Calendar of Events

Back by popular demand, vocalist-extraordinaire Carmen Bradford returns to Knoxville to celebrate 100 years of Ella Fitzgerald! With a recently acquired library of arrangements done specifically for Ella at their disposal, Carmen and the KJO will take you on a guided tour of some of the 20th century’s most beloved and enduring music. Sure to be the perfect Valentine's treat for your special someone.

At the Bijou Theatre, 803 S Gay St, Knoxville, TN, 37902. Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

Two Christian-leaning alternative rock powerhouses have combined for a co-headlining bill where Switchfoot plays the best of their 20-year old discography (including cuts from a new album, Where the Light Shines Through, released this year) while Matt Theissen leads Canton, Ohio pop-punk icons Relient K through a storied 11-piece discography of their own. It's going to be a night to remember! Join us!

The Mill & Mine, 227 W. Depot Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Tickets/information: http://themillandmine.com/

February 14, 2017 at 6:30 pm, Knox Makers will offer a free chocolate making workshop. Discover the basics of chocolate making, from working with chocolate to making simple yet gorgeous ganache and dipped candies. We will even go over how to temper chocolate so you can work with it to fill molds and create artistic delights. This introduction class is a perfect starter for any budding chocolatier or cake maker that wants to understand more about how chocolate works. This class is also perfect for anyone who just really likes chocolate.

Like all other Tuesday nights, this event is free and open to the public. Our night will begin with a Show and Share where attendees are encouraged to bring out the projects they have been working on. This is a great time to request feedback for the future direction of your project, or you can just bring out something you want to show off. We hope to see you there!

Our workshop is located at 116 Childress St SW, Knoxville, TN 37920.
parking is around back in the fenced-in area.

Knox Makers is a place for the Knoxville area’s engineers, artists, hobbyists, innovators, educators and entrepreneurs to work and play. We are a non-profit educational organization supported by member dues and staffed by volunteers. For more information please see knoxmakers.org/events/.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it is time to book a romantic cruise for yourself and that special someone, and nothing says “I love you” like an unforgettable cruise aboard a luxury yacht. Intimacy and romance await you on the Volunteer Princess. Do not pass up the opportunity to make this Valentine’s Day as special as your significant other. Forget about the stress that can come with making restaurant reservations; instead, book entertainment and dinner all at once.

With Valentine’s Day falling on Tuesday this year, we have a variety of cruise options. On Saturday, February 11, we'll host three luxurious cruises! The love boat will sail from 2:30 -5:00 PM and again from 6:30 –9:00 PM with the Valentine’s Day Starlight Dinner Cruise.

Did you make dinner reservations somewhere else already?No need to worry, the Volunteer Princess will be out late for you! Instead of cancelling those reservations, make your nightcap one laced with luxury, and join us for our Sweets & Bites Cruise from 10:30-11:30 PM. Upon stepping aboard the yacht, you will be greeted by our Captain and his Crew, and directed to a private table clothed in crisp white linen and finished with a beautiful floral centerpiece. Each couple will receive a rose as a souvenir of this magical night to remember. After settling in to your private table, you can order a drink from our fully stocked bar or visit the Captain in the Pilot House. The Volunteer Princess is the only way to experience the breathtaking views on the Tennessee River; the yacht is unprecedented in its 100-foot splendor.

Each ticket price includes a delectable dinner or scrumptious snacks, depending on your cruise selection. We also offer additional packages including chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, or a bouquet of roses. Information: (865) 541-4556 or www.volunteerprincess.com.

Paintings by a father and son hiding during the Holocaust

In 1944, after being in hiding for two years, Eva Schloss’s entire family was betrayed and put on a train to Auschwitz. It was on this train that Eva’s brother Heinz told her he had hidden paintings that he and their father created while in hiding. After Eva and her mother survived the horrors of Auschwitz, they found the paintings under the attic floor with a note that read: “Property of Eric and Hein Geiringer from Amsterdam, who are in hiding and will collect the items after the war.”

We are thrilled to present an exhibition of prints and original paintings by Heinz and Erich on loan from The Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam.

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

The Beck Genealogical Society is partnering with Pellissippi State Community College Magnolia Campus to host special workshops. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

At the PELLISSIPPI STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE MAGNOLIA CAMPUS, 1610 East Magnolia Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917

Each Tuesday and Friday in February from 10AM - 1PM:

Tuesday, February 7
Friday, February 10
Tuesday, February 14
Friday, February 17 and
Tuesday February 21

Beck Cultural Exchange Center: 1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-6. Information: 865-524-8461, www.beckcenter.net

Pellissippi State Community College alumni will be the featured artists in an upcoming exhibit in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery. "Through the Open Door: The Alumni Arts Exhibition" will feature Sharon Bachleda, Will Evers, Pete Hoffecker, Brandon McBath, Jamie Schneider and Patty Tinsley and their works of ceramic, metalwork, video, painting, printmaking, drawing and mixed media.

The exhibit's opening reception, from 3-5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, will offer an opportunity to meet some of the artists.

The featured Pellissippi State alumni have gone on to study at four-year institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago; Watkins College of Art, Design and Film; Indiana University; University of Memphis and University of Tennessee.

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

Each February, the From Africa to Appalachia Foundation for Education and the Arts (FATA) and Rose Center join together to celebrate Black History Month. For this 29th annual celebration, curator Bob Spirko has developed the exhibit “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” to be featured in the Edith Davis Gallery at Rose Center in Morristown. The exhibit is a tribute to the photography and life of Gregory Manuel Kyle, Jr. (1954-2015) and will feature over two dozen of his photographs and other works. An opening reception and celebration will be held on Sunday, February 5, beginning with the exhibit opening at 2:00 PM and continuing with a program beginning at 3:00 PM. The program will include inspirational music, remarks from FATA Co-President Beverly Lee, and guest speakers including Citizen Tribune publisher Mike Fishman; J.B. Pectol, vice president of communications and marketing at Walters State Community College; and Rev. H Roger Mills, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church of Whitesburg The music will be provided by Yolanda Treece, Rock of Ages Baptist Church, and Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Serving as a photographer for the Citizen Tribune and Walters State Community College, Kyle was known throughout the area as he documented news stories, sporting events, celebrations, milestones, campus life, and much more. He was a familiar face to many residents of the Lakeway Region who knew him as a friendly, professional, and talented photographer.

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

Free admission. Each reading will include a discussion session afterwards with the cast, director and audience and, when possible, the playwright. Readings:

+ Dracula: Down for the Count by Mary Lynn Dobson - A comic retelling of the Dracula story. Think, “Young Frankenstein” meets Count Dracula.
+ Okra by Bill Raulerson - A comic caper set in backwoods Louisiana with a little magic, a few ghosts, and a very inept police force.
+ The Senator’s Wife by C. Robert Jones - When politics and family collide, they can both end up a little worse for wear.
+ When Blackbirds Sing by Gayle Greene - A lifetime prison sentence on a questionable conviction leaves a woman who was more a victim in her own to right to desperately seek a connection with a daughter she never knew.

Upcoming dates:
February 23: 6:00 pm Okra, Farragut

February 25: noon Okra, Lawson McGee
2:30 Dracula, Lawson McGee

February 26: 1:15 Senator’s Wife, Lawson McGee
3:00 Blackbirds Sing, Lawson McGee

Tennessee Stage Company: 865-546-4280, www.tennesseestage.com

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces an exciting new exhibition, Virtual Views: Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation. This electronic media exhibition is presented in conjunction with the 2017 Big Ears music festival. Drawn from the extensive Chicago-based collection of Carl and Marilynn Thoma, Virtual Views explores the growing importance of electronic new media in contemporary art as seen in the work of artists who are pioneers in the use of LEDs (light-emitting diodes), LCD (liquid crystal display), and computer-driven imagery. The exhibition features nine electronic works comprised of synthetic materials and powered by digital technology, yet the rhythms and patterns of its imagery are derived from nature. The featured artists include Jim Campbell, Craig Dorety, John Gerrard, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Alan Rath, Daniel Rozin, Björn Schülke, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Leo Villareal.

Virtual Views is organized by the KMA and presented in conjunction with the 2017 Big Ears Festival March 23-26.

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

From domesticated cats to mythic symbols of divinities, felines played an important role in ancient Egyptian imagery for thousands of years. Now, 80 items from the Egyptian holdings of the Brooklyn Museum will be on view in "Divine Felines". Likely first domesticated in ancient Egypt, cats were revered for their fertility and valued for their ability to protect homes and granaries from vermin. But felines were also associated with royalty and deities. Combining a lion's body and a king's head, sphinxes guarded temple entrances and provided protection as temple objects. The ferocious goddess Sakhmet, depicted as a lioness or lion-headed woman, and the goddess Bastet, represented as a cat or a cat-headed woman, together symbolized the duality of feline nature — caring yet dangerous. The male leonine gods Bes and Tutu were popularly worshiped as protectors of fertility, health and fortune.

Exhibition programming, all free and open to the public, also will include:
• A lecture on mummification in ancient Egypt by scholar Bob Brier, co-sponsored by the East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21.
• Two free family fun days—"Purrs from the Past," 1–4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, and "To Kitties' Health," 1¬–4 p.m. Saturday, March 25.
• A stroller tour for caregivers and infants through four-year-olds, "Kitties and Toddlers," at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 27.
• A lecture on cat behavior by Julie Albright from UT's School of Veterinary Medicine at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 19.

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

Tori Mason Shoes is pleased to present original music and new art from local artist, Robert Thompson, for February and March First Fridays! This is the first time Tori Mason Shoes will feature an artist who is displaying new works while serenading first Friday attendees with original compositions, ragtime and Bach.

Tori Mason Shoes, located at 29 Market Square, will host an opening reception on Friday, February 3, 6-9 PM and again on Friday, March 3, 6-9 PM. Complimentary treats from Wild Love Bakehouse will be provided and Robert's art will be featured for the months of February-March. Half of all proceeds from sale of his art will be donated to the Love Kitchen.

Robert Thompson was born and grew up in Kansas City; however, he has called Knoxville home since 1981. Thompson worked as a lawyer for nearly 30 years but now has the time to try other things. Active in A1 LabArts, South Doyle Neighborhood Association, and Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals. Artist's Website: http://t3andp.wixsite.com/artist-painter

Tori Mason Shoes, 29 Market Square, Knoxville. https://www.torimasonshoes.com/