afghans caught in this endless conflict of interest and the ongoing struggle for money, power, and overall control remind us what the real images of war and poverty, of lives far from ordinary, look like.” Prior to exhibition in Knoxville, the collection of images has shown at Gallery MC in New York; Ljubljana Castle, Koroska Gallery of Fine Arts, STOLP Gallery, and Museum of Modern Art in Slovenia; Photomed festival in France; the Federal Parliament of Belgium; and the Abbaye de Neumünster in Luxembourg. For more information on the Afghanistan: Unordinary Lives project, visit www.mancajuvan.com/unordinarylives.

Born 1981 in Slovenia, Manca Juvan has worked as a freelance photographer since 2000 after completing her studies at the Slovene School for Photography. She has been selected as Photographer of the Year in Slovenia for her reportage work in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and has been twice commended for her work on Afghanistan by the Slovenian Association of Journalists. Her book Afghanistan: Unordinary Lives was published by Sanje publishers in 2010 with an English edition following 2012. In 2011 she was chosen as one of three recipients of a scholarship for NYU/Magnum Foundation Photography and Human Rights Program. Juvan has published photographs and stories on Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, India, the United States, Serbia and the EU countries, among others in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic (Slovenia), Time.com, Marie Claire, and The European Voice. She is a member of the International Association of Photojournalists called SPUTNIK. She has worked as a mentor on photo documentary workshops and more recently university photography programs, and she prepared several solo exhibitions and participated in many group displays home and abroad.

Her visit has been coordinated by the Embassy of Slovenia in Washington and Lydia Pulsipher, Professor of Geography, Emeritus at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Honorary Consul for the Republic of Slovenia to Tennessee. For more information on Manca Juvan, visit www.mancajuvan.com.

At the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM and Saturday, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit our Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

Bliss Home is pleased to present Knoxville artist, Christi Shields, for February's First Friday. Bliss Home, located at 29 Market Square, will host an opening reception on Friday, February 7th from 6pm to 9pm. Complimentary Steamboat Sandwiches will be provided and Christi's art will be featured for the month of February.

Christi's February exhibit is a collection of paintings which express emotions from the past through continued experimentation in innovative, edgy and modern acrylic techniques. Christi uses a very action oriented process along with layer techniques and color to create depth. By using bold colors, texture and movement, Christi aims to evoke an emotional response from the viewer.

Admission: Free
Bliss Home, 29 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-329-8868, www.shopinbliss.com