Calendar of Events

The Evelyn Miller Young Pianist Series (YPS) celebrates the memory of Sandra Murphy with a benefit performance by renowned pianist Spencer Myer at 2:30 PM on Sunday, May 18, 2014, in the Powell Recital Hall, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, University of Tennessee. Donations are $20 at the door, and parking is free in Lot S23 behind the Music Center.

The Young Pianist Series, now in its 34th year, strives to maintain the level of excellence that began with founder Evelyn Miller and continued with Sandra Murphy, introducing young people to classical music in a format that creates enthusiasm and encourages a life-long love of the genre.
For more information, contact youngpianistseries@gmail.com.

Hiwassee College and Monroe Area Council for the Arts (MACA) will present Ponder Anew: A WWII Warrior’s Story Sunday, May 18, 3:30 p.m at the Hiwassee College Performing Arts Center in Madisonville. The show, which is free to the public, is sponsored by Courage Beyond, a division of Centerstone which serves veterans with PTSD and other unseen wounds of war.

Wife and husband team Carol Ponder and Robert Kiefer, long-time Nashville theater favorites, perform this two-person reader’s theater play with music. The performance is drawn from Lt. Herschel D. Ponder’s WWII memoir as a fighter pilot flying P-47 Thunderbolts in Europe. Herschel was Carol’s father. Enriched with songs from the era and from her family’s Western North Carolina mountain home, it is a beautiful production that evokes the essence of war and warriors; their victories, sacrifices, loyalty to each other; and the sweet pain of coming home. Audience response from combat veterans as well as people from all other walks of life has been tremendous.

The discussions after the performance – an integral part of this theatrical encounter – are always rich with shared experiences. Supported by members of the military, psychologists, and a growing audience of new friends and fans, Carol and Robert are performing Ponder Anew for combat soldiers and their friends and families as a catalyst for healing and reintegration. They also are reaching out to audiences of all kinds, helping us in this country to understand what it is that we ask of our men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. The performance is also a way to profoundly thank those men and women for their service.

For more information, go to www.monroearts.com or call 423-442-3210​

Drum Circle in the AVA Gallery with Stephen Cavitt
Sunday, May 18th at 2:00 PM

We invite you to sign up for this great opportunity to merge art and sound in AVA's beautiful Main Gallery! This class will blend ideas from world drumming, modern drum facilitation, and music therapy. The activities are beginner friendly, and they develop active listening, emotional expression, and relaxation.

This event is limited to 25 attendees.
$5 for AVA Members
$8 for Non-Members
RSVP by email to mkimbrell@avarts.org

Association for Visual Arts, 30 Frazier Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37405

(Recommended for Adults) In the first of this four-part series, we will begin to explore the use of plants, both wild and cultivated, as medicine. This class will include a plant walk, information about when to use herbs, the different forms in which you can use them, dosage, and more. Local herbalist Rachel Milford (www.reclaimingyourroots.com) will discuss some of her favorite weedy tonic herbs for strengthening the body, and class will include tea making and tasting. The fee for this program is $25 per person and pre-payment is required to ensure your spot. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 130 to register.

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

The Smoky Mountain Blues Society is excited to feature local Knoxville favorites Left Foot Dave and the Magic Hats on it's upcoming Blues Cruise on the Star of Knoxville. The boat boards at 2:30 at Volunteer Landing and sails from 3-6. The cost is $13 in advance, $18 the day of the Cruise.

Net proceeds from the Blues Cruise series go to support our community outreach programs - most notably our "Blues in the Schools" program which brings the history of the blues along with live blues music to school children, and our "Blues Night Out" program where we send musicians to the Ben Atchley Home for Disabled Veterans to play music for our veterans once a month.

The boat sails rain or shine. The cruises are family friendly with music in the main room (non-smoking). Smoking is allowed on the open air covered top deck and the music is "piped" upstairs so everyone can enjoy the music anywhere on the boat. Lunches and a full bar are available.

Tickets are available from the Star of Knoxville business office at 865.525.7827. www.smokymountainblues.org

This 1920’s evening will be an event to remember. Marble City Opera will start the evening off with the beginning of a ten minute opera “Introductions and Goodbyes” by Lucas Foss, where General Director, Kevin Richard Doherty will invite everyone to begin the party! This will be followed by a 25 minute one-act entitled “Will you Marry Me” by Hugo Weisgall, where we will find a young couple, not yet in love, contemplating whether or not they should appease their families and get married. The evening will move into a scene of two older couples playing “A Hand of Bridge” by Samuel Barber, where in just ten minutes each of these characters will reveal what’s behind their poker faces. Come join us for this 45-minute dramatic and musical journey to see how these relationships unfold.

Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 7PM & 9PM
Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 7:30PM

Feel free to wear your 1920’s flare for this festive event!

At the Black Box in the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, downtown Knoxville. For parking/driving directions, visit www.theemporiumcenter.com/visit.html. For performance information, visit http://www.marblecityopera.com. Tickets: www.knoxtix.com

Hall & Rogers Gallery
Docent walk-through at 11:30 AM on May 16

This display features three monumental canvases by Leonardo Silaghi that were recently acquired by the KMA. Silaghi (born 1987) is a Romanian painter whose abstractions powerfully express the chaotic transition of his homeland from a decaying Communist nation to a contemporary urban society still taking shape. Often using black and white photographs of abandoned Cold War machinery as starting points, the artist launches into large, forcefully executed paintings populated by conveyor belts, vehicles, ductwork, and other industrial debris.

Leonardo Silaghi is a graduate of the University of Art and Design in Cluj, Romania. Since 2009, he has been featured with solo exhibitions at the Laika Gallery in Cluj, Marc Straus Gallery in New York, and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, where he was artist in residence in 2010. Recently his works were shown at the exhibition "After the Fall" at the HVCCA in Peeksville and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Through a generous gift of New York collectors Marc and Livia Straus in 2013, and a purchase, the KMA is fortunate to be among the first American museums to have acquired a group of Silaghi’s works.

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 District Gallery is pleased to present Dreamscapes: Poetry Inspired Paintings by Rachael McCampbell. The arts often inspire one another – visual arts can inspire writers, and the written word can send artists to their easels. Native Knoxvillian painter, writer and curator, Rachael McCampbell, has done just that. She has always loved literature and poetry and the rich way words inspire her art.

McCampbell has created a collection of paintings inspired by the poetry of poets such as Mary Oliver, Donald Justice, Wallace Stevens, Robert Creeley, Wendell Berry, W. B. Yeats, Maya Angelou, Raymond Carver and more. Her paintings are highly textured with layers of acrylic, charcoal and oil. She applies paintand then removes it until eventually the story she needs to tell emerges.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 5-8 p.m. and Artist Talk: Thursday, May 29, 7-8 p.m.

The District Gallery | 5113 Kingston Pike | Knoxville, TN 37919 | (865) 200-4452 | www.TheDistrictGallery.com

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces Artists Behind the Exhibits showcasing art by members of the Visual Arts Committee of AACA. The goal of this exhibit is to give the community an opportunity to view the art of the people who bring art shows to The Arts Center. There is a variety of styles represented in the four individuals of the committee: Jerry Hagaman, Chris Ingram, Jennifer Nunley, and Jan Burleson.

Athens Area Council for the Arts: 320 North White Street, Athens, TN, 37303. Info: 423-745-8781, www.athensartscouncil.org

May 03, 2014 PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
May 03, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 03, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 03, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 10, 2014 PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
May 10, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 10, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 10, 2014 Mother's Day Tea
May 10, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 16, 2014 Seniors Outdoors!
May 17, 2014 PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
May 17, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 17, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 17, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 24, 2014 PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
May 24, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 24, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 24, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 31, 2014 PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
May 31, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 31, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature
May 31, 2014 ANIMAL PROGRAM: Ijams Creature Feature

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

We are excited to announce that we are hosting not one, but two special events for First Friday this May. Rala is helping host the "2014 Biscuit Art Exhibition". Join us that evening for a red carpet event right outside our door where the winners of the art contest will be announced. The biscuit art is also displayed at Coffee & Chocolate and Bliss Home throughout the month. This exhibit includes 30 biscuit themed pieces of art as interpreted by different artists.

We're also excited to bring you new work by one of our favorite local artists, Mike Ham. Father to WBIR's Abby Ham, Mike's work is inspired significantly by children's artwork. Here is just a taste of the fabulous work we're showing by this wonderful artist.

The Biscuit Exhibition will be up until the end of May and Mike Ham's artwork will be up until the end of June.

Our events start at 5:30 pm and end at 10 pm. We're looking forward to sharing SO MUCH great artwork with you!

RALA, 323 Union Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-525-7888, http://shoprala.blogspot.com/

Paulk + Co. presents: Not From Here, an out of this world First Friday event featuring the mixed media work of artist Zach Searcy.

Special Guest Artists:
Mallory Bertrand Photography + Sarah Brobst Designs
Black Atticus
Carlton Starr
Anjana Love Dixon
Shaman Hattaway
The Boys+Girls Club of Vestal

100% of proceeds from the sales of the Boys+Girls Club created art will benefit their
Outdoor Learning Center + Art Education Programs.

PAULK + CO: 510 Williams Street, Knoxville, TN 37917, 865.335.3334.