Calendar of Events

Audiences are invited to enjoy this year’s concerts at 7 p.m. on every Thursday evening from August 6 through September 3. The concerts, sponsored by the Blount County Friends of the Library, will be held indoors in the air-conditioned climate of the library and are free and open to the public. The performers will be:

o August 6, “The Classic Q Band” – This classic rock band, new to the area, is comprised of founder Quincy Follweiler (vocals and guitar), Jamie Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion), Barry Cochran (bass guitar) and John DiCrosta (drums).

o August 13, “Ebony & Ivory” – Monte Stephens, 12-time Grammy awards contender and president of Freedom Records, and Janice Brown (who sang at President Reagan’s inauguration and was recipient of a gold album for duet album “Rough Side of the Mountain” with F. C. Barnes ) will present a concert of gospel and popular songs.

o August 20, “Pistol Creek Catch of the Day.” – Local band favorites Edward Harper, Carl Gombert, Bill Cabage and David Rasnake present high-energy Americana to delight all audiences.

o August 27, “The Outdoor Sisters and Ryan Worden” – As the Outdoor Sisters (Loretta Howard, Barbara Woods and Mattie Forester) harmonize to present Native American songs, Loretta Howard will explain the purpose of the music. Ryan Worden, a Native American cultural educator, crafter and dancer, will perform a Native American dance demonstration and demonstrate some songs as well as describe regalia and lifestyle.

o September 3, “Knoxville Opera Company 2015-16 Season Preview” – Maestro Brian Salesky, Executive Director and Conductor, will be the guest speaker and accompanist for two Knoxville Opera artists, Linda Barnett and Peter Johnson, who will preview the coming season’s operas: Boito’s Mefistofele, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Puccini’s Tosca.

At Blount County Public Library, 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville, TN. Information: 865-982-0981, www.blountlibrary.org

WUOT fans, it's time to party! Mark your calendar and plan to join us for WUOT's annual open house Thursday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 7 p.m.! Our open house is a fun way for you to spend some time with us, see the radio station, and enjoy plenty of fun activities for the entire family. Join us for a few minutes or stay the entire time. We will look forward to seeing you then!

Thursday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 7 p.m.
209 Communications Bldg., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0322
865-974-5375, http://wuot.org/

The Tennessee Valley Fair will offer educational Lego™ workshops beginning July 16. Events are free and open to all ages but geared towards children, Kindergarten through 8th grade. Participants will be introduced to the art of competitive Lego™ building and enjoy hands-on building opportunities, tutorials and more.

• Cedar Bluff Public Library
August 6 - 1:00 p.m and 2:00 p.m. (2 Sessions)
9045 Cross Park Dr. Knoxville, TN 37923

Each workshop is hosted and presented by local educators, Beyond a Brick. Beyond a Brick™ is comprised of seasoned East Tennessee educators whose background in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) based education allows them to present a wide range of curriculum in a fun and engaging way. The Lego™ workshops will also highlight the Tennessee Valley Fair's Lego™ Extravaganza event on Saturday, September 12. Individuals and teams of all ages are welcome. Official rules: tnvalleyfair.org - click on Contests.

Tennessee Valley Fair: 865-215-1471, www.tnvalleyfair.org

Hugo and Stoker Award-nominated editor and publisher Jason Sizemore will speak at the Thursday, Aug. 6 program of the Knoxville Writers' Guild.

The event, which will be open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Theater, at the corner of Laurel Avenue and 16th Streets (in Fort Sanders). A $2 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible. Additional parking is available at Redeemer Church of Knoxville, 1642 Highland Ave.

Sizemore is the owner/operator of Apex Publications, a small press that focuses on science fiction, fantasy and horror. Its "Apex Magazine" has been nominated for the Hugo Award three times. At the monthly program, he will discuss "the genre short fiction renaissance, digital publishing, and where I see it heading."

In addition, he'll read a chapter from his latest book, "For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher" (Apex 2015).

The book follows his unconventional professional path as it winds through a tiny, overheated Baptist church deep within the coal fields of Appalachia, Kentucky, past a busted printer and a self-serving boss that triggered an early mid-life crisis and the epiphany that he should open a magazine spreading the gospel of science fiction to the masses, all the way to WorldCon 2012 and his first Hugo Awards ceremony. For more information, visit www.jason-sizemore.com or www.apexbookcompany.com. Copies of "For Exposure" and his collection, "Ireedemable" (Seventh Star Press 2014), will be available for purchase at the program.

Thursday, August 6 at 7:00PM 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916.
Sizemore also is slated to lead a workshop Saturday, Aug. 8 titled, "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy: Liftoff!" More details will be released soon. For more information about KWG and its events, visit www.KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org.

Fast Paced Creative Fun! Doors @ 6:30, Presentations Start @ 7:20. Donations Recommended & Appreciated!

http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/knoxville/events/559ee490bfb6ff247d000003

Presenters:
Whitney Manahan, Jonathan Young, Lucia Cuato, Darren Hughes, Michelle Bakewell, Ryann Aoukar,
Jennifer Akerman, Ginger McKay, Jeremy Wann

At The Square Room: 4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. https://www.facebook.com/events/747860261989837/

The Art Market Gallery will have a special showing of works by gallery members entitled "Knoxville, Then and Now". There will also be a memorial showing of glass works by artist, Vivian Shoemaker. Her stained glass works reflect the landscape of the east Tennessee area. This show will be in conjunction with the East Tennessee History Center's History Fair which takes place on August 15th in downtown Knoxville.

Owned and operated by 62 professional regional artists, the Art Market Gallery is a few doors from Mast General Store and next to Downtown Grill & Brewery. The gallery is wheelchair accessible, and parking in the abutting garage and on the street is free on weekends and after 6 p.m. weekdays.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Th & Sa 11-6, Fri 11-9, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net

By Doug Stone. The time: 1968. The place: a Tupperware party. 5 women with concealed home lives drink a little too much alcohol and hilarity ensues. This play is both hysterical and tremendously touching. One critic wrote, "a knock-down, drag out, soul baring, bra-burning frenzy of self-discovery."

"A Raucous Comedy!" - Associated Press
"It makes its audiences loopy with giddiness." - theatremania.com

Showtimes: Thu/Fri/Sat @ 8:00 pm and Sun @ 3:00 pm

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

The next show is one which the Fountain city Art Center has been eagerly anticipating for the past year! We are honored to have a four-artist show featuring four remarkably talented people: Aurora H. Bull, oils; Tracy Gray, watercolors, Terry Chandler, acrylics, and Marty McConnaughey, mixed media gourds.

The opening reception will be Friday, July 17, 6:30 – 8:00 PM.

Among Aurora’s works from her travels will be scenes from Italy, the Netherlands, and the deserts and mesas of the American West. Terry will also include works from some of his trips in East Tennessee and around the country. Tracy’s works are brilliant with color, each one a true gem in transparent watercolor. Every work by Marty is a treasure in itself! She uses items from nature to embellish her decorative work on large gourds. The end result must be viewed to be believed! Everyone is encouraged to attend the opening reception. No entry fee is charged to FCAC exhibits.

Gallery Hours: Tu, W, Th 9-5; Fri. 10-5; Sat. 9-1. At 213 Hotel Rd, Knoxville, TN 37918. Info: (865) 357-2787, www.fountaincityartctr.com

Tennessee Stage Company presents Shakespeare on the Square 2015: Performances of The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth alternating Thursday to Sunday evenings at 7:00 PM from July 16 until August 16 on the Market Square Stage. Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. A blanket or a lawn chair is all you need to view these performances. While we perform with no admission charge for general seating, we do appreciate your donations – we pass a basket nightly and we suggest a $10 donation per person. Special VIP seating is available on the Square for $15. Shakespeare on the Square productions are performed on a rough replica of the new Globe Theatre in London (a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original theater. The plays are presented in the timeless style of Elizabethan theatrical presentations.

The Taming of the Shrew: Renowned as Shakespeare’s most boisterous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew is the tale of two young men, the hopeful Lucentio and the worldly Petruchio, and the two sisters they meet in Padua. Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, the apparently ideal younger daughter of the wealthy Baptista Minola. But before they can marry, Bianca’s formidable elder sister, Katherine, must be wed. Petruchio, interested only in the huge dowry, arranges to marry Katherine – against her will – and enters into a battle of the sexes that has endured as one of Shakespeare’s most enjoyable works.
July 16, 18, 24, 26, 30, Aug. 1, 7, 9, 13, 15 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

Macbeth: One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt, and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul deed soon entangles the conscience-stricken nobleman in a web of treachery, deceit, and more murders, which ultimately spells his doom. Set amid the gloomy castles and lonely heaths of medieval Scotland, Macbeth paints a striking dramatic portrait of a man of honor and integrity destroyed by a fatal character flaw and the tortures of a guilty imagination.
July 17, 19, 23, 25, 31, Aug. 2, 6, 8, 14, 16 - 7:00 pm nightly outdoors on Market Square

Macbeth is directed by Greg Congleton with Taming of the Shrew directed by Jennifer Alldredge and Tom Parkhill. The Tennessee Stage Company encourages our audiences to spend an evening on the Square: do a little shopping, have a nice dinner, see the play and maybe stop by a pub afterward. All of this and more is available on Market Square nightly. So come early and see the Square!

Tennessee Stage Company P.O. Box 1186 Knoxville, TN 37901. Information: 865-546-4280, tennesseestage@comcast.net, or www.tennesseestage.com

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces Me and the Gazelle showing work by Angela Dittmar Posey, regional artist and adjunct professor of art at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Angela Dittmar Posey earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art from the City University of New York, Hunter College. During her Masters studies, Posey studied at University College London, The Slade School of Fine Art, in London, England. Posey executes various types of work, from paintings to performances, which solicit moments of self-awareness. She teaches Painting, Drawing, and General Education courses at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The exhibit reception is Friday, July 17, 2015 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Posey will be on hand to informally discuss her art. The reception will include light refreshments and is free and open to the public. After the reception, AACA’s Youth Theatre Workshop will present Shaking Up Shakespeare at 7:30 pm in the Sue E. Trotter Theatre. This event is also free and open to the public.

Athens Area Council for the Arts: 320 North White Street, Athens, TN, 37303. Hours: M-F 10-5. Info: 423-745-8781, www.athensartscouncil.org

Free and open to the public; Opening reception July 17 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.
Exhibit runs through end of August

Art Group 21: Friends and Artists
Art Group 21 is comprised of many award-winning artists with professional art training from all over the United States as well as from other countries. Established in the early 1980's by a small group of art graduates needing the fellowship and support of like-minded, working artists, Art Group 21 is a work/study group for mutual support and artistic growth of the members in their pursuit of excellence in the arts. Programs include workshops, lectures, critiques, field trips and group exhibits. The group maintains that the various art forms are a part of the aesthetic total and are mutually reinforcing, thus encouraging the uniqueness of each artist’s vision.
“Friends and Artists” features the recent work of several members.

Lisa Kurtz: Clay for the Wall
Inspired by the sea, “Clay For The Wall” focuses on texture, forms and creatures found in and on sand and water. Kurtz calls these three dimensional canvases: sculptural explorations integrating texture, form, clay and glaze to highlight her two muses – the ocean and clay. She throws and hand builds her clay pieces and often integrates the two methods to create her sculpture, wall art and functional pottery. Her work emphasizes the malleable qualities of clay with lots of texture. By stretching and altering the work while it is still wet, Kurtz welcomes and encourages the spontaneous “happy accidents” that take place while working in the medium and in the firing process. Her current work explores the contrast between raw, earthy, stretched slabs of clay and smooth, thrown glazed forms. Kurtz has been a potter for over 36 years. An award-winning ceramic artist, she currently teaches clay at Cleveland State in Cleveland, Tennessee.

At Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: Mon-Thurs 9 AM - 5 PM and Sunday 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

This is a group show by local artists who are members of the Tennessee Artists Association featuring a variety of works in pastels, watercolors, oils, acrylics and mixed media.

Hours: Monday thru Friday, 9 AM to 4PM
Westminster Presbyterian Church's Schilling Gallery, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Info: (865) 584-3957

Tennessee Artists Association: www.tnartists.org