Calendar of Events

with the Will Yager Trio

Pianist Bud Powell was one of the most influential pianists of all time. His adaptation of the bebop language as well as his incredible ability to play fast tempos earned him the title “the Charlie Parker of the piano.” Powell was also an outstanding composer, contributing a number of compositions to the canon of tunes that jazz musicians around the world still perform and record today. Join Will Yager and his trio as they explore the legacy of this titan of the art form.

1st Wednesday of every month at the Square Room, 4 Market Square, next door to Tomato Head. $15 admission includes concert plus a delicious lunch served up by Cafe 4. Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

The United States Air Force Band of Mid-America, Shades of Blue Jazz Ensemble will perform at the Clayton Center for the Arts on February 4 at 7pm in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre. The concert is free to the public, however a ticket is required and may be secured in person at the Clayton Center Box Office or by calling 865-981-8590.

The Shades of Blue Jazz Ensemble is an 18-piece big band with a diverse repertoire of traditional swing, bebop, modern jazz, vocal selections, and the music of this great nation. During concerts, you may hear innovative, contemporary jazz works as well as the classic sounds of Count Basie or Glenn Miller. Several of the band’s members are also gifted writers and arrangers, and their compositions are often featured.

The Shades of Blue has backed many jazz greats, including Sammy Nestico, Bobby Shew, Toni Tennille, Tex Benecke, Denis DiBlasio, Jamey Aebersold, Mike Smith, Allen Vizzutti, Jeff Jarvis, Shelley Berg, Joe Morello, and Carmen Bradford. The band also regularly performs and teaches master classes at high school and collegiate jazz clinics and festivals throughout the Midwest. Whether performing for a head of state, before a capacity crowd in northern Wisconsin, or for troops at home and abroad, the Shades of Blue reflects the heritage and pride of our nation.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Tickets are available at the Clayton Center Box Office M-F 10AM-6PM or by phone or online: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

LOCATION: East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902

ADMISSION: FREE | Attendees are encouraged to bring a “brown bag” lunch

On February 4, Scottish Highland historian and genealogist Graeme Mackenzie will share from his particular insight into the Highland Clans, past and present. Mackenzie is the author of Genealogy in the Gaidhealtachd: Clan and Family History in the Highlands of Scotland and chair of the Association of Highland Clans and Societies. He has lectured widely on the subject, including in New Zealand and Australia. Among the many topics he will cover are naming patterns, available records, and practical hints for research. Mr. Mackenzie will also be signing copies of his book following the lecture.

Mackenzie, a graduate of Cambridge University, has successfully managed many roles, including founding a local music magazine, presenting on BBC Radio, helping to organize the world famous “Cambridge Folk Festival,” and is responsible for a 10-part historical series which looked at national history from a regional perspective. Mr. Mackenzie now lives in Perth, Scotland and remains active in many organizations and travels the world lecturing on Scottish genealogy.

The program is sponsored by the Harriet Z. Albers Memorial and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org.

Location: Clayton Center for the Arts, Denso Gallery, Maryville College
Address: 502 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804
Exhibit Dates: February 2, 2015 thru March 2, 2015

Details TBA.

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Tickets are available at the Clayton Center Box Office M-F 10AM-6PM or by phone or online: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

February is FREE at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend. The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center is a private non-profit museum located in Townsend, Tennessee,near the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center's mission is to preserve, protect and promote the unique history and rich culture of those that inhabited the Great Smoky Mountain region. In doing this, we wish to preserve and keep alive the history of the pioneers and Native Americans who lived in the East Tennessee mountain communities, reported Bob Patterson, Executive Director. Patterson commented that Free February is a different approach to sharing the resources of the museum with the region.

Join us at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center to celebrate the cultural heritage of East Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains region. Our gallery exhibits, educational programs, demonstrations and festivals guide you on an historic journey through time to visit the diverse cultures of Townsend and Tuckaleechee Cove.

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

This is the fifth installment of an annual group show of 3-4 artists living and working in East Tennessee. LIFT: Contemporary Printmaking in the Third Dimension examines the work of international contemporary artists who use a variety of strategies to bring a sculptural dimension to printmaking. Featured artists include Enrique Chagoya, Lesley Dill, Olafur Eliasson, Robert Gober, Red Grooms, Jane Hammond, Hideki Kimura, Nicola Lopez, Leslie Mutchler, Oscar Munoz, Marilene Oliver, Dieter Roth, Graciela Sacco, and Jonathan Stanish. This exhibition is the culmination of a series of lectures, demonstrations, studio visits, and the creation of an online video archive documenting each artist’s studio practice. The series is intended to garner support for contemporary art in East Tennessee, and is accompanied by an illustrated publication. Organized by the KMA. Located in the Hall & Rogers Gallery.

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

Contemporary Focus is vital to the KMA’s mission to support and highlight art and artists of East Tennessee, bring them together with the museum’s audience in meaningful ways, and provide incentive for them to maintain their studio practice in the region. The public is invited to a free opening preview at the museum Thursday, January 29 5:30-7:30pm. Contemporary Focus 2015 artists will be on hand to answer questions about their work: Caroline Covington, Mira Gerard, and Karla Wozniak. The three artists selected have a common interest in creating works that examine the uncertain terrain between personal experience and external reality, abstraction and representation, and civilization and nature.

Contemporary Focus is an exhibition series launched by the KMA in 2009 that recognizes, supports, and documents the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. It features the work of innovative emerging artists who are living and making art in this region, and who are exploring issues relevant to the larger world of contemporary art. The exhibition gives artists an opportunity to exhibit recent work, or consider creating a new body of work. In addition to giving feature artists the opportunity to showcase their latest work in a museum setting, it also allows them to engage with KMA audiences in gallery talks and lectures about their approach to making art, and about the challenges and benefits of basing their studio practice in East Tennessee. In several cases, inclusion in Contemporary Focus has created important new exhibition opportunities for the featured artists.

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

In Kaufman and Hart’s 1940s comedy, famed author and personality Sheridan Whiteside, invited to dinner during a speaking tour, slips on the doorstep, breaking his hip. A tumultuous six weeks of confinement follows as the irascible and disagreeable invalid takes over the host family’s home and destroys their domestic tranquility with the arrival of strange and exotic get-well gifts, a parade of celebrity friends, and a devious plot to undermine his secretary’s budding romance.

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.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

The Museum of Appalachia, open year-round, is an internationally acclaimed living history village and farm, home to a rare collection of early pioneer log structures and thousands of artifacts from the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Each Wednesday, during the months of January and February, the Museum will welcome its guests for half the standard admission rate.

Winter is an exceptional time on the Museum grounds – an opportunity to stroll the grounds and admire the exquisite, primitive beauty of the season, and ponder with amazement, the hardiness of these simple pioneer people who thrived on such a meager existence.

A non-profit, Smithsonian affiliated organization, the Museum’s mission is to preserve the artifacts and culture of an earlier time for the benefit of future generations; and to instill in the community – regionally, nationally, and internationally – a greater knowledge of, and appreciation for, the Appalachian heritage.

Adult and children admission tickets are half price, discounted admission will not be combined with any other offer. Group and school admissions, please call for reservations, 865-494-7680.

The Museum is located 16 miles North of Knoxville at I-75, exit, 122, then one mile East. For more information, call 865-494-7680, or visit the website at www.museumofappalachia.org.

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