Calendar of Events

Debbie has spent a lifetime in the dance profession. After earning her MA in Dance from American University in Washington, DC, she then embarked on 38 years of teaching, choreographing and performing; starting with Meredith College, then Penn State University and their student companies. She created several dance companies: both Firehouse Dance Company (an Improv company) and The Elderberries (a company of senior citizens) in Ithaca, NY, and Beaumont Dance Works (a company of 9-11year old boys and girls) in Knoxville, TN. She created the dance program at Beaumont Magnet Academy, wrote the Tennessee State Dance Curriculum Standards for K-5, and has taught dance to generations of children at Beaumont for 21 years. Since her retirement in 2014, she continues to dance, choreograph and teach with adults here at the Emporium on a more relaxed schedule, which has given her time to play more intently with a therapeutic hobby (pottery) that she has dabbled in for almost as long as she has been dancing!

This brings us to why we are here and the next chapter in Debbie’s life: Her first introduction to making pots was in 1978 with John Givinnes, who was teaching pottery at Meredith College, where she was Assistant Professor of Dance. John graciously allowed her to come and play with clay and helped advise her in setting up her own studio, even sharing glaze recipes. Unfortunately, from 1988- 2008 all of Debbie’s supplies and kiln were crated up and stored away. Time was spent on raising two children and teaching dance. In 2008, a major home renovation and addition gave rise to a pottery studio! Finally all supplies and the kiln were freed from their bondage and she eagerly retaught herself how to throw pots with a little help from Google. Presently, Debbie makes pottery daily as she searches for her unique voice in clay. She’s intrigued with the process of blending her passion for dance composition with her passion for clay composition. To her, pottery is an extension of the dance. The dancer informs the potter and the potter informs the dancer, culminating in a lovely duet!

A public reception will take place on Friday, February 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM. Her work will be featured in the display case.

100 S. Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM and Sundays, February 7 & 21, 3:30-6:30 PM. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

The Art Market Gallery will present a member Valentine exhibit February 2 through February 28. The exhibit, themed heART 2 heART, will feature a wide variety of media showcasing the many talents of Art Market artists. Painting, printmaking, photography, clay, glass, wood, gourds, and more will explore the Valentine theme. An opening reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., February 5 during Downtown Knoxville's monthly First Friday Art Walk, with complimentary refreshments and music performed by The Accidentals. .

Owned and operated by more than 60 professional regional artists, the Art Market Gallery, at 422 South Gay St., is a few doors away from Mast General store and next to Downtown Grill & Brewery. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. 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. For more information, call 865-525-5265, or visit artmarketgallery.net or facebook.com/Art.Market.Gallery.

Tue, 2/2/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Starry Night Wine Glasses at Mind Yer P's & Q's - Farragut
Tue, 2/9/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - For the Love of Wine at Quaker Steak and Lube - Sevierville
Wed, 2/10/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Date Night - Sunset at Blue Coast Grill
Sat, 2/13/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Knoxville City of Love at Gibby's Dining and Drinks
Mon, 2/15/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Sun Moon Stars and Mars at Barley's - Maryville
Tue, 2/16/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Snowy Night at Gavino's Pizzeria and Restaurant
Wed, 2/17/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - First Snow at Carolina Ale House
Thu, 2/18/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Sunset in the Smokies at Le Noir Restaurant - Lenoir City
Mon, 2/22/2016, 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Paint Your Pet at Gibby's Dining & Drinks (inside Holiday Inn)
Tue, 2/23/2016, 5:00 - 7:00 PM - Cookies and Canvas - Zebra at Imagination Forest - Powell
Fri, 2/26/2016, 7:00 - 10:00 PM - Two Lillies at Quaker Steak and Lube - Sevierville

Classes are $35 unless otherwise noted. Wine & Canvas: Knoxville, TN, 865-356-9179, http://www.wineandcanvas.com/knoxville-tn.html

The Knoxville Watercolor Society will exhibit recent works from its members at the Blount County Public Library from February 1 through February 29, 2016.

Regular hours for the Blount County Public Library M-Th, 9 am to 9 pm, and F-S 9 am to 5:30 pm and Sunday 1 pm to 5:30 pm. Location: 508 North Cusick Street, Maryville, TN 37804 Library Phone: 865-982-0981
For more information about the Knoxville Watercolor Society, membership requirements and to view members' art works go to www.knxvillewatercolorsociety.com.

"Touche" a collection of Paintings, Drawings, and Photos by Jennifer Brickey at Westminster Presbyterian Church's Schilling Gallery through February 28.

6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone:(865) 584-3957

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26, 6-8 P.M. RECEPTION WITH THE ARTIST—MARK HALL–AND A REPRESENTATIVE OF HAVEN HOUSE—DR. FRANCES HENDERSON

Artist Statement: Several years ago a female student was absent for just over a week. I heard nothing. This was unusual for her and when she returned I asked if she was ok. When she hesitated, I assured her I was not trying to pry but was concerned. She pulled back her upper blouse exposing a large bruise on her shoulder. She then stated, “My boyfriend at home beat me up.” After a brief talk where she assured me her father was dealing with this matter and my comments that the male should be her ex-boy friend, I began thinking about the issue of the abuse of women by men. This student was intelligent, attractive (she looked like the 19th century Gibson girl), and kind. What would motivate a male to abuse such a person? I began looking at late 19th century Victorian and Art Nouveau images of women and the Valentines that were created using many of these stereotypes.

I began working on a series of Domestic Abuse Valentines based upon these late 19th century images adapting the symbolism and wording. I created 10 wood engravings that depict these female stereotypes with the marks of abuse and the words of the abuser. The series of prints begins depicting a woman with a black eye and the words, “You Know I Love You?” The art nouveau pattern creates a bull’s eye on her body. Each subsequent image after the first depicts a woman with additional wounds and the escalating words of control by the abuser. The series ends with the last Valentine depicting a battered woman taken from the internet with the words “I’m Going To Kill You!” Labels for the exhibition give statistical information about abuse of women in the United States.

I would like to thank Dr. Frances Henderson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Maryville College for her assistance creating the labels for this exhibition.

At Blackberry Farm Gallery, Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Artist Reception, February 26 6pm to 8pm

The Exhibit “Bricklayer to Jeweler” by Artist Tony Henson will include abstract works by the artist. Henson live in Kingsport, TN and teaches at Walters State and VA Highlands Community College. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the south.

Artist statement – “Start like a bricklayer end like a jeweler.” – Walter Sickert

Passage is the act or process of moving through, under, over, or past something on the way from one place to another. Transition of that something is as important as the transition of color within my work. Transition from childhood to adulthood, becoming a Christian, in music it’s a segment of a composition, in nature an opening, etc. Passage has as many variations such as time, journey, death, rite of passage, passage from the Bible, a path or channel, doorway, etc. Color, music, and nature have always been the three main influences in my paintings. My love for color is the main reason I paint. I believe all art should have restrictions. Within those restrictions, you have the ability to be creative in a series and in the individual paintings. I set up strict guidelines before beginning a painting. Transition of color, contrast in color and texture, large areas of color, gradation, drawing aspect with lines, layers that create depth, movement, application of paint, starting out in a very spontaneous manner, and so on. My personal motto and a quote I have on my studio wall from Walter Sickert “start like a bricklayer and end like a jeweler” sums up my process. The organic natural expression in my art reinforces my love for music and nature. Fluid lines referring to the rivers and trails of East Tennessee against larger areas of color referring to the landscape and the sky provide a necessary contrast in each painting. Thick, intense, or dark colors indicate the landscape while the soft transitions of colors refer to the sky. The gradation of colors which is more geometric than most of the painting refers to the sunrise and sunset. The contrast between these formal concerns is crucial in my work. I am creating an experience for the viewer to be immersed in the color, expression, and texture. Painting is a celebration of seeing.

DENSO Gallery, Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

In this classic comedy, vulgar, egotistical “junkman” Harry Brock, along with his “dumb" but charming girlfriend, Billie Dawn, arrives in Washington to make a few “deals” with powerful political big-wigs. Increasingly embarrassed by Billie’s lack of knowledge and social graces, Harry hires an idealistic young magazine reporter to educate the former showgirl. Billie not only learns to appreciate history and politics, but along the way, discovers the depths of Harry’s crooked activities. Armed with a natural honesty and frank attitude, Billie must decide how to utilize her newfound knowledge to extricate herself from being a tool in Harry’s illegal schemes.

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

The Knoxville Museum of Art is proud to present the first-ever exhibition dedicated to the history and legacy of the groundbreaking artists who worked and exhibited together in the fifties and sixties and eventually became known as The Knoxville 7. The KMA-organized exhibition features more than 60 works culled from the museum’s extensive holdings, augmented by loans from collectors around the region.

The brash, ambitious artists who exhibited together as The Knoxville 7 shared the common visual language of Abstract Expressionism, producing what are likely the first abstract art works in East Tennessee and establishing a foothold for modern art in the region. In the early 1950s, C. Kermit “Buck” Ewing, first head of the University of Tennessee’s art department, recruited a group of young artists—initially Carl Sublett, Walter Stevens, Robert Birdwell—who exhibited actively in Knoxville and throughout the Southeast. While Sublett and Stevens shared an exclusive interest in the landscape as a point of reference for their abstractions, Birdwell and Ewing often found inspiration in urban settings and the human figure. Sometimes they exhibited as a foursome and other times as The Knoxville 7 with fellow artists Joanna Higgs Ross, Richard Clarke, and Philip Nichols. This important exhibition brings into focus a richly productive period in the art history of the region and also attests to the depth of the museum’s growing holdings of works by Knoxville 7 artists.

The opening for the exhibition is Thursday, January 28, 2016 from 6 to 8pm with a short program at 6:45pm.

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

Maya: Lords of Time explores the time-ordered universe through the Maya’s intricate calendar systems and investigates how their history and culture followed a rhythm set by the motion of heavenly bodies. Learn the story of how divine kings used their control over the calendar and its grand public rituals to assert their power.

With award-winning interactives, numerous full-sized monumental replicas, and many Central American artifacts, visitors can trace the rise and fall of the Maya kingdoms and follow how ideas of time and the calendar changed before and after the Spanish conquest.

This exhibition also explores how those long-standing beliefs can still be found in Mayan regions today.

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

Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present Sara Crewe: A Little Princess, based on the heartwarming, rags-to-riches children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The play will be performed Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; Sundays at 3 PM.

Captain Crewe leaves his young daughter Sara at a school for girls, while he goes abroad to claim his fortune in jewels. The school is run by a strict head-mistress named Miss Minchin, who takes special care of her wealthy new student, until a stunning twist of fate changes the Fate of everyone in the school and throughout the neighborhood. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story remains one of the world’s most popular books for children, despite being written over 100 years ago. It is a timeless tale of rags-to-riches, and Sara Crewe has become a role model for grace-under-pressure and undefeatable hope.

The play is performed by 11 talented young actors, from ages 8 to 14. KCT is East Tennessee’s leading producer of stage plays for children. Sara Crewe: A Little Princess is the 73rd play to be produced by Knoxville Children’s Theatre. The play is directed by Zack Allen from a script by R. N. Sandberg, licensed by Dramatic Publishing Company.

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

These works radiate warmth by their energy and vivid color. One thing that is noteworthy about the show is the lack of conventional landscapes, still lifes and florals. Most of the pieces are about people. They range from polished, formal oil portraits of comfortable well-to-do subjects by John Simms to spare sketchy oil pastel drawings by Gwen Johnson of people in African settings.

The Oak Ridge Art Center is open to the public seven days a week. Admission is free, but donations are very welcome.

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org