Calendar of Events

854 N Central St, Knoxville, TN 37917

In town for Memorial Day Weekend and looking for something to do? Want to get a first look at the next BIG thing in Knoxville community development? Well look no further... You are cordially invited to come join us at KnoxTenn for a festival of revelry and libation. That’s right, to commemorate the continuing revival of Downtown Knoxville, The Old City, North Knox, and Happy Holler, and to celebrate and hang out with all you fine people, we’ve decided to throw a much needed Block Party.

Come help us spread the elation and merriment with local live music from Andy Wood, Dixieghost, Big Country’s Empty Bottle, and Kelsey’s Woods! All that carousing make you hungry? GREAT!!! We’ve got food from some of your favorite mobile culinary geniuses such as Chef Deuce's Island Grill, Bull’s BBQ, Dale’s Fried Pies, This is IT Pizza, and Farm-to-Griddle Crepes! Have no fear, there will be PLENTY OF BEER! Now, we’re gonna have to charge you for food and beer, but ENTRY IS FREE! All proceeds will be donated to Dogwood Arts and Cure Duchenne. So put on your party pants, get down to Central St, and join us for one heck of a rockin' time!

Start time: 12:00 PM - End time: 10:00 PM

Bands playing: Andy Wood, Dixieghost, Big Country's Empty Bottle, Kelsey's Woods

https://www.facebook.com/events/1179949688702377/ or text Joe Fox ~ 865-621-9493

TNStars and Zoo Knoxville are offering kids $5.29 admission to the zoo on Sunday, May 29, 2016, to celebrate College Savings Day and raise awareness of the importance of saving early for education. In celebration of 529 College Savings Day, children ages 4-12 will receive discounted zoo admission of $5.29 on Sunday, May 29 and new TNStars college savings 529 accounts opened by June 30, 2016, will receive an extra $50 from TNStars toward future education.

TNStars College Savings 529 Program is Tennessee’s own 529 program, a program that is designed to make college savings easy. The program offers parents and other relatives a low-cost way to save for children’s college expenses with attractive investment options and special tax advantages. May 29th has been nationally recognized as 529 College Savings Day, a way to raise awareness of the importance of saving early for college.

On Sunday, May 29, 2016, TNStars is offering $5.29 children’s admission tickets and extra incentives to save for college. Participants who open a new TNStars account with a minimum $50 contribution will receive an extra $50 toward college savings from TNStars. New TNStars account holders can refer friends and family to earn an extra $50 for each referral who opens a new account with a minimum $50 contribution by June 30, 2016. Current account holders can also earn $50 for each friend they refer who opens a new account with a minimum $50 contribution by June 30. Visit www.tnstars.com/529Day for more information and to open an account and refer friends. TNStars representatives will be at Zoo Knoxville on May 29 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. to answer questions and provide information about the program.

$5.29 admission for children is valid on Sunday, May 29, 2016 only and cannot be combined with any other discount or offer.

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open every day except Christmas. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is thrilled to announce its Summer Poetry Writing
Retreat, which runs from Friday, May 27th to Sunday, May 29th, 2016. The three-day, two-night camping retreat will be held on SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee. This year’s retreat will focus on generative poetry writing and include break-out sessions on publishing, kicking writer's block, and much more!

A weekend pass includes one-on-one and group instruction, writing supplies, food, drinks, transportation to and from the airport, and all on-site amenities for $200. Tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment are available to rent. Payment plans are also available!

The event will be open to writers of all backgrounds and provide an opportunity to work with many talented, published fiction writers from around the country, including Gerry LaFemina and Karyna McGlynn.

Gerry LaFemina is the author of nine collections of poetry and prose poetry, numerous chapbooks, two books of fiction, and Palpable Magic: Essays on Poetry and Prosody. A new collection, The Story of Ash, will be released in 2017. Among his awards and honors are a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the Irving Gilmore Emerging Artist Foundation and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. A distinguished literary arts activist, he directs the Frostburg Center for Literary Arts at Frostburg State
University, where he is an associate professor of English. He also serves as a poetry mentor in the Carlow University low residency MFA Program.

Karyna McGlynn is the author of Hothouse (Sarabande Books 2017), I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl (Sarabande Books 2009), and three chapbooks: Scorpionica (New Michigan Press 2007), Alabama Steve (Sundress Publications 2014), and The 9-Day Queen Gets Lost on Her Way to the Execution, forthcoming from Willow Springs Editions. Her poems have recently appeared in The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Black Warrior Review, AGNI, Ninth Letter, Witness, and The Academy
of American Poet’s Poem-A-Day. Karyna’s honors include the Hopwood Award, the Verlaine Prize, and the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, and recently earned her PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston where she served as poetry editor and managing editor for Gulf Coast. She is currently the Diane Middlebrook Fellow in Poetry at the University of Wisconsin where she serves as the senior poetry editor for Devil’s Lake.

Workshop is Friday, May 27th to Sunday, May 29th.
Space at this workshop is limited to 15 writers, so reserve your place today at:
https://squareup.com/market/sundress-publications.

Sundress Academy for the Arts: 195 Tobby Hollow Ln, Knoxville, TN 37931, (865) 560-6106, safta@sundresspublications.com, http://www.sundresspublications.com/safta

Tiger Lily Theatre is proud to present our annual production of original short pieces, A Night of Shorts. Currently in its 5th year, A Night of Shorts features a series of 10 minute plays, monologues and other performance vignettes to create an evening of unique, original theatre.

Friday, May 27th at 8pm
Saturday, May 27th at 8pm
Sunday, May 29th at 2pm

Adults - $15, Students - $12

At Broadway Academy of Performing Arts and Event Center, 706 N Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Seating is limited. For reservations contact tigerlilytheatre@yahoo.com. Tiger Lily Theatre: www.tigerlilytheatre.org

Darkhorse Entertainment, LLC, invites you to go back to the early Middle Ages (c. 500) and celebrate King Arthur and Camelot at the second annual Tennessee Medieval Faire, situated in Harriman just 30 miles west of Turkey Creek. This rugged outdoor festival opens on May 14 and runs the last three weekends in May, including Memorial Day.

Leading the charge is The Royal Joust performed three times a day by the Hanlon-Lees Action Theatre. There will also be sword fighting at the Warriors’ Chess Matches, performed twice daily. Between arena shows, Unicorn and Warhorse Rides will be offered. Rotating on three stages will be professional, interactive, family-friendly shows. Acts returning this year include Aaron Bonk’s “ridiculously dangerous” Fire * Whip * Sword Show; The Jackdaws, previously named Banish Misfortune; Professor DeWitt’s Punch and Judy Puppet Show; Albi Belly Dance; and Aristotle Simplified, aka Einstein Simplified. New acts this year include Topsy Turvy, an acrobatic duo; Feckless Fear Dearg, a Kentucky Celtic band; Tom Smiter--Bizarre Feats of Rhythm and Melody; and Dendarah Middle Eastern Dance with Raks el Anwar. There will be other musicians, interactive folk dancers, fairy tale shows and medieval games. The Royal Players, who roam the Faire and interact with patrons, include the characters of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and Merlin. Performance schedules will be posted on the festival website by May 11 and will be available at the Faire.

Enjoy nearly 50 medieval village merchants: Artisans will sell their handcrafted wares made of leather, wood, clay, metal, glass, cloth, etc. Hungry patrons can enjoy delicious medieval fare including turkey legs, gyros, hearty soups, scotch eggs, dragon jerky, fresh fruits and desserts. Hot and cold beverages including beer will also be available.

The Tennessee Medieval Faire will be open on May 14-15, 21-22, 28-29-30; rain or shine. Hours are 10-5 EDT. Ticket prices are $16.95 for ages 13 and up, $8.95 for ages 5 to 12, and will be free for ages 4 and under. Parking is free, and tickets will be available for purchase at the gate with cash or credit. Onsite camping for patrons is not included, but public campgrounds and hotels are nearby. The festival is located at 550 Fiske Road, Harriman, TN. For Faire rules, guidelines and more information, please visit www.TMFaire.com or like them on Facebook.

The Tennessee Watercolor Society (TnWS), founded in 1972, has represented the finest artists in the state for 44 years and hosts yearly juried exhibitions and biennial exhibitions. The biennial exhibition showcases 55 watermedia paintings chosen from nearly 200 entries. Juror John T. Salminen is a signature member of numerous art societies such as the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and recipient of more than 220 national and international awards. Prizes for the TnWS Biennial Exhibition total $10,000. A juried collection of 30 paintings from the exhibition will later travel across Tennessee into January 2017 to six locations for public and visual arts outreach, including Memphis, Humboldt, Columbia, Chattanooga, Elizabethton, and Clarksville.

The following artists’ works will be shown:
+ From Region I (Memphis, Clarksville and points far west): Bill Bailey, Angela Broyles, Sandra Carpenter, Ronda K. Coop, Judy Duke, Robert Eoff, Tim Hacker, Larry Hughes, Susan Hyback, Floyd Speck, Mary Spellings, and Tuva Stephens
+ From Region II (Nashville, Franklin, and surrounding areas): Glenna Cook, Abby Eblen, Pam Francis, Vinci Kolodziejski, Frank Lott, Pam Pate, Patricia Patrick, Noriko Register, and John Wilkison
+ From Region III (Chattanooga, Cleveland, Signal Mountain, and surrounding areas): Sandy Boone, Sandy Brown, Phyllis Burkhart-Wilson, Helen Burton, Harriet Chipley, Joan Clark, Leslie Dulin, Marie Spaeder Haas, Jennie Kirkpatrick, Mary Britten Lynch, Effton Mitchell, Denton Ridge, Ann Rutledge, Alan Shuptrine, Sandra Washburn, Lana Wilson, and Patricia Wilson
+ From Region IV (Knoxville, Maryville, Oak Ridge, Tellico Plains, Tellico Village, Rarity Bay): Kate Aubrey, Claudia Balthrop, Lil Clinard, Thomas Eckert, Loretta Lee Edge, Linda Johnson, Judy Lavoie, Kate McCullough, Susan Miller, Brenda Mills, Max Robinson, Laurie Szilvagyi ,Mary Ann Valvoda, and Ulla Veiro
+ From Region V (Johnson City, Tri-Cities, Bristol): Barbara Wilson Carter, Jim Stagner, and Thomas White
For more information on the Tennessee Watercolor Society, visit http://tnws.org/.

A public reception will take place on Friday, June 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. Most of the works are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition.

This exhibition and others are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Sundays, May 15, June 5 & 19, 3:30-6:30 PM; Friday, May 20, 5-7 PM; and Saturday, May 21, 11 AM - 3 PM. Info: 865-523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.

Lew Bolton started performing Jack’s adventures at the Jack Tales Storytelling Theater as trickster-hero Jack, celebrating his 30th season. Adults and youth take part in these interactive tales. Jack Tales are rooted in traditional folk stories from Appalachian settlers. Richard Chase, in a 1943 folk classic, The Jack Tales, published part of our rich cultural heritage. Bolton has also published Smoky Mountain Jack Tales of Winter and Old Christmas for the family to read at home. NEW in 2016, enjoy professional storytelling from the *Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association (info: www.smokymountaintellers.org)

Most events occur on Saturdays and Sundays with occasional performances on Wednesdays and Mondays. See the website for full schedule.

At ABC (Adventure Bound Camping Resort) 4609 US 321, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Supporting Jack Tale Theater since 1987. Info: (865) 436-4434 or www.Smokymountainjacktales.com

Also featuring Selections from the Permanent Collection - featuring International Artists including Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Salvador Dali and many others.
And in the Foyer Gallery - A Summer Thing: Summer Class Instructors

Artists Reception: Friday Evening, May 13, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM with Gallery Talk at 5:30 PM
The event is free and open to the public. Bring your friends and family!

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

FULL STOP is an elaborate, room-sized installation fabricated entirely of cardboard and ink by New York-based painter Tom Burckhardt. It takes the form of a mythical modern artist’s studio, complete with hundreds of lifelike tools, paint brushes, and other supplies, each painstakingly constructed of cardboard, the details rendered in ink with great attention to the smallest details. Organized by the Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio. Presenting sponsor for FULL STOP: Tom Burckhardt is McCarty, Holsaple, McCarty Architects and Interior Designers.

The public is invited to an exhibition preview reception on Thursday, May 5, 5:30-7:30pm, preceded by a gallery talk by Full Stop artist Tom Burckhardt at 4:30pm. Free and open to the public.

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

Contemporary Focus 2016 is part of a series of exhibitions organized by the KMA that spotlights significant but under-recognized artists living and working in East Tennessee. John Douglas Powers, assistant professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville School of Art, is this year’s featured artist. His larger-than-life motorized machine-like sculptures and video projections combine cinema, engineering, computation, music, and physical space, drawing from areas as diverse as natural history, architecture, and the history of technology.

The public is invited to an exhibition preview reception on Thursday, May 5, 5:30-7:30pm. Contemporary Focus 2016 artist John Douglas Powers will give a talk at the museum on Wednesday, June 15, 5:30-7pm. These events are free and open to the public.

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

Rhenda Clevenger’s art is currently on Exhibit at Newport Printing & Office Supplies during the months of May & June. Address: 315 E Broadway St, Newport, TN 37821

A casual Artist reception will be held on June 22nd, 2016 from Noon-3PM. Come an experience beautiful art that will make your heart sing. Everyone is cordially invited to meet and greet with Miss Clevenger at this event which is Free & Open to the public. Stop by and ask questions or let her know how much you enjoy her creations.

Learn more about Rhenda Clevenger by visiting her online member Portfolio here: http://www.dnatn.com/rhenda-clevenger-meet-artist

Reception: May 6th from 3-5pm at the Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture

Initiated by the Ewing's Director Sam Yates 26 years ago, this exhibition recognizes outstanding students graduating from The University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Art, College of Arts and Sciences; a Bachelor of Architecture or Bachelor of Science, Interior Design, a Master of Architecture, and a Master of Landscape Design from the College of Architecture and Design.

Selected by a School of Art Faculty Scholarship committee, seven art students from various art disciplines were chosen from the qualifying applicants for this year's exhibition. These students are Youn Lee, Brandon McBath, Ashley Layendecker, Mark Bender, Anna Weible, Santiago Ortiz-Piazuelo, Alex Rudd, and Alex Raykowitz.

The College of Architecture and Design participants were selected by the faculty-at-large, and by outside review teams. These exhibitors are to be announced.

Hours through May 15, 10am - 5pm M-F and Sundays 1-4pm.
Hours May 16 - June 5, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 12-5pm.

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