Calendar of Events

ARTXTRAVAGANZA is Webb School’s annual art sale that features original artworks by nearly 70 acclaimed artists and offers affordable works for everyone – from fine art, handcrafted jewelry and pottery to glass art, sculptures and metal art.

This three day event is held on the Webb School of Knoxville campus in West Knoxville. Now in its fifteenth year, ArtXtravaganza has rapidly grown to become one of the premier art shows in the Southeast, and has helped to further the careers of prominent artists. ArtXtravaganza showcases the amazing range and diversity of artistic talent in the region and beyond, and helps establish Knoxville as a community aligned with the arts. Also on exhibit are works by Webb Lower, Middle and Upper school students.

Each year, ArtXtravaganza hosts a featured artist. This year, the show will feature two artists: Sarah Kaufman from Nashville, Tennessee and Preston Farabow from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Proceeds from ArtXtravaganza support Webb School of Knoxville’s visual and performing arts programs. Last year, the school inaugurated a K-12 dance program with the completion of a state-of-the art dance studio in Webb’s new multipurpose building, opening in the fall of 2014. The dance program provides instruction in all forms of the art, from modern to ballet. In addition, the new facility includes a new Middle School chorus and handbell studio.

Friday, March 4, Patron's Party from 6:00-9:00PM. To purchase tickets please go to http://www.artxtravaganza.com/.
Saturday, March 5, 10:00AM-6:00PM and Sunday, March 6, 11:00AM-4:00PM.
Webb School of Knoxville, 9800 Webb School Drive, Knoxville, TN 37923. Info: (865) 291-3846

The Appalachian Ballet Company is excited to announce a special encore presentation for the Spring Gala of three original ballets based on the children’s books written by beloved East Tennessee educator and author Libba Moore Gray. For the first time, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will accompany the spring program, which will also feature three new contemporary works.

Performances will be held at the Clayton Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 4, and at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 5. A special matinee for area schools, scheduled for 10 a.m., Friday, March 4, is sold out. The symphony will be under the direction of guest conductor Sande MacMorran.

Gray’s daughter and ABC artistic director Amy Morton Vaughn, who choreographed the original ballets for a 2005 performance at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, is delighted to be offering the production again and introducing her mother’s stories to new audiences as well as faithful ballet patrons from the inaugural presentation. The three ballets are based on her mother’s storybooks, My Mama had a Dancing Heart, When Uncle Took the Fiddle, and Little Lil and the Swing-Singing Sax. New York composer Pat Rasile wrote the music for the 2005 production, and he will make a return appearance for this engagement. “All three books are distinctive in themselves, and Pat Rasile’s musical compositions enhance the flavor of the stories,” Vaughn said. “In ‘Uncle,’ the fiddle is very Appalachian. ‘Mama’ has a classical ballad arrangement, and ‘Little Lil’ is jazzier. The music is also very distinctive. We are fortunate to have Rasile’s music and his presence at these performances.”

Gray, who taught English and drama at Heritage High School, died in 1995 after a courageous battle with breast cancer, but new generations continue to enjoy her nine children’s books and her poetry. Vaughn says she still runs into people whose lives were touched by Gray.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at ClaytonArtsCenter.com or 865-981-8590 for $20 for adults and $25-$30 at the door. Students are half price. At Clayton Center for Arts, 502 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804. For more information: 865-982-8463, www.appalachianballet.com

Henry Cho Performance (comedian)
Friday, March 4, 2016, 7:30 pm
Knoxville Christian School, 11549 Snyder Rd, Knoxville TN, 37932
More Information: call 865-966-7060 or visit www.knoxvillechristianschool.org

Own the Boards is hosting its 1st Annual Poetry Slam Benefit on Friday, March 4th, at the Square Room on Market Square. Doors open at 6:30pm, and cover is $5 for general admission and free for students. Lane Shuler and Jonathan "Courageous" Clark (of Knoxville's I.N.K. Poetry) will serve as headliners and emcees, and the event will feature additional performances by area high school students, participants in OTB's LifeWords Reading Circles, and other seasoned performance poets.

Own the Boards is a Knoxville-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people through literature and performance.

Own the Boards: www.owntheboards.org or https://www.facebook.com/owntheboards

At The Square Room: 4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-544-4199, www.thesquareroom.com.

JOHN SMITH: “HEROES IN YOUR MIDST: TALES OF OVERCOMING THE ODDS IN THE QUEST FOR

10:45 – 11:40 A.M., GOINS BUILDING AUDITORIUM

Stories from the findings of a hermeneutic-phenomenological dissertation study of the positive transformative
learning experiences of students who have overcome previous mathematics failure, economic
barriers, and personal obstacles to find success.

Pellissippi State Community College, Goins Auditorium, Hardin Valley Campus: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

Join us at the Knoxville Arts & Fine Crafts Center for a First Friday art reception welcoming the works of Susan Arbital and Matthew Rooney and closing the exhibit of photographs by Karen Wilkinson!

Knoxville Arts & Fine Crafts Center, 1127 Broadway Suite B, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-523-1401, www.cityofknoxville.org/recreation/arts

Start Your Spring Cleaning! Changing a life has never been easier! Dry cleaners in Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Clinton, Farragut, Maryville, Sevierville, and Morristown are lending a hand by collecting donations during Project Wear and Share, an annual donation drive for Goodwill throughout the month of March. Donations are sold in local Goodwill stores to generate funds for Goodwill's job training programs and employment services. In 2015, Goodwill served over 4,100 individuals with barriers to employment in East Tennessee. Find a list of participating dry cleaners at http://www.gwiktn.org/projectwearandshare. There, you can also learn about Goodwill's vocational training programs, which are supported through donations from community members year-round.

Information: Goodwill Industries: 865-588-8567, www.gwiktn.org

Recent works by painter Lynda Best and pipe maker Ron Smith will be on display March 1, 2016 through March 27 at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists will begin at 5:30 p.m., March 4; with complimentary refreshments and music performed by Em Chitty Turner and Brian Sward (easy swing jazz, vocal and guitar).

Lynda Best of Tellico Plains has taught in public schools and has also been instrumental in starting many art organizations in the places she has lived including Monroe County. Her works are displayed and sold nationally. She specializes in original impressionistic, contemporary paintings of nature.

Ron Smith's introduction to the burl of the white heath tree, aka briar, began at the Iwan Ries shop, just around the corner from Chicago's Art Institute. Last year he attended the International Pipe Makers Seminar at Chicago. He is inspired by the Danish school of pipe making; modern, natural and organic in forms which highlight the grain and the outer plateau of the briar.

The Art Market Gallery is a unique gallery because it is owned and operated by more than 60 of the best professional artists in our regional area. It is located at 422 South Gay St. and is conveniently located just 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. Parking is in the abutting garage and on the street and 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.

Peace is Patriotic by Mark Joseph Runge

“Peace is Patriotic: A Soldier’s (mis)Remembrances” is a collection of drawings and sculptures by Mark Runge, who expresses his memories, or mis-remembrances, through his artwork. This body of work that encompasses pieces from the last 8 years is an ongoing exploration and will be on exhibit in the Denso Gallery March 1 – 25. There will be a spoken-word performance at the Artist Reception on March 25 (6-8 PM) at 7pm.

Runge’s art training wound its way through community college, the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and the University of South Florida’s MFA program. Runge currently makes art in Maryville, TN, where he continues to experiment with a variety of media to express his ideas, including making hollow body, stringed instruments.

Artist Statement: About the same time every year–I begin to have nightmares. By the time Val wakes me up, I am aware that I have been dreaming, but I can’t do anything to stop myself. Val saves me. The echo of my screams remain in my head, and I must live the day after my nightmares with the memory, or maybe residue, of the desert life that haunts my senses still. Yet memories of childhood wargames commingle with memories of adulthood wartime. Like the nightmares, memories and realities fade slowly, if at all. I cannot always verbalize this struggle, but it shows up in my work. Toys stand in for those who live in my memories–myself included. The burning of images on paper is my attempt to share with the viewer my recollection of burned flesh, and there is nothing like the smell of burning flesh. The smell enters your nose, but it lives on in your mouth as a gritty and acrid taste. I brushed my teeth a lot while I served in the Iraq. I was there for only six months and one day, but I still feel as if I was there for a lifetime. I lived and died there, but not like the burning bodies. They would never go home, or, maybe they already were home, where they became the residue of my war in the desert.

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

Hosted by Gage Talent, Knoxville Fashion Week celebrates local Knoxville designers and artists! Details TBA.

www.GageTalent.com

This exhibit includes photography on a myriad of topics by second-year photography students.

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

OPENING RECEPTION - Monday, February 29, 2016 at the Ewing Gallery, 6-8PM Awards at 7PM

Begun in 1947 by C. Kermit Ewing, founder of The University of Tennessee School of Art, the annual student exhibition has become one of the oldest competitions in the country and one of the highlights of the Ewing Gallery's exhibition season. This competition has been an outlet for UT's talented students for 69 years, wherein countless works of art of every form and medium have been displayed and applauded by The University and Knoxville community. The selection of a student art exhibition is a challenging but meaningful task, and we are grateful for this year's jurors: Pete Schulte and Amy Pleasant (Fine Arts), Bob Newman (Graphic Design), and Nathan Rees (Academic Papers). Please join us for this exciting reception and to see what the UT students have been hard at work creating.

Gallery hours: Mon-Wed & Fri 10-5, Thurs 10-7:30, Sun 1-4.

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu