Calendar of Events

Bliss Home is pleased to present Local Nostalgia, by Knoxville artist Christi Shields, for October's First Friday. Bliss Home, located at 29 Market Square, will host an opening reception on Friday, October 2nd from 6pm to 9pm. Complimentary treats from Wild Love Bakehouse will be provided and Christi's art will be featured for the month of October.

Growing up in the Knoxville area, Christi takes great pride in how far our “scruffy little city” has come. Knoxville is growing by leaps and bounds through the interest and support of local businesses, farmers, products, music and art. Observing the movement to support “local” gives Christi personal justification for her inspiration to create work through a sentimental lens. Sometimes there is just no need to look further than your own “back yard.”

Local Nostalgia is a collection of work that highlights a few nostalgic moments reflecting Christi's own experiences. It is intended to evoke a sense of nostalgia or feeling in the viewer through the use of local themes, bold complimentary colors and expressive brush strokes. Christi uses a very action oriented process with mixed media on wood support to create interest, depth, texture, movement and vintage flair.

Bliss Home, 29 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-329-8868, www.shopinbliss.com

October 2-October 31
What can we expect this year when we attend the Fall Show opening reception? While a red carpet has not been decided on, you will hear live music as you enter the Art Center parking lot. The aroma of delicious hors d’oeuvres and fine wines will greet you at the door. Inside you will be greeted with up to eleven, yes, eleven, categories of art of the highest quality and style, all presented in the most complimentary settings. Art that exceeds one’s expectations and art that will fulfill every taste and preference will be in full view for your appreciation and viewing pleasure.
These original art pieces are required to have been created in the last 24 months, and will include oil, watercolor, acrylic, oil and acrylic, mixed media, pastel, colored pencil drawing, black and white drawing, folk art, photography, fiber art, stained glass, pottery and 3-dimensional jewelry.
The Plateau Creative Art Center is located at 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade and is handicap accessible.
The Art Guild at Fairfield Glade REGULAR HOURS: Monday through Saturday 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, CLOSED Sunday.
WINTER HOURS (December 24 thru February 28): Monday through Saturday 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, CLOSED Sunday.
Closed: New Years day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
http://www.artguildfairfieldglade.net/ or 931 707 7249 for more information.

In addition to our public classes, we're going to be at the Knox Corn Maze on October 10th and 11th for mini-classes all throughout the day and will run a Halloween class on the 31st early enough to still go out and get those treats! We've also got a a special Boys and Girls Club fundraiser on October 24th at Wonderworks in Pigeon Forge so make sure to come paint for a great cause!

Pink Hope - October 2nd - 6pm to 9pm - Elvira's Cafe - Sevierville

Wed Oct 8 - Belk and Wine and Canvas!
Ladies join us on October 8th from 5:00-8:30pm for a special Girls’ Night out event at Belk in Turkey Creek! Enjoy 20% off savings with VERY LIMITED EXCLUSIONS in their Ladies apparel, shoes and accessories and more. Belk will also have appetizers! Wine and Canvas Knoxville is attending, offering three mini-classes to paint your own 8"x10" canvas for only $10.00 per painter. Classes will start at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm.

Golden Mushroom - October 9th - 6pm to 9pm - Imagination Forest
Celebration Time in Tennessee - October 13th - 6pm to 9pm - Barley's Taproom - Maryville
Neyland Stadium - October 15th - 6pm to 9pm - Original Copper Cellar
Cookies and Canvas - Sea Otter - October 16th - 6pm to 8pm - Imagination Forest
See Rock City Barn - October 20th - 6pm to 9pm - Carolina Ale House
Live - Laugh - Love - October 21st - 6pm to 9pm - Mimi's Cafe
If the Shoe Fits - October 31st - 1pm to 4pm - Knox Corn Maze

Wine & Canvas: Knoxville, TN, 865-356-9179, http://www.wineandcanvas.com/knoxville-tn.html

Bill Suttles: In my View, October 2-31 at the District Gallery. There will be an opening reception on Friday, October 2, 5:00-8:00PM.

In My View is a collection of painterly landscapes and figurative works in oil, watercolor and pastel. Bill Suttles graduated form the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1949 and was influenced by the Art Institute of Chicago's Impressionist collection. His career began in illustration and has evolved into a full-time commitment to pursuing his own artistic vision.

This October, Bill Suttles will celebrate his 85th birthday. Fitting of a lifetime of commitment to the arts, his work possesses a remarkable maturity, yet it resonates with a fresh and youthful spirit, evident in his combination of vibrant color, loose gesture, and masterful economy.

Please join us Friday, October 2, from 5:00-8:00PM for an art opening and 85th birthday celebration for Bill Suttles. The show is on display in the gallelry through October 31 at The District Gallery, 5113 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919.
865 200 4452 or TheDistrictGallery.com.

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition by the Tennessee Artists Association (TAA) entitled “The Fall Juried Show: 41st Fall Art Exhibition”, featuring original art by over 40 Tennessee artists including oils, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, photography, and mixed media. The exhibition will be displayed at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville. An opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on October 2 from 5:00-9:00 PM, and awards for the show will be given at 6:00 PM. The First Friday reception also features music by jazz pianist Curtis Framery in the gallery as well as music and dance performances by Pasión Flamenca from 6:00-6:30 PM and a Jazz Jam Session hosted by Vance Thompson and Friends from 7:00-9:00 PM in the Black Box Theatre. “This is TAA’s sixth show at the Emporium Center, and we are very excited about the opportunity to present the breadth and quality of Tennessee artists’ works represented by our members,” said Doris Hudnall, exhibition chair. “Many thanks to our sponsors who have made it possible to provide awards and recognition to the artists.”

Tennessee Artists Association (TAA) was founded in 1972. The TAA is a civic organization of fine artists with 60 members. TAA encourages each individual artist to grow and develop through fellowship with other artists, educational programs, and opportunities to exhibit and sell art, and it serves the community through classes. Membership in TAA is open to anyone age eighteen years and older and a resident of the state of Tennessee. Dues are currently $50 for single membership, $60 for family and $15 for students. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 6500 Northshore Drive, which includes a business meeting, a program, and a time for fellowship and refreshments. Guests are always welcome to attend. For more information, visit www.tnartists.org.

Arts & Culture Alliance at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: M-F 9-5 and other special hours at www.theemporiumcenter.com/visit.html. Information: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition by photographer Patrick Murphy-Racey of Knoxville. His inaugural exhibition includes iconic images as well as others that blur the lines between journalism and art. The exhibition also represents a history of how photographs have been captured, first on black & white film, then color transparency (slides), color negative film, and finally, digital capture. “Grain can be a beautiful thing as hundreds of thousands of silver halide crystals dance within the emulsion until they all are frozen forever by light in an instant,” says Patrick Murphy-Racey. “Keep in mind that you are on a 25-year long journey, from swoosh to stripes and back to swoosh again. But the orange remains the same.” The exhibition will be displayed in the Balcony gallery of the Emporium Center. An opening reception will take place on Friday, October 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM and features a flamenco dance performance by Pasión Flamenco from 6:00-6:30 PM and a Jazz Jam Session hosted by Vance Thompson and Friends from 7:00-8:45 PM in the Black Box Theatre. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be available and chocolate fondue will be provided by the Melting Pot of Knoxville.

Patrick Murphy-Racey has photographed the Vols since he arrived in Knoxville after graduating from Marquette University in 1988. Initially, he worked for the Knoxville News-Sentinel, using black & white and color transparency film. When the newspaper prepared to close its darkroom and use only color negative film, Murphy-Racey pursued other avenues. With the help and support of longtime mentor and friend, Peter Read Miller, he covered hundreds of assignments for Sports Illustrated and many other national publications over the years. Murphy-Racey has photographed all manner of sporting events and done lit portraits of athletes. For more information, visit www.pmrphoto.com.

After many years of photographing from only the sidelines at Neyland Stadium, UT’s Barry Rice arranged a meeting between Murphy-Racey and former Vols Coach Phillip Fulmer in 1998. Fulmer invited Murphy-Racey inside the Tennessee family of that era, letting him travel with the team and giving him complete access to locker rooms, win or lose, and even during half-times. Murphy-Racey photographed at practices, in the recruiting war-room, the training room, and anywhere else he had a mind to be. When Tennessee ran through the “Power T” last week, it marked his 27th season covering the Vols.

“Football fans may not always be the audience one assumes would enter an art gallery,” says Murphy-Racey. “Likewise, there are those who wouldn’t be interested in visiting a football stadium." Patrick Murphy-Racey’s hope is that “new friendships can be made and bridges built inside the Emporium though this exhibition.”

Arts & Culture Alliance at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: M-F 9-5 and other special hours at www.theemporiumcenter.com/visit.html. Information: 865-523-7543, www.knoxalliance.com

The Town of Farragut Arts Council presents decorative artist Barbara Enser as the featured artist for September and October. Located at the Farragut Town Hall, the exhibit highlights her paintings of various birds.

A Niagara Falls, New York, native, Enser's exhibit features bird paintings done in various media - including colored pencil, acrylics and oils - and painted birdhouses. A graduate of State University of New York at Albany, Enser taught high school mathematics at West High School in Knoxville in the 1980s, as well as at schools in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. She is a member of the Rocky Top Decorative Painters, the Middle Tennessee Decorative Artists and Society of Decorative Painters.

Each month, the work of an artist or group of artists is featured in specially designed cases on the second floor of the rotunda in the Farragut Town Hall. For more information about this exhibit or to access a Featured Artist of the Month application, please contact Lauren Cox at lcox@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057 or visit www.townoffarragut.org/artsandculture.

The Farragut Town Hall is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive directly across from the Farragut Branch Post Office.

Oak Ridge Art Center invites you to the 47th Annual Open Show, a juried mixed-media exhibition open to all artists which showcases exceptional work produced throughout our region. Open Show 2015 will be displayed September 12 through November 7.

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 12, 7:00-9:00PM. Gallery opens at 6:00PM for viewing with a gallery talk at 6:30.
Daily gallery hours: Tuesday through Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM, Saturday through Monday, 1:00-4:00PM.

201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge. 865 482 1441 or www.oakridgeartcenter.org for more information.

This exhibition will take the viewer through the evolution of Himalayan artistic styles from the 8th century through the present. From gilded statues of deities, to complex and colorful paintings of religious figures, the objects in the exhibit explore how trade, travel, and the evolution of Buddhism helped foster a strong artistic tradition that continues today.

Exploring the rich history of Himalayan style art in a chronological fashion, the Tibetan bronzes and paintings featured will progressively lead the viewer through the major stylistic developments that took place and provide an introduction to the techniques used to produce these works as well as to the complex religious iconography depicted in them.

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

Arrowmont invites the public to view Time, a collaborative exhibit by Blair Clemo and Jason Hackett, in the Geoffrey A. Gallery. The exhibit showcases an array of utilitarian and sculptural ceramic works measuring time through developed surfaces, symbolic image, and historic and geologic form. Clemo’s work explores time as a significant venture in labor while Hackett’s work is intuitively developed around the concept of time.

Blair Clemo is an Assistant Professor of Craft and Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He received his MFA in Ceramics at New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University in 2010. Originally from Doylestown Pennsylvania, Clemo spent many years out west studying ceramics and working at small production potteries in Idaho and Montana. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at The Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, MN), the Da Wang Culture Highland (Shenzhen, China), the Zentrum für Keramik (Berlin, Germany) and The International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemét, Hungary) funded by the 2013 NCECA International Partnership Grant. Clemo’s utilitarian and installation work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and abroad. For more information, visit his website at www.ablairclemo.com.

Jason Hackett is currently the Studio Manager for the Department of Craft and Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, the same place from which he received his Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2005. Prior to obtaining his Master’s degree, Jason held studio management positions for Jun Kaneko and Pewabic Pottery’s Education Studios. His artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Alexandria Museum of Art, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, The Mobile Museum of Art, The Virginia Museum of Fine Art, The Taubman Museum of Art, The City Museum of Aviero in Portugal, Galateea Gallery in Bucharest, and the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Jason was awarded the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship in 2013 for his collaged ceramic works.

Gallery hours are Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday - Sunday 10am - 4pm. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Chicago-born Sandy Brown has degrees in art and education from Northeastern Illinois University, with post-graduate work in studio art and art history at Northern Illinois University. She was Executive Director of both the Monroe Arts Center in Monroe, Wisconsin, and the Monroe Area Council for the Arts in Madisonville, Tennessee. As a watercolorist and mixed media artist, Brown enjoys not only analyzing structure, but exploring atmospheric texture as well. Her painting style is spontaneous and changes as she works. She paints without reference to photos, preferring to be open to possibilities in the present moment. Among her strongest influences are the American Luminists, as well as Constable and Turner. Additionally she is drawn to van Gogh’s work for the passion of his brushwork and purity of color. Her focus is on painting change. Sandy’s emphasis on painting relationships, as opposed to “things,” drives both what she paints and how she paints it.

The exhibit opening reception is Friday, September 18, 2015 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Brown will be on hand to informally discuss her work. The reception includes light refreshments and is free and open to the public. After the reception, Athens Community Theatre presents Steel Magnolias at 7:30 pm in the Sue E. Trotter Theatre. Tickets are $12 adult and $8 student. 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

Arrowmont invites the public to view Materialities: Contemporary Textile Arts, Surface Design Association's 1st International Juried Members’ Exhibition in the Sandra J. Blain Gallery. The exhibit showcases 67 artists, spanning a wide range of textile media, subject matter and presentations. Selected artists are from the US, Canada, Hungary, Iceland, France, Germany, Norway and the UK. A reception will be held Thursday, October 8th from 5-8pm. Admission is free and the community is encouraged to attend with their friends and family.

Materialities: Contemporary Textile Arts’ juror is Namita Gupta Wiggers, curator-at-large and Director of Critical Craft Forum. For a comprehensive print catalog, Wiggers selected 108 works from 91 artists that provide meaningful answers to the question: What do textiles/fibers and their associated processes offer artists that cannot be achieved in other media? The catalog includes full and detailed images, artist statements, and essays addressing the context and evolution of contemporary textile arts. Essay authors include curator Namita Gupta Wiggers, Arrowmont Program Director and fiber artist Nick DeFord, SDA Journal Editor Marci Rae McDade and indigo dye master Rowland Ricketts. Surface Design Association (SDA) is a non-profit textile arts organization founded in 1977. SDA promotes international awareness and appreciation of fiber, textiles & new materials. Members include artists, designers, educators, students, curators, gallery owners and textile enthusiasts from around the world. New members are invited to join at www.surfacedesign.org.

Gallery hours are Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturdays 10am - 4pm.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org