Calendar of Events

Rala is proud to present Ashley Addair as our May featured artist.
Ashley is a visual artist, mama of three adorable little boys, and collector of chairs. She is a modern dancer and holds track and field records in the state of Illinois. She tells one joke every year at Christmas. If she weren't a painter, she would be a scientist. Her chief interest is in color and its use as a metaphor for being. Addair is an active member of the arts community in Knoxville and her paintings are collected internationally.

RALA, 112 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-525-7888, https://shoprala.com/

Ryan Blair is an artist and art educator teaching since 2001. Blair was raised in Indiana and graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Art Education and an emphasis in painting. When not in the studio, he teaches art full time to 650 local elementary students and has twice received Teacher of the Year honors. Blair’s current work consist of paintings and mixed media pieces based on his observations and experiences of living in the south. Some of his imagery is reoccurring and often an explosion of color and funk. Blair lives in South Knoxville with his wife, two sons, and daughter.

29 Market Square, Knoxville. (865) 673-6711 or https://www.torimasonshoes.com/

Robert’s work challenges you and requires you to use your brain somewhat like yoga. When you practice yoga your whole mind, body, and spirit is engaged. In each posture you are going deep within yourself. You pay attention to how your body feels within in the pose, you find a new degree of awareness, and your spirit changes post practice. His artwork is similar. He creates work that he calls “neuro yoga”.

131 S. Central Street, Knoxville. (865) 249-8677 or http://www.pretentiousglass.com/

Broadway Studios and Gallery will host a photography exhibit for the month of May. The exhibit will be held from May 5th till May 27th.

Candee Barbee is a photographer who has been traveling the world since 2007. Her visits to Germany, Norway, South Africa, Israel, and England can be seen in her work.

Synthia Clark is a photographer who describes her work by photographing obscure, usually unnoticed details because she said it enhances her perspective.

The opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday May 5th (First Friday) from 5:00-9:00PM.
Parking is on site.
Regular exhibit hours are 11:00AM-7:00PM Thursday-Saturday.

Broadway Studios and Gallery is located at 1127 N Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917. Landmarks include across the street from KBrew and the 4th and Gill Neighborhood situated next to Vinyard Flooring and Knoxville Art and Fine Craft Center in Wright's Place.

Broadway Studios and Gallery (BSG) is home to 10 artists working in separate studios under one roof. BSG holds classes, has a retail shop, and hosts a free exhibit to the public every month.

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Thurs-Sat, 11-7. Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com

A public reception will take place on Friday, May 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. The First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) in the Black Box at 6:00 PM and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta – electric guitar; Keith Brown – drums; Jon Hamar – double bass; and Jorge Variego – composition, electronics and clarinets) at 8:00 PM.

Very few artists have been successful without the contributions of family, community and teachers. “6 to 96: The Stevens Family” is a group show consisting of artists from an extended family with ages ranging from six years old to 96 years old. Like the distance between six and 96, there is a spectrum of styles, perspectives, and experiences displayed. There is an inherent poetry created by the family unit. It is where one first learns to love, function, forgive and inspire. “6 to 96” is a show about the grace and beauty that emerges when immersed in a supportive creative environment.

Exhibiting artists include: Nate Butkus (drawing and mixed media); Ray Butkus (ceramist and jeweler); Virginia Butkus Gould (painter); Jonathan Grant (painter); Kathryn Lindsay Grant (painter); Allison Rae Nichols (painter); Carl Stevens (functional design); Carol Grant Stevens (painter); Charles Stevens (sculpture and jewelry); Connor Stevens (drawing); Mark Stevens (photography); Terry Stevens (painting); and William Stevens (painter and sculptor, deceased).

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

A public reception will take place on Friday, May 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. The First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) in the Black Box at 6:00 PM and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta – electric guitar; Keith Brown – drums; Jon Hamar – double bass; and Jorge Variego – composition, electronics and clarinets) at 8:00 PM.

In this retrospective of Luis Velázquez, curated by Dina Ruta, the public will have the premiere opportunity to contemplate his artistic trajectory. Velázquez was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in 1937 and worked as a civil engineer, a community activist, and an artist who liked to paint landscapes and portraits. He used primarily oil, and all through his work, one can see his interest in landscapes. Every piece of art is a mirror that reveals his acute vision and is testimony to his perceptions, dreams and memories.

Reality, for Velázquez, was a single element and is reflected in his paintings. His technique was a calculated elaboration of the chromatic plane. His brush was free, his palette colorful, vibrant and full of light, and his scenes were always full of life. His favorite inspirational sites included Puerto Rico and the Smoky Mountains. Velázquez was the founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee. He was committed to the Latino community, always ready to extend a friendly hand without the expectation of retribution; thus, earning much respect and love.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

A public reception will take place on Friday, May 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. The First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) in the Black Box at 6:00 PM and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta – electric guitar; Keith Brown – drums; Jon Hamar – double bass; and Jorge Variego – composition, electronics and clarinets) at 8:00 PM.

Artist Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig works in porcelain and glass primarily but utilizes metals and wood as necessary to create her sculptural, wearable and or functional pieces. Her studio, Wild Pony Studio, is located in Rockford. She also works in hot glass at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, North Carolina. She has shown nationally and participated in and taught many workshops and demonstrations. Boisseau-Craig received her MFA in 2012 and taught Introduction to Visual Art, 3D Art, Drawing and Ceramics at Western Carolina University. She also taught Drawing and Ceramics at Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. She was also an artist assistant to Tennessee-based glass artist Richard Jolley.

Her work directly responds to the contradictions and complexities of life. She strives to create beauty out of chaos. “I believe my work to be an ethereal commentary on the complicated fragility and contradictions of everyday life,” Boisseau-Craig says. For more information, please visit http://www.wildponystudio.com/.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

A public reception will take place on Friday, May 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. The First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) in the Black Box at 6:00 PM and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta – electric guitar; Keith Brown – drums; Jon Hamar – double bass; and Jorge Variego – composition, electronics and clarinets) at 8:00 PM.

Heather Huebner was born in Euclid, OH and grew up in a suburb east of Cleveland. Her body of work is creating abstracted memories and/or thoughts of landscapes into paintings, influenced by growing up on Lake Erie. She is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Art with a Bachelors of Fine Arts focused in painting and is currently working in Knoxville.

“The first half of my work was done by using fluid materials and allowing them to dry over time, letting nature take its course upon the pigments,” says Huebner. “The process in which they are created – pouring onto the canvas – has the same effect as the fluidness of bodies of water on land or on a shoreline. Just as a puddle may sit for days and eventually evaporate, leaving some sediment behind, so too do these pigments. In viewing this body of work, one starts to question how those sediments were left behind. Were they an accident or were they intentional? For me, these marks create a personal connection to experiences I’ve had in the past. A unique mark or color or texture invokes the imagery of a landscape in my memory.” The second half of Huebner’s work is fantasy. The shapes and colors and compositions have been determined by a feeling of unknowing and are structured on ideas of what could be rather than what she has seen in the past. For more information, please visit http://heatherhuebner.weebly.com/.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

A public reception will take place on Friday, May 5, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. The First Friday reception also features music and dance by Pasión Flamenca (led by Lucia Andronescu) in the Black Box at 6:00 PM and new music by the Domino quartet (Mike Baggetta – electric guitar; Keith Brown – drums; Jon Hamar – double bass; and Jorge Variego – composition, electronics and clarinets) at 8:00 PM.

“Save yourselves from inquiring about the art’s potential of increasing your self-awareness or revealing any aspects of the human condition,” says Stephen Spidell. “My latest body of work exists merely for your aesthetic pleasure.” His charcoal and pastel drawings abstract human hair to create close-ups and landscapes. The emotive marks create waves and undulations that replicate the dynamism of the tress while contriving contrasts of value and texture.

Stephen Spidell currently resides in his hometown of Knoxville. His art education started at age seven when he trained under Janice Fancher, and he received his Associate of Arts in Studio Art from Pellissippi State. He is mainly known for his charcoal abstractions of hair, but he continues to indulge in other media including graphite, pen and ink, and pastel; his other subject matter includes botany and the human figure.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Please note, the Emporium will be closed on Monday, May 29, for the holiday. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543, or visit the Web site at www.knoxalliance.com.

Including work by Austin Riddle, Maia Leppo, Heather Ashworth, Grant Benoit, Nick DeFord, Jackson Martin, Lisa D. Line, John Phillips, Peggy Schmid, John McMillan, Katie Grove, and Erin Castellan.

VIP event: May 4th, 4-5:30pm
Opening Reception: May 5, 5:30-8:30pm
Art DeTour Event: May 6, 10-5 and May 7, 12-5

At the Dogwood Arts' office, 123 W. Jackson Ave. Knoxville, TN. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Knoxville Children’s Theatre, in partnership with The Ritchie Company, will present a world-premiere production of “The Island of Dr. Libris,” based on the 2015 New York Times best-selling novel by Chris Grabenstein. The play, adapted by Chris Grabenstein and Ronny Venable, will be performed May 5 through May 21, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 PM; Saturdays at 1 PM and 5 PM; Sundays at 3 PM.

Young Billy Gillfoyle is spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on with Dr. Libris’ private bookcase. Whenever Billy opens the books, he can hear strange sounds coming from the middle of the lake. The clash of swords. The twang of arrows. Sometimes he can even feel the ground shaking. It’s as if the stories he’s reading are coming to life. But that’s impossible… Isn’t it?

The play was written by Chris Grabenstein and Ronny Venable, who first met while performing at the Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville. They co-wrote the 1986 CBS movie The Christmas Gift, starring John Denver. Grabenstein is the award-winning author of the New York Times best-seller Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and co-author of the #1 best-selling series "I Funny."

Both NYC playwrights will attend the 1 PM performance on May 13 and hold an informal Q&A session with the audience immediately following the show.

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

Please join us First Friday May 5, for an opening reception from 5-9pm.

Every day, Knox County art teachers devote their time and energy to cultivating creativity and critical skills in their students. For more than a decade, Art Source, the exhibition dedicated solely to Knox County art educators, has given these same teachers an opportunity to nourish and showcase their own artistic talents.

Free admission! UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sat 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown