Calendar of Events

A native of Kansas City, KA, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson came to prominence in the late 1970s as musical director of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In addition to being a tremendous instrumentalist, Watson is widely recognized as one of the great composers of his generation and brings with him a wealth of terrific music for big band, including excerpts from his “Gates Barbeque Suite.” This piece was touted by the Wall Street Journal as “the most Kansas City specific work of Watson’s career and a worthy companion to Benny Carter’s ‘Kansas City Suite’ written for Count Basie.” Located at the Square Room.

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

Clarinet Night No. 1
Studio Student recital
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center

UT School of Music: Unless otherwise noted, concerts are FREE and open to the public. The Alumni Memorial Building located at 1408 Middle Drive on the UT campus. (The James R. Cox Auditorium is located in the Alumni Memorial Building.) The Natalie Haslam Music Center is located at 1741 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus.
*For individual or small group performances, please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events

The East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the McClung Museum present Dr. Donald Haggis of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, lecturing on “Recent Excavations of an Early Greek City in Eastern Crete.”

Lectures are held at 7:30 p.m. in the McClung Museum Auditorium and are open to the public and free of charge. A reception will follow each.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

Marble City Opera will present La Femme Bohème, an all-female cast of Puccini’s opera La Bohème at NV nightclub in Knoxville, Tennessee at 7:30pm on January 24th and January 31st, 2015. The production will be presented with chamber orchestra, conducted by Peter Leonard, former Artistic Director of the Volkstheater in Rostock, Germany.

Marble City Opera was founded in May of 2013 and continues to make waves in the Knoxville music scene. In 2014, Artistic Director and soprano, Kathryn Frady’s world premiere performance of Amelia Lost received the high honor of being named the Most Memorable Operatic Performance in Knoxville by Alan Sherrod in Arts Knoxville.

The La Femme Bohème cast will feature online magazine Sexi Soprano writers as well as Knoxville favorites, including Kathryn Frady as Musetta and Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Semi-Finalist, Linda Barnett as Rodolfo. There will be an open bar before, during, and after the performance. Admission is $20 for adults, and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at knoxtix.com.

The work in this exhibition explores the non-objective and propositional quality that sculpture can have, and the ways in which we can understand something devoid of specificity and illustration. Presented on custom-built risers and linear structures, individual components are often physically or conceptually networked together with arrangements of objects ranging from the random and chaotic to the precise and articulate. Through careful positioning and intentional framing the works are suggestive of abstracted models and diagrammatic systems that allude to a sculptural logic that is both pragmatic and allusive at the same time.

Paul Sacaridiz will be lecturing at UT in room 109 of the Art and Architecture building on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 PM. There will be an opening reception the following evening, Friday, January 23, with the artist at the UT Downtown Gallery from 5-9PM. We hope you can make it to these events.

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

Drawn from the McClung Museum is an innovative exhibition project involving 28 artists, each of whom will produce original prints in response to objects from the collection of the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. The exhibition will pair the objects and the prints to address how we perceive and interpret art, science, and culture. Like the museum itself, the objects are varied, ranging from a mastodon mandible and an Egyptian ibis mummy, to a Victorian hair necklace and an Ojibwa men’s ceremonial dance apron.

The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the SGC International Printmaking Conference, which will bring 1,500 printmakers to Knoxville from the United States and abroad March 18–21, 2015.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

Tennessee Stage Company Presents Its 6th Timeless Work – A Benefit Production of HARVEY

Where: The Historic Southern Railway Station, 300 West Depot Avenue
When: Jan. 22 – Feb. 1, 8:00 pm Thursday – Saturday; 2:00 pm Sunday matinees

Tickets on sale now: limited availability. Call (865) 546-4280 for reservations or go online to purchase tickets through Paypal at www.tennesseestage.com. General Admission: $ 15; Students/Seniors $ 12. Group discounts available.

The Tennessee Stage Company, known to Knoxville audiences for Shakespeare On The Square and the New Play Festival returns to our Timeless Works series this winter with the Mary Chase’s classic comedy, Harvey. This most gentle of comedies is the story of a most unconventional man who has dropped out of the rat race to live a simple life with his most unusual best friend, Harvey, who just happens to be a six foot tall invisible white rabbit! Harvey is a collaboration with the Historic Southern Railway Station newly renovated and now being operated as an event space by the Blueslip Winery. This beautiful structure is a perfect backdrop for the simplicity and whimsy of the story of Elwood P. Dowd and his rabbit. Timeless Works was conceived by the Stage Company as a benefit series to help raise funds for our other programs, Shakespeare On The Square, the New Play Festival and our Education and Outreach programs. All the artists donate their time and talents and all funds raised go directly back into the work of the Company.

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

Arrowmont invites exhibiting artists and their families, members of our community and the public to the 17th Sevier County Biennial Juried Exhibition celebrating the creative talent within Sevier County. The opening reception will be held Friday, January 16 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM in the Sandra J. Blain Galleries and the exhibit will be on display through March 13, 2015. The Gallery is open Monday – Friday 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM and Saturday 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Tours are available by reservation, and can be arranged by calling 865-436-5860. The opening reception, gallery and tours are free to the public.

Arrowmont is grateful to Sherry Masters, owner of Art Connections in Asheville, North Carolina, who served as juror this year. With over 140 entries and 103 works of art accepted into the exhibition, this show is a glowing testament to the artistic talent and dedication of Sevier County residents. Of the works accepted, 13 were chosen to receive awards. The artists will be presented their awards on the evening of the gallery reception.

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

Free and open to the public - Opening reception January 16 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

Claudia Dean - I Live in Knoxville Now
Through her watercolors, Dean tries to express Knoxville through images of its places. She begins with a photograph, which allows her to isolate and formalize the image before she draws. The photographs are "snapshots" of places that resonate for her and she wants to express the feeling of intimacy and significance in the image. She acknowledges her love of craft and repetition in the quilt pieces, which are intended to convey feeling or emotion in a more musical way than the representational images. She carries over discoveries and lessons learned in each type of work to the other. Dean was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and studied painting and printmaking at Kansas City Art Institute. She was a craft jeweler in Albuquerque for many years, selling work in craft galleries in the southwest and California. In 2003 Dean moved to Knoxville with her family and returned to two-dimensional artwork.

Mark Evans - En Plein Aire
Evans has always enjoyed taking pictures in national parks, and he likes to bring joy and beauty to the viewer. He entitled this show “En Plein Aire” because just as the invention of oil paints in tubes allowed people to work outdoors in the countryside and get the images they wanted, digital photography has allowed Evans to create the images he wants. He started taking photographs as a child with his father’s old camera. He shot black and white film and did his own darkroom work because he couldn’t afford color slide film. What he really liked was slide shows of people’s trips. Eventually he could afford slide film and he hasn’t been in a darkroom since. He’s been doing digital photography for five years. eBooks of Evans’ national park pictures can be found at marksparks.us.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM, Friday 9AM-4:30PM, Sunday 9AM-1PM. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

The Fountain City Art Center's 4th Annual Theme show, open to all artists, will be on display January 16 through February 13. The opening reception will be January 16, from 6:30-8:00PM. Theme: East Tennessee Treasures.

213 Hotel Rd, Knoxville, TN 37918
(865) 357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.com

Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present Huckleberry Finn, an adaptation for the stage of the classic American novel by humorist Mark Twain.

Performances: Friday, Jan. 16 at 7 PM, Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1 & 5 PM, Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 PM
Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 PM, Friday, Jan. 23 at 7 PM, Saturday, Jan. 24 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sunday, Jan. 25 at 3 PM
Thursday, Jan. 29 at 7 PM, Friday, Jan. 30 at 7 PM, Saturday, Jan. 31 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sunday, Feb. 1 at 3 PM

KCT’s 64th full-scale production features 14 young actors in the cast.

Mark Twain’s comic adventure about life on the Mississippi River bristles with satire, thrills, and drama. Huck escapes from his criminal father aboard a raft on the “Big Muddy,” joined by his friend Jim, also on the run to the North to escape from slavery.Their adventures bring them together with two riverboat con artists, three pious sisters, and reunites him with his old pal Tom Sawyer. Along the way he rescues $3,000 in gold, helps to apprehend the con artists, and sees Jim achieve his dreams. But what will Huck become? KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of stage plays for children. Huckleberry Finn is the 64th play to be produced by Knoxville Children’s Theatre. The company has produced 22 original plays since 2008. Over 9,500 people attended a KCT play in 2014.

TICKET PRICES: $12. SPECIAL RATE: Any adult & Child entering together = $10 each

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. Reservations: www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com/tickets

Elasticity

Crystal Wagner invites us to “fast forward to 2050, where plastic grows by itself!” for a viewing of her one-of-a-kind art. This exhibit explores the space between the plastic, artificial environment of everyday experiences with man-made materials, consumerism, and technology and the exotic landscapes that occupy the surface of our earth.
Wagner illustrates the increasingly severe divide between humans and the natural world through her pieces, which “grow” like life forms through the gallery.

January 15-February 6, Reception: Thursday, Feb. 5, 4-7 P.M.
Bagwell Center for Media and Art
Pellissippi State Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville 37933
www.pstcc.edu/arts