Calendar of Events

A witty and fast-paced farce packed with memorable characters! In this hilarious restoration comedy, a young woman, her handsome lover, and their friends plot to escape a controlling guardian. Will a nosey nobleman ruin the plan or save the day? The play was written by Susanna Centlivre in 1709, with adaptations by UT Faculty Misty Anderson and John Sipes.

According to Restoration scholar Anderson, Centlivre’s comedy was the most popular play written by a woman in the eighteenth century and among the 10 most popular plays of the entire period. Audiences in Charleston, Williamsburg, Baltimore, New York, and other colonial theatre towns in the early days of America flocked to it. It even played in Havana and Kingston, Jamaica! The play’s pace calls for the kind of physical comedy one might have seen on “The Carol Burnett Show.” “The Busy Body” gives us a window into the world of marriage at a time when women’s roles were just beginning to change, and playwrights like Centlivre were beginning to see women as equals to men. Manners and codes of conduct required curtsies, bows, and polite forms of address, but marriage contracts were also big business. The two heroines struggle against arrangements that would turn them into mere goods traded between men using secret identities, tricks, messages in code, and helpful waiting maids. The results are hilarious and surprisingly modern; the young women are frank, spunky, and unstoppable, and their lovers seem to love them all the more for it.

A Pay What You Wish Preview performance, where patrons can name their own price, will be held Wednesday, February 22 from Noon to 7 pm at the theatre. A Talk Back with the actors will take place Sunday, March 5 following the matinee. A panel discussion in association with the Commission for Women will take place on March 9 at 3:30 pm in the Carousel Theatre. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 pm.

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

The Town of Farragut and Farragut Arts Council will sponsor the 2017 Farragut Middle School Juried Art Show at the Farragut Town Hall. Don't miss this opportunity to marvel at the work of some of Farragut's most talented young artists. Awards will be given for best in show and first, second and third places during a reception on Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 5 - 6 PM.

Monday, Feb. 20 - Thursday, March 2 - During regular Town Hall hours: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Reception: Tuesday, Feb. 28 - 5 - 6 p.m.

Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive (across from the Farragut Branch Post Office). The art show and reception are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Lauren Cox at lcox@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057.

Opening reception Feb. 17 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

David Butler was trained as an art historian, but he managed to take a few studio classes along the way. His job entails looking at lots of work by other artists, which he says is a great way to learn but can be intimidating. Because his time to make art is extremely limited, he uses mostly pastel, charcoal, and watercolor because they allow him to work quickly. He is inspired by the landscape of East Tennessee and hopes these works convey how much he loves this part of the world. Butler joined the Knoxville Museum of Art as executive director in 2006 after serving as the director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University; the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana; and the Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in art history from Florida State University, and his Ph.D. in art history with concentration on seventeenth-century Italian art and architecture from Washington University in St. Louis.

Diane Hamilton finds nature a great inspiration. She says that many times her kids would say "Mom! Get back in the car! We are going to be late for school and you already have a million pictures of the sunrise!" She believes that you can never have too many pictures of something beautiful. She was born in Melbourne, Florida and grew up playing outside as much as possible. A good day would consist of throwing oranges and grapefruits at her siblings, eating lunch under the moss-draped trees, and drawing in the sand. She still likes to draw and paint with pastels, but unfortunately she no longer gets to launch any citrus at relatives.

Alejandro Rodriguez: The Facets of My HeART
Rodriguez uses oils, water color, tissues, alcohol ink, and most recently, pen and ink. His mood dictates where he wants his art to go. The deep religious undertones in his paintings reflect universality within diversity. Sometimes the works are tight, graphic and literal, harkening back to his graphic and architectural training. Others are looser and semi-abstract, when he wants the message to be clear with an impressionistic view. Born on the shores of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, seemingly with a crayon in his hand, it was a winding road that took Alex from Puerto Rico to New York City and then to the banks of the Little River in idyllic Blount County. He graduated from The School of Art and Design in Manhattan, receiving many awards in his four years there. Those were years of intense study with multiple media and techniques. He worked as a graphic designer, carpenter and home renovator. When he relocated to the red clay of Blount County, with cows and horses as neighbors, the art fever returned and Rodriguez began photographing and painting beautiful East Tennessee. As a member of the Knoxville Museum of Art and its guild, Rodriguez participated in the Artist On Location event and contributes works to auctions for the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, the Hope Center, and Knoxville Jewish Day School among others. He had a successful one-man show in the Paris Apartment in Sweetwater, Tenn.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: M-Th 10-5, Su 10-1. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

By Bruce Norris, Directed by Ed White

Irreverently climbing through the looking-glass of Lorraine Hansberry's classic A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Act One takes us inside the house at 406 Clybourne street in 1959, as the anxious white neighborhood is roiled by the sale of the home to a black family. Act Two opens in the same house in 2009, as the now black neighborhood struggles to deal with the next wave of change: a white family seeking to raze the house and build a new one. This excruciatingly funny play digs deep to unearth shared demons, and the uncomfortable fault lines between race, community, and so much more.

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

Back to Work – a solo exhibition by sculpture artist Jackson Martin opens with a reception on Friday, February 17, 2017, 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The public is invited. Bring your friends and family and enjoy an evening of art and fellowship.

Back to Work showcases an array of mixed-media sculptures combining wood, steel, fiber and found materials. “My sculptures arise from a need to rescue these abandoned items from obscurity and reconstruct their components into new, engaging combinations,” says Martin. Martin manipulates utilitarian objects and tools to create new meaning, function or lack of function.

Jackson Martin is an artist and educator living in Asheville, North Carolina. Martin is currently an assistant professor of art at the University of North Carolina and recently received the 2017 Visual Artist Fellowship Grant from North Carolina Arts Council. Martin received his MFA at Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art and his BFA at Middle Tennessee State University. He has exhibited his work at Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus, Denmark, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Pratt Institute Sculpture Park in Brooklyn, New York. Martin has completed residencies at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, Godsbanen Cultural Center in Aarhus, Denmark and Baggat Art Organization in South Korea.

In the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public. 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

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/

See artwork by Beth Meadows of With Bear Hands and featured artist Sarah McFalls opening Friday, February 3, 5-7 PM in the With Bear Hands Gallery at Magpies. Refreshments provided! All artwork will be for sale.

846 N. Central Street, Knoxville. 865-673-0471, www.magpiescakes.com

Join us for a First Friday Event on Friday, February 3rd from 5:00-8:00 p.m. with an exhibit and sale by River Rock Studios. Our featured artists are Karen Briggs and Jeff Lane of River Rock Studios. Come and see the beautiful fiber works of Karen and the unique wood turned & ceramic art collaborations by Karen and Jeff. Hope to see you!

Woodworker ~ Jeff Lane
Fiber and Pottery ~ Karen Briggs

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

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces a new contemporary exhibition, Outside In, by Jered Sprecher. Sprecher lives in Knoxville and is a professor with the University of Tennessee’s School of Art. He enjoys a growing national reputation as one of the leading representative of a generation of contemporary painters dedicated to the exploration and revitalization of abstraction. He describes himself as a “hunter and gatherer,” pulling his imagery from such disparate sources as wallpaper, graffiti, architecture, cut gemstones, and x-rays.

Preview reception: January 26, 5:30-7:30 PM

Outside In reflects the dynamic range of Sprecher’s recent practice in terms of format, scale, imagery, and process. It also includes several new works configured in a provocatively informal manner designed to reference a space that is central to human domestic life since the dawn of time: the living room. The Study (2013), for instance, depicts an abstracted frontal view of a fireplace entrance defined in broad horizontal strokes in an icy palette that presents the original image in a strange new light. The painting reflects the artist’s examination of parallels between ancient domestic traditions in which the fireplace was a mesmerizing light environment that in contemporary life has been replaced by the ubiquitous digital screen.

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 Farragut Museum has unveiled its next special exhibit, "Fashionably Late." This exhibit features a variety of clothing and accessories that are in the Farragut Museum Collection and two items on loan from Farragut Museum committee members. All of these items are indicative of fashions that would have been worn in this area.

One of the highlights of the exhibit is an original John Pico John (Mr. John) hat on loan from Museum committee member Carolyn Sinclair. John's clients included female fashion icons like the Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lauren Bacall and Joan Crawford. Vivien Leigh wore one of his creations in "Gone With the Wind," as did Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

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 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 about the museum or the exhibit, please visit www.townoffarragut.org/museum.