Calendar of Events

The Crucible by Arthur Miller will be presented by the Tennessee Wesleyan Theatre Department. It will be held at the Townsend Auditorium on our Athens, Tennessee campus.

Dates and times are:
March 27, 28, 29 at 7:00 p.m.
March 30 at 3:00 p.m.
April 3, 4, 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Ticket info: twctheatre.com

UT Violin Festival
Workshops, lectures, master classes and performances. Registration and fee required. music.utk.edu/violinfestival
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday March 28-30, 2014

Pre-Festival Concert: THURS March 27 at 8 pm
UT Violin Professor, Dr. Miroslav Hristov, vioin and KSO Harpist, Cindy Hicks.

THURS Concert, plus FRIDAY & SATURDAY events to be held at the
Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, 1741 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37996

SUNDAY classes, rehearsals, and closing Gala to be held at the Alumni Memorial Bldg.
1408 Middle Drive, Knoxville TN 37996 (For more detail, please visit website )

Tennessee-based artist Andrew Saftel will exhibit Las Frutas del Mundo in conjunction with the Big Ears Music Festival, Knoxville, Tennessee, March 28-30, 2014. This exhibit will feature tapestries and related works on paper from an ongoing collaboration between the artist and a family of weavers in Michoacan, Mexico. The exhibit will be open during three afternoon sessions and feature a documentary film about the project by Eduardo Bautista, Morelia, Michoacan.

Saftel’s tapestry project and works on paper represent a link between the history and culture of the Mexican agricultural heartland and life in rural East Tennessee. “What these master artisans have created are not reproductions of the images I drew, but interpretations of them in natural wool: grown, dyed and woven in Michoacan, Mexico. The project has created an ongoing link between two cultures, using the arts to cross a contested border and inject hope and economic possibility into a difficult time for Michoacan,” said Saftel.

Location: Suite 201, The Pembroke, 508 Union Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902
How to find: Look for this logo in the window (at the corner of Walnut and Union).
Hours: 2-4 pm on Friday March 28, 11a.m. to 2p.m Saturday March 29, and Sunday March 30

Las Frutas del Mundo premiered in 2013 at the Centro Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico. La Frontera (The Border), a color woodcut printed in Patzcuaro, was partially funded by a professional development grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2010.
The continuing collaboration is documented in a film entitled Las Frutas Del Mundo. Eduardo Bautista/NemesysFilms. www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9RQs0spKfU

For more information about Andrew Saftel, visit www.andrewsaftel.com.

The last Wednesday of every month, 5:30-7:30PM, join friends of historic preservation for a drink and good conversation. Who knows what topics will be covered, but it's fun to gather together. No need to RSVP, just stop by The crown and Goose, 123 S. Central Street in the Old City.

Knox Heritage: 865-523-8008, www.knoxheritage.org

Springtime will soon be in full bloom in East Tennessee and Historic Crescent Bend House & Gardens is proud to announce the calendar of events for the 13th annual TulipTime at Crescent Bend festival. The three-acre manicured Formal Italian-Styled Gardens at Crescent Bend, which features nine garden terraces and five fountains overlooking the Tennessee River, will be in bloom with over 25,000 tulips of various sizes, shapes, and colors.

Crescent Bend House & Gardens, 2728 Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-637-3163, www.crescentbend.com

Opening reception: Saturday, April 5, 7:00-9:00pm. Admission is free and the public is invited
Each spring Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts hosts its annual resident artists’ exhibition, which celebrates the five artists who have lived and worked on campus during the past year. The artists-in-residence program, which fosters and advances the careers of emerging artists, is in its 22nd year and has seen over one hundred individuals pass through its ranks. This year’s residents, Lynn Batchelder, H.P. Bloomer, Rachel K. Garceau, Tally Locke, and Rena Wood present Five Lines, a culmination of their experiences, creativity, hard work, and dedication of their time spent here. Like explorers and cartographers of yesteryear these five are generating mappings of territories that benefit us all. Through their investigations of the mind, time, places, and memories each one is connecting us to their world and thoughts while encouraging us to be more mindful and introspective of our own. While the lines they walk have merged in their time at Arrowmont, soon they will diverge into new frontiers.

“This is an exciting time for this group of young artists,” says Arrowmont Gallery Manager Stefanie Gerber Darr. “There has been a palpable shared energy among them since they arrived last summer. It’s wonderful to see this work come together as a result of that energy. It represents closure, along with the great promise of what we can expect from these very creative people in the years to come.” The Arrowmont residents will also be involved in this year’s Dogwood Arts Festival.

Meet the residents and visit their Gatlinburg studios during the Dogwood Arts Festival Art DeTour, Saturday and Sunday, April 12 & 13, 10:00am to 5:00pm daily. And you can meet the residents and other arts and crafts demonstrators at Arrowmont’s booth at the Dogwood Arts Festival’s Market Square Art Fair in downtown Knoxville, April 25-27 Friday: 11 am – 9 pm, Saturday: 10 am – 9 pm, and Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm.

For more information about Arrowmont’s gallery schedule and upcoming exhibitions, visit arrowmontgalleries.org. To view or learn about workshops and other arts and crafts programming at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, visit arrowmont.org.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860.

The Ewing Gallery will be hosting the following MFA Thesis Exhibitions during March and April.

MFA Exhibition Group 1: April Bachtel (Painting and Drawing) and Jonathan Lisenby (Painting and Drawing)
Dates: March 24 - March 30, 2014
Reception: Friday March 28, 6-9PM

MFA Exhibition Group 2: Andrew Merriss ( Painting and Drawing) , Daniel Ogletree (Printmaking), and Hannah Skoonberg (Printmaking)
Dates: April 2 - April 8, 2014
Reception: Friday April 4, 5-8PM

MFA Exhibition Group 3: Victoria Buck (Ceramics), Cierra Reppert (Graphic Design), Jennifer Scheuer (Printmaking)
Dates: April 11 - April 17, 2014
Reception: April 11, 6PM - 9PM

Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture, 1715 Volunteer Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996
865.974.3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

East Tennessee Baskets, 1880-1940

Imagine doing away with plastic shopping bags, buckets, and storage tubs and depending instead upon wood baskets. The essential role these hand-woven containers played in bygone days would soon be realized. During the past year, ETHS has worked to document the traditional baskets of our region, including family stories and photographs when the maker's identity is known. Woven of Wood highlights selected examples from this survey and illustrates how East TN baskets were some of the most functional and creative possessions in everyday life.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: Monday-Friday: 9AM-4PM; Saturday: 10AM-4PM; Sunday: 1-5PM. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Historic Ramsey House and the Knoxville Holston’s Vintage Baseball team will be hosting an exhibit of Vintage Baseball items from the collection of Tracy Martin. Tracy is a lifelong collector of vintage items and has been playing in a vintage league in Ohio for 20 years. Come and visit this unique display and help us celebrate the opening of Tennessee’s Vintage Baseball League on April 12. The exhibit will be located in the Visitor Center at Ramsey House during regular business hours.

2614 Thorngrove Pike, Knoxville, TN 37914. Information: 865-546-0745, www.ramseyhouse.org

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces the annual High School Art Show showcasing art from McMinn county high school students. The work can be viewed at The Arts Center, 320 North White Street, Athens, Tennessee. The goal of this show is to promote art by local high school students and to provide them with an opportunity to participate in an open art exhibit. The Visual Arts Committee of AACA will sponsor a gift certificate for art supplies as a “Best in Show” prize. The show features over forty pieces in a variety of media from pencil to printmaking and papier mâché. The opening reception is Friday, March 14 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. The reception will include light refreshments and is free and open to the public. Evening with the Stars, AACA’s annual event featuring local performing talent, starts immediately after at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students.

For more information, go to www.athensartscouncil.org, call 423-745-8781, or stop by The Arts Center at 320 North White Street in Athens, TN.

Blount Mansion is proud to host the works of East Tennessee’s own Richard LeFevre. He focuses on the history of the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) through 32 of its most significant battles. LeFevre combined his love of history and his skill as an illustrator, using inventive mixed-media techniques to create powerful images inspired by his personal investigation into that most terrible and definitive era. As part of the First Friday’s the opening reception will be from 5:00 to 7:30 on Friday March 7th here at the Blount Mansion Visitors Center at 200 West Hill Avenue in Knoxville. There will be drinks and light refreshments available. It is a free event and all are welcome. The exhibition is on loan from Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, and is supported through the Tennessee Arts Commission & Knox County Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. www.knoxcivilwar.org and will run through the end of May 2014. More information is available at our Facebook page, facebook.com/blountmansion

Blount Mansion Visitors Center, 200 West Hill Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902; 865-525-2375 or www.blountmansion.org

Free and open to the public. Opening reception March 7 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m. Exhibit runs March through April 2014.

Terri Swaggerty: Where Soul Meets Body (from the song “Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie)
Where soul meets body . . . the first time I heard those words on the radio they resonated deep within my being. I realized those four words were the perfect articulation of where I exist when I am discovering or creating art. I can dwell there for hours, or just for a moment. The journey begins with looking and seeing. Sometimes I am actively looking for art but more often, not. I find art, or maybe it finds me, at any moment any day. Traversing a sidewalk in Apalachicola, or strolling through our city, I discover it. Driving down a country road I find it. Walking through the woods, looking at the beauty, the contrast, the compositions, textures and patterns around me, I am living there . . . where soul meets body. Often during my creative processes the tangible becomes abstract. Sometimes the colors begin to blaze and complement and breathe new life into old structures. And sometimes the magic is already there and the image is perfect for the beholding. Terri Swaggerty is a native of Knoxville, TN. She studied Fine Art at the University of Tennessee and has worked as a professional photographer for the past 16 years.

Christine Beard: The Nature of Graphite
I am a pencil artist. I have been drawing my whole life. During my school years and growing up I took every art class that was offered. As an adult I took several drawing courses at the local community colleges, but for the most part I would have to say I am a self-taught artist, always learning new and different things every time I create a new drawing. Graphite pencil is my medium of choice. It’s all about the detail for me; I create each piece with as much detail as possible. Graphite is such a versatile medium and can also be very forgiving. Various techniques can be executed with graphite, such as layering, shading, blending with blending stumps and lifting out areas with an eraser. In the art world I feel there can and should be more recognition for works done with graphite pencil. Hopefully I can change that with each and every graphite drawing I create.

Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918