Calendar of Events

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

Richard Whitehead was classically trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in painting and drawing. Rick's work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, and In Antwerp, Belgium, and Murcia and Barcelona, Spain.

Rick's March exhibit will tell a story of exploration, which is told through compressed charcoals, solarized photos of clouds and paintings inspired from aboriginal art.

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

At Rala 323 Union Ave Knoxville, TN 37902
Opening Reception: First Friday March 7, 6-9pm
Work on display through March 30

Artist Statement: Back in Knoxville, there are hand-painted signs all over, my favorites being an ice-cream cone and miniature football players holding up a giant hoagie. I go square dancing and watch hipsters dance with silver-haired sweethearts. And then there is this other side of things. I drive around singing the lyrics of catchy pop songs and follow some of the world's most famous fashion designers on Instagram. Some artists use innovation as their driving force while others have tradition in mind. Some people paint a sign without thinking too much about anything at all. Through my artwork, I give a nod to what is esteemed today while delving deeper into the rich heritage of The South. http://withbearhands.com/withbearhands/2014/3/5/art-opening-march-7-at-rala

The Arts & Culture Alliance proudly presents “Hand Made Here: A Tennessee Craft Chapter Exhibition,” featuring original works of basketry, clay, fiber, glass, wood, metals, leather, handmade paper, mixed media, printmaking, photography, and more by artists who are current residents of Tennessee. The 27 selected craft artists were chosen by the Tennessee Craft Plateau Chapter. The purpose of the exhibition is to help promote inter-chapter activity and membership involvement and to strengthen Tennessee Craft’s presence in East Tennessee.

Works will be displayed in the main gallery of the Emporium Center from March 7-29, 2014. A public reception will take place on Friday, March 7, from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres available and chocolate fondue provided by the Melting Pot of Knoxville. The First Friday reception also features a flamenco dance performance by Pasión Flamenco from 6:00-6:45 PM and a Jazz Jam Session hosted by Vance Thompson and Friends from 7:00-9:00 PM, both in the Black Box Theatre.

“Hand Made Here: A Tennessee Craft Chapter Exhibition” is on display March 7-29, 2014 at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00AM - 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 “A Bird in this World,” a new exhibition of mixed media works by the Southern Art Soul Sisters (SASS) Collective. Featured artists in the exhibition include Karen Bertollini, Lynn Corsi Bland, Cynthia C. Cox, Susan Edwards, Betsy Hobkirk, Suzanne Wedekind, and Jennifer Willard; their works will be displayed in the Balcony of the Emporium Center from March 7-29, 2014. A public reception will take place on Friday, March 7, from 5:00-9:00 PM with complimentary hors d’oeuvres available and chocolate fondue provided by the Melting Pot of Knoxville. The First Friday reception also features a flamenco dance performance by Pasión Flamenco from 6:00-6:45 PM and a Jazz Jam Session hosted by Vance Thompson and Friends from 7:00-9:00 PM, both in the Black Box Theatre.

The Southern Art Soul Sisters Collective came together in 2012 when a group of local Knoxville women artists met in a printmaking class at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Members of the SASS Collective are dedicated to supporting each other as artists and to sharing their work and vision through group exhibitions. “A Bird in This World” is the collective’s first gallery exhibition in Knoxville. This southern saying captures the spirit of SASS members who draw from eclectic influences and explore a variety of themes.

“A Bird in this World” is on display March 7-29, 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.

Paul Krainak is an abstract painter who also works with plywood and corrugated plastic installations. For "Topology", he has produced a series of painting studies on plywood panels and clustered them throughout the UT Downtown Gallery. "Topology" employs elements of early modern logic and its attendant forms in art and technology. It considers aesthetic and industrial incentives originating in rural America and calls into question modernism's strictly urban mythology. Grids, cruciforms, and wood grain details are embedded in extended patterns calling to mind Constructivist and Bauhaus Schools' principals of industrial hybridity and utopianism. But the site of industry here is agriculture with distilled forms taken from domestic textile design, land management diagrams, and vernacular architecture.

About Paul Krainak
Paul Krainak is an artist, critic, and Chair of the Art Department at Bradley University. He has exhibited widely in the US including the Southeast Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, The Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art and The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta, the Bemis Center for the Arts in Omaha, Artist Image Resource Center in Pittsburgh, Semaphore Gallery in New York City and NEXUS Gallery in Philadelphia. He has lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czechoslovakia, The Academy of Art in Bratislava, Slovakia, The Academy of Fine Art and Design in Bejing China and the School of Fine Art in Nanjing China. His work is represented by Ingrid Fassbender in Chicago. His writing has been published by Indiana University Press, Afterimage, New Art Examiner, Dialogue, Sculpture Magazine and Artpapers where he is the St. Louis Editor.

Please join us for this opening reception on March 7 from 5-9 PM. All events are free and open to the public.

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

Opening reception - Friday, March 7, 5-7pm

Susan Roberts is Associate Professor of Art at Walters State Community College.
One image is attached.

The Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. Information: 423-581-4330, www.rosecenter.org

Tic Toc, a World Premiere comedy by Gayle Greene presented as the featured production in the seventeenth annual New Play Festival, produced by the Tennessee Stage Company in collaboration with Tiger Lily Theatre and the Wild Thyme Players. Follow Debra, a successful photographer, as she sets out on a journey to fill her own photo album with memories, in "Tic Toc" a fast-paced romantic comedy by Knoxville's own Gayle Greene. Time flies, especially when you're having fun!

Performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM.

For more than 10 years, the Tennessee Stage Company has presented a New Play Festival including World Premiere performances as well as readings and staged readings of new, un-produced scripts. With one paid adult admission per child, 10 Knox County children up to 18 years of age can purchase a ticket to the performance for $0.01.

At Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 N. Gay Street. Tennessee Stage Company: 865-546-4280, www.tennesseestage.com

For his second photography show at The District Gallery, Judge Harold Wimberly, Jr. brings a new collection of offbeat documentary photos, including shots taken during his recent travels. The title photograph, “It was a good time,” depicts two rather disheveled looking dolls sitting outside in a weathered old dining chair amidst a dilapidated house, truck, and obscure rubble in the background. Wimberly did not pose the dolls; he simply documented the scene as he discovered it. To say it was the aftermath of “a good time” sums up the Judge’s sense of humor and irony revealed in many of his photographs. These dolls have a story to tell, a sort of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas kind of story…and it’s up to the viewer to decide if it really was such a good time.

Judge Wimberly's photography is printed by Thompson Photo using traditional film and wet process photo paper. The film is scanned and made into a file format, which is then printed on a world class Light Jet printer. Wimberly uses medium format film which results in incredible detail and virtually no grain on even large prints. Different types of paper are used depending upon the nature of the photo and the desired effect. Whether a landscape, urban scene, architectural or social document, his photos are taken with composition and space in mind. The formal qualities of the work are just a part of the viewing experience, as Wimberly captures anomalistic scenes that often tell a story or have a noteworthy history. His imagery often conveys a sense of surrealism through unusual subject matter coupled with shimmering effects of metallic photo paper.

Please join us for an opening reception Friday, March 7 from 5:30-9 p.m. The show continues through March 22.

The District Gallery, 5113 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: Mon-Fri 10-5:30, Sat 10-4. Information: 865-200-4452, www.TheDistrictGallery.com

"Homenaje a la Mujer" ("Tribute to Women")
A series of paintings by Argentine native, Dina Ruta, featuring prominent historical and contemporary women. The Pop Art style of her work reflects the influence of the years spent in Pittsburgh prior to moving to Tennessee; the selection of women speaks to Ms. Ruta’s appreciation of women’s accomplishments in diverse endeavors. Madres de Plaza de Mayo: First Lady, Michelle Obama, The Mayor of Knoxville, Madeline Rogero, Mira Ryczke Kimmelman, Pat Summitt, Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner, Rosa Parks, Sonia Sotomayor, Rigoberta Menchu, President Dilma Riusseff, President Cristina Fernández, President Michelle Bachelet, Eva Peron, Tita Merello, Mary Cassatt, Dr. Mary Dawson, Hillary Clinton

Opening March 7, 5-9 PM
HoLa Hora Latina, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 109, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-335-3358, www.holafestival.org

67th Annual Student Art Competition, Jurors' Lectures, and Opening Reception

Begun in 1947 by C. Kermit Ewing, founder of The University of Tennessee School of Art, the annual student exhibition has become one of the oldest competitions in the country and one of the highlights of the Ewing Gallery's exhibition season. This competition has been an outlet for UT's talented students for 67 years, wherein countless works of art of every form and medium have been displayed and applauded by The University and Knoxville community.

The selection of a student art exhibition is a challenging but meaningful task, and we are grateful for this year's jurors: John Pearson and Pamela Jorden (Fine Arts), and Michael Hendrix(Graphic Design), and Angela Ho (Academic Papers).

Our opening reception will be on Friday, March 7 from 6-8PM at the Ewing Gallery. Awards for the Student Art Competition will be announced at 7PM. Please join us earlier in the week for our exciting Juror lectures!

LECTURES
Monday March 3, 5:30PM
room 109 A+A Building
Michael Hendrix

Tuesday March 4, 7:30PM
room 109 A+A Building
John Pearson and Pamela Jorden

GALLERY HOURS: M: 10AM - 5PM, T: 10 AM - 5PM, W 10AM - 5PM, TR: 10AM-5PM , F: 10AM - 5PM, SUN: 1-4PM
Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Artxtravaganza Art Show and sale. Featured artist, Vicki Sawyer, and works by more than 70 acclaimed artists.

Hosted by Webb School of Knoxville and held at Webb's Lee Athletic Center.
Free admission, open to the public.
March 7, 1:00-7:00PM, March 8, 10:00AM-6:30PM, March 9, 11:00AM-4:00PM
www.artxtravaganza.org

Written and Directed by Emily Queen
Presented by Alpha Psi Omega
In this gender-bending comedy, six women sing, dance, and act their way through the high points of Greek Mythology. This spoof crams all the Greek characters you know and love into 90 minutes of fun. Tickets are $10 for Adults, $7 for Seniors and Students. Maryville College Faculty, Staff, and Students are free.
For more information please visit www.claytonartscenter.com
Call the Clayton Center Box Office for ticket information (865) 981-8590