Calendar of Events

Arthur Miller’s classic “The Crucible” will play in the Clarence Brown Theatre’s Carousel Theatre September 28 – October 16, 2016. A Pay What You Wish Preview performance will be held Wednesday, September 28. The second Preview will take place on Thursday, September 29 and Opening Night will take place on Friday September 30. The Talk Back with the cast will take place Sunday, September 9 following the matinee and the Open Captioned performance is Sunday, September 16 at 2:00 pm. A panel discussion about the impact of the play upon political discussions during its time and today will take place after the Sunday, September 16 matinee.

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, “The Crucible” is an ageless tale of fear, greed and power written by one of the greatest American playwrights of all time. When teenage girls are discovered trying to conjure spirits, the 17th century town of Salem explodes with accusations of witchcraft. The vicious trials that follow expose a community paralyzed by terror, religious extremism and greed, and a marriage forever changed.

Miller composed “The Crucible” as a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials, with the witch trials standing in for the anti-Communist “witch-hunts” of the 1950s during the McCarthy era. As with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess and identify other Communist sympathizers in order to escape punishment. Many of those accused of Communism suffered loss of employment and/or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment.

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

New and recent work in a variety of media by the three talented co-founders of Striped Light, a Knoxville-based letterpress, graphic design and music recording studio, Bryan Baker, Sarah Shebaro and Jason Boardman. The show will run September 27 through October 21.

Opening reception with the artists on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, 3:00-5:00PM.
Regular gallery hours are Monday Through Friday, 8:00AM-4:00PM.
The Art Department phone number is 865 471 4985.

Warren Art Building, corner of Branner Ave. and S. College Street,
Jefferson City, TN 37760

Stamping out art: Community invited to meet Maryville College artist Dr. Carl Gombert

The excitement is building at the Gallery at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church for the opening reception for artist Dr. Carl Gombert. The community is invited to meet the artist this Sunday, September 25 at 12:15 pm. Dr. Gombert’s gallery talk will follow the reception. ORUUC is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge. There is no cost to attend.

Dr. Gombert, who is also a professor of Art at Maryville College, is being commissioned to do a large kaleidoscope mural on a wall of the church Social Hall. His exhibit consists of rubber stamped decorative pieces that have been Gombert’s focus for the last several years. Visually alluring, his creations consist of applying small rubber stamp images that become the building blocks of his work. These varied images are combined into ever widening shapes. The results, in both black and white and color prints, are not always what they seem. “They’re a lot more improvisational than they look. They look like they’re incredibly planned out – all I can really tell you is that they start with an image in the middle that’s vaguely round and then will get bigger and bigger. I just try to make decisions that don’t reckon,” said Dr. Gombert.

Gombert will display his work at the Gallery at ORUUC through October. Hours are Monday – Thursday, 9 am to 3 pm. and Sunday 9:30 am to 1 pm. For more information call ORUUC at (865) 483-6761. To learn more about the artist go on line to http://www.carlgombert.com/.

In honor of Knoxville’s 225th anniversary, this exhibition explores the city’s heritage as seen through archaeological discoveries in the “Heart of the Valley.” Using historic artifacts unearthed in and around Knoxville, along with historical images, maps, documents, and oral histories, the exhibition tells the story of Knoxville’s development from a frontier settlement to an industrialized city.

Opening reception for members on Fri Sep 16, 5-7 PM.

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

Held in the Frieson Black and Cultural Center with an opening reception on Tuesday, October 4, 5-8 PM.

Curated by Argentinean artist Dina R. Ruta. The purpose of the exhibition is the integration of our Latin culture through the arts. The main objective is to show new Latino college students that our community has a space within the University for them and to show the possibility for cultures to coexist. Two local American artists will also display work.

Information: 865-974-6861, www.multicultural.utk.edu

10th Annual Exhibit and contest of HoLa Hora Latina artist members, celebrating Hispanic Heritage month! Artists include: Angel Blanco, Rafael Casco, Antuco Chicaiza, Maria de la Orden, Daniela Esrequis, Susana Esrequis, Delia Flores, Astrid Galindo, Michael Giles, Miguel Aguilar Gonzalez, Cecilia Stella Martin, Nicole Perez-Camoirano, Hector Saldivar, Graciela Barlesi-Snyder, and Ivan Soto. Information: 865-335-3358, www.holahoralatina.org

On display at the Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Join us Tuesdays at Two at the Heritage Center for fun and informative programs on history, nature, and more! Upcoming performances:

Tuesday September 27 - "Elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park" presented by Brad Miller, TWRA
Tuesday October 4 - TBA
Tuesday October 11 - "Walker Sisters Quilts" Presented by Merikay Waldvogel
Tuesday October 18 - "Living History of Alvin C York and WWI", presented by Tennessee State Parks
Tuesday October 25 - "Storytelling of Appalachia" Presented by Charles Maynard
Tuesday November 1 - "A Tribute to our Nation's Veterans", presented by Lt. General Tiebout

Held in the GSMHC Outdoor Amphitheater. FREE for GSMHC Members or with paid admission. Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Opening reception on Fri Sep 9, 6:30-8:00 PM. Free and open to the public.

Foothills Craft Guild members are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year! Especially exciting is the fact that not just the younger and newer members but also many of the Guild's original founding members will be bringing in work for the displays. Most of the Foothills Exhibit's display pieces will be for sale which is excellent news for those who admire handmade one-of-a-kind works of art. Also on display will be some of the works from the Foothills Craft Guild's permanent collection! The Guild was founded in the 1966 in Oak Ridge and boasts some of the state of Tennessee's finest artisans as its members. The variety and quality in the exhibit will astound and delight everyone who views it. On display will be fiber arts including weaving, spinning, needle felting, knitting, and macrame. One can also expect to see handcrafted jewelry in metal, gemstones, and glass; pottery of every style and method imaginable, handmade books, print making, photography, basketry, wood, stone, and metal sculptures, quilting, brooms, cornshuck dolls, and mosaics.

Exhibit viewing hours: Tu, Th 9-5; W, F 10-5; Sat 9-1. Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, http://www.fountaincityartcenter.com/

The Town of Farragut Arts Council presents Janice Valentine as the featured artist for September and October. Located at the Farragut Town Hall, the exhibit features Valentine's framed italic hand calligraphy work.

Valentine has been the owner of the Olde Concord Gallery in historic Concord, Tenn., since 1999. The gallery building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Holding an Associate Degree in Advertising Arts/Graphic Arts from Chattanooga State Community College, Valentine has been a custom picture framer and calligraphy artist since 1984.

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 218-3372 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.

Please join us for our new exhibition! Opening reception Fri Sep 2, 5-7 PM in the main lobby of the consulate office, which hosts modern art from both established and emerging Polish artists. Please RSVP: drpienkowski@gmail.com or 865-584-4112

Marcin Kowalik’s paintings are dominated by abstract forms and empty spaces while featuring vibrant colors, illusions and a precision of lines and geometric structures. His work is nonanthropocentric – human figures rarely appear, and when they do, they are faceless, devoid of identity. Kowalik’s perception of reality dictates his work. His gaze is the architect’s – registering solids, enriching them with vibranace and a dose of artful spontaneity which gives rise to his novel, uncanny universe. For Kowalik, Picasso is a master of augmented reality. Kowalik is primarily interested in the Cubist period in the work of the Spanish artist, in the composition of spatial forms and their fragmentation. One of Picasso’s most fascinating aspects is his extraordinary inventiveness. Paintings, which appear shattered into prismatic fragments and recomposed without conformity to their initial arrangement, can be ‘read’ from the foreground, followed along the path delineated by the painter and, suddenly, apprehended not from the front, but sidewise.

In 1944, Pablo Picasso joined the Communist Party. It seems to have provided him with a model of victory and strength which he begins to identify with the Communists. His joining the Party has obvious roots in his painting, which he considered to be more than a mere source of pleasure. Line and color were his arms, which he wielded in his revolutionary fight. He confided in Communism, enchanted with the specious beauty of its motivating ideals, but was even more partial to the company he could find in its circles. The stage in the life of the celebrated cubist sparked Marcin Kowalik’s new cycle. The cycle on a (wo)man at work. Each of the thirty canvases represents a person with their occupational attribute. The different quality of the paintings in “A Tale of the Working (Wo)Man” cycle arises from the overload of minimalism, the pinnacle of which was reached by Kowalik in his work on “Convergents”, one of his most recent projects.

Here, he has sought chaos – introduced into his art by people, as various and volatile as the nature of painting. Despite his desire to renounce his creative asceticism, Kowalik’s human is still confined by the minimalist formal limits. To demonstrate a human form, it is sufficent to simply sketch an eye, the shape of a head and, immediately, a face outline becomes recognizable. This is the machination of the human mind – symmetrical points are sufficient for our imagination to fill in the missing parts. Apparently, the human has finally moved to the center of the young painter’s field of interest. However, these are mere appearances. Kowalik does not stray far from home and attempts to misplace the human figure, offering its simplest possible representation. He tells the tale of a human, but his tale is extremely complex and multi-faceted. He posed the challenge and has risen to it himself – undertaking the effort of organizing the experiment. He invited over a dozen of amateur painters to cooperation on committing to canvas their image of an occupation, inspired by the output of the author of “The Weeping Woman”. Website: www.kowalik.art.pl

Viewing hours M-F 8-5, Sat 8-11:30 AM. At the Center for Polish Culture | Pienkow Art Gallery, 7417 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. http://www.consulpoland.com/index.php/center-of-polish-culture/

Exhibit of Wood and Felt work by Stan and Elaine Fronczek and Paintings by Kate Aubrey

Westminster Presbyterian Church Shilling Gallery, 6500 Northshore Drive, Knoxville. Hours: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Information: 865-584-3957

The Athens Area Council for the Arts announces Follow Innocence, showing work by regional artist Richard Whitehead, at The Arts Center. The exhibit is available for viewing August 29 – November 4, 2016 at The Arts Center, 320 North White Street, Athens, Tennessee.

Whitehead's work is derived from the premise that nothing is fixed or stable and this state of insecurity is positive, and allows us to follow innocence.

Richard is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he won numerous prizes and scholarships. His work has won awards and has been exhibited throughout the United States; Antwerp, Belgium; and Murcia and Barcelona, Spain. In 1998, he settled in Knoxville, TN. He has exhibited in Clarksville, Oak Ridge, and Knoxville. A retrospective of his art was celebrated at the Fountain City Art Center in Knoxville in 2005. He juried two exhibits at the Fountain City Art Center and Rose Art Center in Morristown. In Knoxville, he has shown in with The Arts & Culture Alliance, A-1 Lab Art Space, Farragut Arts Council, The Art Market, Kaleidoscope, Liz-Beth Gallery, Nomad Gallery, and many more.

The exhibit opening reception is Friday, September 23, 2016 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Whitehead will be on hand to informally discuss his work. The reception includes light refreshments and is free and open to the public. After the reception is opening night of ACT's fall play Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean at 7:30 pm in the Sue E. Trotter Theater. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students.

For questions or more information about this or any AACA program contact The Arts Center by phone at 423-745-8781, visit our website at athensartscouncil.org, or in person at 320 North White Street in Athens.