Calendar of Events

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

Photography by Daniel Taylor and Paper Mache Mixed Media Sculpture by Mary Saylor. Daniel Taylor is a self-taught artist who enjoys "Street Photography" or casual photos of everyday life. He also likes to shoot black and white photos of jazz artists on stage. Mary Saylor has a love of all animals and creates playful sculptures that are whimsical and humorous in nature.

Westminister Presbyterian Church, 6500 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-F 9-4. Info: (865) 584-3957 or www.wpcknox.org

Free, outdoor weekly concerts on Outdoor Stage at Market Square on Tuesday evenings. Our popular summer series is back on the outdoor stage at Market Square. Bring a chair, a blanket and a friend. Weather permitting.

Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: 865-573-3226, www.knoxjazz.org

Recent works by photographer Dennis Sabo and potter Larry Gabbard will be on display at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists will begin at 5:30 p.m., May 5, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk, with complimentary refreshments, and music performed by Boogertown Gap.

Dennis Sabo is an internationally honored photographer specializing in contemporary abstract, stunning landscape, and gorgeous seascape photography. His fine art natural world abstracts and landscapes are often sought out by home decor and interior designers and have been included in solo and group art gallery exhibitions, commercial installations and private home collections throughout the United States and internationally.

Larry Gabbard enjoys fast-firing techniques which create a rich variety of textures and colors on bisque clay. He finds the unexpected marks made when clay, heat, and smoke interact to be among the most intriguing and challenging of finishes to perfect and reproduce.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Th & Sa 11-6, Fri 11-9, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net

Stop by to see May's exhibit by Kristy Keel-Blackmon, the artist behind Oak Roots Creative, whose beautiful nature photographs and abstract paintings showcase her attention to detail! http://www.oakrootscreative.com/

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Exhibit: Oil & Water Do Mix
paintings and wood turnings by Nelson Ziegler

Hours: M-F, 9-5
Reception: Sunday, May 7, 2-4pm

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

Opening reception on Fri Apr 28, 6:30-8:00 PM. Free and open to the public.

Featuring the opening of the Annual All-Media Show by the Knoxville Watercolor Society. The exhibit does contain 90% watercolors, but other media represented are: oils, pastels, mixed media, and acrylics. KWS allows members to show other media once a year to demonstrate that some of the members are just as competent and comfortable working in other media besides watercolor.

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, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

Opening reception April 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

COMMA (COMe Make Art) is a plein air art group that has met weekly in the summer at University of Tennessee Gardens since 2004. Founders were art teachers Gay Nell Gray and Cheri Jorgenson. They are joined in this exhibit by members and retired art teachers Judy Jorden, Shelley Mangold and Owen Weston; current art teachers Caitlyn Seidler and Jackie Wright; and teaching artist Nancy Campbell. COMMA members' artwork is either created in or inspired by images from the gardens. Each artist works in a preferred medium, whether color pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylics, photography, clay or mixed media. Some work is created on site in the gardens, and some is created in the studio using sketches or images from the gardens. The artists are inspired by the beauty and diversity of the UT Gardens and the friendship and camaraderie they share.

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