Calendar of Events

William Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” will play on the CBT mainstage February 10-28 with 7:30 pm and 2:00 pm performances. A Pay What You Wish Preview performance will be held Wednesday, February 10, a talk back with the actors will take place Sunday, February 21 following the matinee, and the Open Captioned performance is Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 pm. The production is for mature audiences only.

Believed to be Shakespeare’s first tragedy and most graphically violent, “Titus Andronicus” was created as a crowd-pleasing shocker, full of murder, intrigue, betrayal, and revenge. Returning victorious from war, Titus has lost many sons in battle. And he has no idea that his worst nightmare is yet to take place. His prisoner of war, Tamora, Queen of the Goths, is bent on getting revenge for the loss of her son at Titus’ hands. The two become tangled in a cruel cycle of revenge in which they lose more than either one could ever imagine. Although the tragedy is consistently popular, it is rarely performed.

“The central idea in the play is that when justice and rule of law is subverted by man’s pursuit of revenge, man is capable of unspeakable violence. Even the most principled and civilized man (like Titus) can become barbaric,” said Director John Sipes.

Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Andy Wood of the critically acclaimed country band Rascal Flatts is coming home this February to the U.S. Cellular Stage to show off some of his solo work!

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information/tickets: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com, www.ticketmaster.com

With artist Amy Pleasant. This after-hours series mixes spirits with stimulating discussion. Bring a friend, meet someone new, and experience art in a fresh way.

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

Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South
Brown Bag Lecture by Dr. T. R. C. Hutton

Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. at the East Tennessee History Center
601 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Following the Civil War, the rugged upcountry of Breathitt County, Kentucky, developed the reputation as “the darkest and bloodiest of all the dark and bloody feud counties.” In a Brown Bag Lecture on February 10, Dr. T. R. C. Hutton will discuss his book Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South and argue that “feud” became a loaded term that was sometimes used to disguise the more complex nature of the violence. Hutton’s careful investigation links specific incidents to national and regional events and finds that the violence often reflected distinct political intentions. His award-winning book will be available for purchase and signing following the lecture.

Hutton received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2009 and teaches American History at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, specializing in the American South and Appalachia.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 11:30 a.m.
The lecture is sponsored by the Harriet Z. Albers Memorial and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch and enjoy the lecture. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is exhibiting an interactive installation Working Memory, by Chalet Comellas in the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery. A closing reception will be held Friday, March 11th from 6-8pm. Admission is free and the community is encouraged to attend with their friends and family.

Working Memory is an interactive installation composed of a quilt-like structure made of fabric, ephemera, paintings and sound. The exhibit creates narratives from memories by reinventing materials such as clothing, textiles and found objects. The viewer can shift and change the work to construct new narratives.

Chalet Comellas is an interdisciplinary artist who works in painting, sculpture, fiber art, video and new-media installation. Chalet is an Assistant Art Professor at Florida State University where she received her Master of Fine Arts in 2012. She has performed and exhibited her work in museums, art fairs and galleries including In Light Richmond, hosted by 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA (2014), Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn, New York (2013) and Fountain Art Fair in Miami (2012). Chalet has participated in several public art projects in Florida including an outdoor video installation commissioned by the Tampa Museum of Art during Art Basel Miami (2006). For more information, visit her website at www.chaletcomellas.com.

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

Edward S. Albers, Jr. has a unique way of capturing travel memories. Rather than the traditional camera, he travels with paints, a sketchbook, and a folding stool and often skips shopping for a scenic spot and an hour of sketching. Visitors to the Museum of East Tennessee History can vicariously travel the world with Bud Albers through a selection of his most interesting and beautiful paintings, such as Dublin Doorway, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Russia, and Hong Kong Harbor from Victoria. Local pieces include a painting of Bud’s grandfather Andrew J. Albers, seated in his carriage and holding his small son, Edward S. Albers, Sr., who became Bud’s father. In the background is the family’s beautiful home that stood on the corner of Market and Locust, until torn down to make way for the present Medical Arts Building. The painting reproduces the scene from an old photograph. The exhibition, Bud Albers Recollections: Works from Life and Travels, is on view in the Bilo Nelson Auditorium of the East Tennessee History Center.

Albers is a retired businessman, philanthropist, and artist, whose family is deeply rooted in Knoxville and East Tennessee. He has a strong interest in history, and his vision was instrumental in the creation of the Museum of East Tennessee History.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

Artist: Jeffrey Morton
Reception: Monday, February 8 (3:00pm – 5:00pm)

Exhibition Statement:
If place, according to art critic Lucy Lippard, is the latitudinal and longitudinal map of a persons life, then my art has literally helped me find a home. As a transplant from the Northeast Untied Stages to Southeastern Tennessee, now fifteen years ago, my art has taught me about the significance of being grounded in a place, a specific location. Unique to the American South is the Kudzu plant that thrives in a climate different from its home. In Japan, Kudzu is a decorative plant with a pretty purple flower; however, in its new location, Kudzu is used to fight erosion. At first I thought that this foreign plant doesn’t belong here, and neither do I. But after crawling through the topography of Signal Mountain, TN and navigating the invasive vine, making drawings and paintings from it, I have learned to love the strange plant and the landscape of my adopted home. Simply put, my art argues that geography matters, and even an undesired geography, can shape and mold human life. – Jeffrey Morton

The exhibit is free. Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 10-6:30. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

The Farragut Museum Committee and Farragut Arts Council will host two free events in honor of Black History Month this February at Farragut Town Hall. The theme for this year's celebration is "Honoring Service and Talent."

An art show featuring the work of Gwendolyn Campbell-Johnson, a Tennessee artist and art teacher at Farragut Middle School, will be on display starting Monday, Feb. 8 through Friday, Feb. 19 during regular Town Hall hours (Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Campbell-Johnson holds a bachelor's degree in art education from Tennessee State University; her art focuses upon African American origins, history and identity development.

On Sunday, Feb. 21, a reception will take place at 2 p.m. to honor Campbell-Johnson as well as Bill Valentine, who will give a presentation following the reception at 3 p.m. A Vietnam Veteran dedicated to teaching about soldiers from a past era, Valentine will present an entertaining and informative one-man act entitled "The Buffalo Soldier." Buffalo Soldier is the name synonymous with the all African American regiments in the United States Army established by Congress in 1866. Valentine has presented this lecture at no charge to bring history alive in local schools, churches, colleges and civic organizations.

The reception will also feature museum tours and light refreshments.

The Farragut Museum is committed to preserving the heritage of its East Tennessee community and features a remarkable collection of artifacts from the area, including an extensive collection of the personal belongings of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, first Admiral of the U.S Navy and hero of the Civil War. Housed in the Farragut Town Hall located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive, the museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and offers free admission. For more information, visit www.townoffarragut.org/museum, like Farragut Museum on Facebook, or contact Museum Coordinator Julia Barham at jbarham@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057.

Opening reception Feb. 12 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

Heather Hartman is interested in the constant flux of the visual world, and our temporary space within it. Through common distortions of light, shadow and atmosphere the familiar can become abstracted and unfamiliar. Thus -- for a fleeting moment -- the mundane is transformed into the sublime. Using a material-driven painting process, her work explores how these phenomena affect her sense of perception and physical location. She uses reductive abstraction to synthesize memories, found images and photographs of her surroundings into multilayered compositions. She has developed a process that involves painting on layers of paper and translucent polyester mesh, allowing her to explore illusionism both in paint and in actual space. The resulting images are a combination of blurry, atmospheric forms and distorted shadows that lie beneath washes of color, and intense passages of light. http://heatherhartmanart.com

Jessica Payne - This series of paintings developed after Payne took three years off from painting to focus on art journaling. After enrolling in a number of online technique courses, she found that she most enjoyed learning about and playing with layering. In her current work, Jessica uses bold color and extensive layering to create depth and mystery. She builds up many layers of paint by constantly painting over her work while leaving some of the previous layers exposed, creating windows or portals to other worlds. She uses glitter, mica flakes and iridescent paint to catch the light and allow the painting to dramatically change, depending upon the light source. Her approach to her art is very spontaneous and playful and draws inspiration from color and imagery found in the garden and forest surrounding her house. www.JessicaPayneArt.com

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: 10 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Thursday and 10 AM – 1 PM, Sunday. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

“Faith, Family, and Friends” is the featured exhibit for February at Rose Center in Morristown. From Africa to Appalachia Foundation for Education and the Arts organized the exhibit and an opening reception and celebration that will be held at 2 PM on Sunday, February 7. The reception and program will be a Tribute to the Art and Life of Sammie Nicely (1947-2015). A moving musical program featuring choirs, instrumentalists, vocalists and more is being coordinated by Yolanda Treece. Special guests will share their thoughts on how important Faith, Family and Friends were to Sammie. Blues great Wallace Coleman will close the program.

The Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. Hours: M-F 9-5. Information: 423-581-4330, www.rosecenter.org

Blount County Public Library has been selected to be one of nine sites in the nation to host Discover Earth: Our Changing Planet, a national traveling exhibition exploring the fascinating world of earth science.
Discover Earth: Our Changing Planet explores Earth’s ever-changing physical and biological systems using stunning media and interactive experiences. Earth science topics in the exhibit include topics such as short and long-term time changes, the differences between weather and climate, and what it means to be a steward of our amazing planet.

The exhibition will be displayed at the library from February 3 through April 29. Blount County Public Library will also offer a related series of public events to bring STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programming to children, teens and adults.

The Grand Opening and kick-off event will be on Saturday, February 6, at 2 p.m. Mike Maslona, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Ranger, will give a presentation “National Park Service – 100 Years Old” describing the mission of the National Park Service, in its 100th anniversary year, to conserve over 400 diverse park units throughout the United States and their rich natural and cultural history while also providing for their enjoyment unimpaired for future generations.
Among other presentations during the exhibit will include “Reporting the Weather” by WATE-TV meteorologist, Matt Hinkin, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 20. “The Natural History of Southern Appalachia” will be presented by Dr. Paul Threadgill, Biology Professor at Maryville College, on Monday, February 29, at 7 p.m. Other programs will be announced soon and will be available on the library website at www.blountlibrary.org or on calendars or call 865-982-0981.

When visiting the exhibition, plan to spend at least one to two hours or plan several visits. Because there are many interactive exhibits, plan sufficient time to explore the numerous topics and sciences.

The exhibition is free and open to the public during library hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Discover Earth: Our Changing Planet was developed by Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL), the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Afterschool Alliance. Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville, where services are an example of your tax dollars at work for you.
For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org .

Vienna Coffee House presents “Art for the Heart, The Conversations Exhibit” and the Harrison Inman Exhibit. These exhibits will be displayed through March 5 at 212 College Street in Maryville. http://viennacoffeehouse.net/