Calendar of Events

Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism
June 21–25, 2017
Keynote Speakers: Mary Jane Leach & Amy Cimini
Guest Artists: Ellen Fullman, Randy Gibson, Russell Hartenberger, R. Andrew Lee, Marc Mellits

The Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism is hosted by the University of Tennessee and the nief-norf Summer Festival in Knoxville, TN.

Performances and discussions will feature the music of Maryanne Amacher, Julius Eastman, Ellen Fullman, Randy Gibson, Michael Gordon, Mary Jane Leach, Marc Mellits, Steve Reich, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, arrangements of Moondog’s music, and much more.

To attend the full conference, we recommend arriving on Wednesday, June 21 in the afternoon, in time for the opening evening concert. Papers begin Thursday morning and conclude Sunday at noon, followed by a marathon concert into Sunday night. We recommend departing on Monday morning, June 26.

Please email any questions or concerns to minimalism2017@niefnorf.org.
Sixth International Conference on Music and Minimalism is hosted by the larger 14-day nief-norf Summer Festival, a gathering of dozens of performers and composers in Knoxville, TN (June 7 - 26, 2017). More information about the festival: http://www.niefnorf.org/festival-overview/

Sweet P’s hosts monthly Taste ’n’ Toast fundraisers at the Downtown Dive, offering guests a chance to have a good time and support a good cause. Mark your calendar for a Sweet P’s "Taste and Toast" to benefit Ijams! Sweet P’s Downtown Dive at 410 Jackson Ave. will create a special meal and beer pairing for the evening. For every delicious pairing sold, Ijams will a $5 donation.

Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

KAT will have events and activities throughout the week for Try Transit Week!

Smart Trips will be hanging out with KAT on Wednesday, June 21 from 11 am-2 pm at the Market Square Farmers' Market

https://www.facebook.com/knoxvilleareatransit/

Art work by Kate Aubrey and Lee Edge is on exhibit in the gallery at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The opening reception is June 16 from 6 to 7:30PM; artists' talks at 6:30PM.
Exhibit runs through August 10, 2017
Gallery hours: 10 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Thursday
10 AM – 1 PM, Sunday

A devoted watercolorist for 40 years, Kate Aubrey has won numerous awards and was a finalist in The Artists Magazine's Over 60 Competition of 2013 for her painting, "Invisible." Since arriving in the Knoxville area in 2014, Aubrey has taught workshops in Tennessee and Nevada, is Vice President of the Knoxville Watercolor Society, and is a member of the Art Guild of Tellico Village, the Fountain City Art Center, the Tennessee Artist's Association, the Southern Watercolor Society, and the Arts Alliance of Knoxville. Her paintings have been in the Oak Ridge Art Center's Annual Juried Shows of 2014 and 2015, winning awards each year, and The Arts and Culture Alliance's National Juried Exhibition of 2016. She won awards in the 2016 and 2017 Southern Watercolor Society Juried Exhibits, and her painting "Old Soul, Dear Heart" took the top Jerry's Artarama Purchase Award in the 2016 Tennessee Watercolor Society Biennial Exhibition.
Lee Edge uses a variety of techniques to create artwork ranging from portraits to landscapes to still lifes. Edge's artwork has appeared in juried shows in numerous locations including the Denver Art Museum, the Rocky Mountain states, Philadelphia, and Knoxville. She received an award in the 18-state-plus-D.C. Southern Watercolor Society show in 2017 and was awarded "Excellence of Watercolor" in the 2014 Oak Ridge Open Show. She has worked as an art teacher in various states over thirty years while raising her family and moving often, necessitated by husband's jobs. She and her husband have resided in Tellico Village since 2003.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

nnSF began as a percussion chamber music festival back in 2011, and has grown into a multi-faceted think-tank for the exchange of ideas surrounding contemporary music. Each year, dozens of composers, interpreters, and scholars gather to create, discuss, and analyze both the classics and the newer, unknown gems in contemporary chamber music. Friendships are formed, collaborations are forged, and concerts are presented nearly every day for two weeks.

Here are a few of the highlights that we have in store at the the 2017 Nief-Norf Festival:

/// Musician, visual artist, and instrument builder Ellen Fullman will perform her Long String Instrument, an installation she has been developing for more than 30 years, which was recently covered by The Guardian. She will be in residence building the installation in preparation for her performance in collaboration with cellist Theresa Wong at the Ewing Gallery in the University of Tennessee’s Art & Architecture Building on Saturday June 24th at 7:30PM.

/// Carolyn Chen, one of our International Call for Scores winners, will be in town to work with our performance fellows on her new work for mixed piano quartet Sentence. On Saturday June 17th, we will also offer the world premiere of Chen’s Hamlet, her 30’ sextet for percussionists, at UT’s Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall.

/// We will welcome Nina Young, 2015-16 Rome Prize winner and visiting faculty at the Peabody Institute, as our first week’s Composer-in-Residence. Young’s works will be featured on events beginning on the opening faculty concert on Monday June 12th, and wrapping up on Saturday June 17th.

/// As always, there is a heavy research component to nnSF, led once again by our very own Kerry O’Brien. This year our Research Summit has been swapped out for The Society for Minimalist Music’s 6th International Conference (MinSoc). Dozens of scholars of musical minimalism from around the globe will be visiting Knoxville to share their professional thoughts surrounding music and minimalism.

And more! Information available at www.niefnorf.org

Steve Kaufman’s 22 Annual Concert Series - 10 Nights of Concerts with International Performers! Concerts begin at 7:00 PM Each Night with tickets purchased at the door for $15 (unless otherwise noted)

Monday, June 12: Aaron O’Roarke, Keith Yoder, Cary Fridley, Steve Kilby, Kenny Jackson, Eric Lugosc.5
Tuesday, June 13: Stacy Phillips, Tina Gugeler, Annie Savage, Carl Jones, Robin Kessinger, Tim Thompson.
Wednesday, June 14: Contra Dance and Concert with Emily Abel and the Kamp All Star Band. Concerts and Dance - $8
Thursday, June 15: April Verch, Beppe Gambetta, T.J. Wheeler, Dix Bruce, Donnie and Debbie Barbra.
Friday, June 16: Steve Kaufman, Erynn Marshall, Steve Baughman.

Monday, June 19: Doug Yeomans, Tim Connell, Jerry Salley, Jake Schepps, Annie Savage, Kent Knorr, Greg Booth.
Tuesday, June 20: Roland White, Barbara Lamb, Kathy Kallick, Steve Kilby, Donnie and Debbie Barbra, Keith Yoder, Ned Luberecki.
Wednesday, June 21: Don Stiernberg, Tyler Grant, Gary Davis, Todd Phillips, Tim May, Annie Savage, Ivan Rosenberg.
Thursday, June 22: Missy Raines, Wayne Taylor, Greg Cahill, Dan Boner, John Reischman, Josh Goforth, Mark Cosgrove.
Friday, June 23: Steve Kaufman with Clint Mullican, Emory Lester, Jimmy Heffernan, Alan Bibey.

In the Alumni Gym, Maryville College, Maryville. For more information: 865-982-3808 or www.flatpik.com

Also showing - Student Show: Watercolors by the students of Mary Baumgartner

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

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

The image of the tortured artist is cliché because it’s often true, and, more so, because we talk about it a lot. In fact we love it. It may be that it appeals to a strange human craving for martyrdom: we love those who suffer for their passions. But not all artists fall on their swords or mutilate their ears; for a whole bunch of them the creative process reflects an earnest desire to bring a burning passion or drive to create into harmony with a good, even calm life.

Dino Liddick is one of the seekers of calm. Dino’s exhibit, “With the Eye, For the Mind” is currently hanging in our Market Square location, and the work that comprises the show is built upon a foundation of mindfulness and kindness. Some of that is a reaction to an emotional life, and some is related to sheer practicality. Certainly the artist has responded to emotional crises in his work, but for Liddick, the art isn’t merely a kind of therapy: it’s a statement of being. “Sometimes somebody will ask me how I feel, and I say, well, look at that painting – that’s how I feel.” On his website, he writes, “Rather than pulling ideas from the mind to produce ‘art,’” he, “practices clearing his mind through the process of a piece.”

Rather than formulate a work, Liddick hopes the piece will come together intuitively without too much conscious involvement. It’s an effort to feel rather than to think. When he’s moved by a subject or situation, Dino tries “to go home and reach that feeling, and let that feeling come into shape. I try to paint the feeling and then put in the shapes – I don’t try to the paint the shapes and then put in the feeling.”

“With the Eye, for the Mind” by Dino Liddick will be on view at the downtown Knoxville Tomato Head on Market Square from June 5th through July 2nd. The exhibit will display at the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from July 4th through August 3rd.

Tomato Head, 12 Market Square (865-637-4067) and 7240 Kingston Pike, Suite 172 (865-584-1075), in Knoxville. http://thetomatohead.com

Opening reception: Friday, June 2, 5-9PM

The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to present “Living On”, an exhibition of 24 portraits of holocaust survivors and liberators living in Tennessee by Robert Heller. Heller, a professor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee since 1986, received his B.S. and M.A. degrees in photojournalism from Syracuse University. He taught photography and graphics for five years at the University of Miami, and was publications designer and photographer at the State University of New York College at New Paltz, and Elmira College in New York. Heller also taught photography at The Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York. His photographs have been selected for numerous juried exhibitions and he continues to do freelance work in both graphic design and photography.

“Living On,” has previously been exhibited in museums around the state of Tennessee and at major cities in Poland. A book of the images and accompanying interviews was published by the University of Tennessee Press in spring, 2008. Heller is a member of the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, where he has served as head of the Visual Communication Division.

Living On is a project of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, which is funded by an annual appropriation from the Tennessee State Legislature and by private donations. Assistance in the development of this documentary project was provided, as well, by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. The traveling exhibition was curated by Susan W. Knowles.

Please visit our website, www.tennesseeholocaustcommission.org, for more information on this and other public outreach programs.
This event is free and open to the public. This exhibition will run through mid-July. The closing date is TBA.

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

The Dogwood Arts Regional Art Exhibition was developed to showcase and award the finest artists of our region. Fine art encompassing all styles and genres from both emerging and established artists has been selected by juror Leslie Noell, Director of Programs at Bakersville, North Carolina’s Penland School of Crafts.

June 2, 2017: Opening & Award Ceremony 5:30-8:30 (awards at 7 PM).

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

A self-taught artist with a background in creative writing and journalism, a passion for advertising, and an unrelenting drive to make. Ryan-Ashley finds herself crafting copy by day, stringing together minimalist-inspired wearables by night, and reading books in hot baths as often as possible.

Ryan-Ashley has been teaching knitting for 14 years, and facilitates workshops on a variety of subjects including peyote-stitch beadwork, bead-making, fiberwork jewelry, intro. to leatherwork, and a host of other DIY-related topics. New to Knoxville, but eager to dig into the maker community, you can learn about any and all upcoming projects, workshops, and shows at http://www.smartandbeckercreative.com/.

Opening reception: 6-9 PM on Friday June 2.

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

A public reception will take place on Friday, June 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork. Most of the works are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition. The First Friday reception also features music by Bethany Hankins and Swing Serenade at 7:00 PM. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be available.

The Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild (KMQG) exists for residents in and around Knoxville who have an interest in modern design and quilting. KMQG hopes to provide members with a community where modern quilters can meet, share ideas, and create in an environment that encourages creativity and acceptance. The Guild is a member of the international Modern Quilt Guild, whose first meeting took place in January 2010 and was organized by Alissa Haight-Carlton. Mary Beth Meadows of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild took subsequent steps to establish KMQG in February of that same year.

The Guild will exhibit quilts made using traditional means and featuring a modern aesthetic. The collection will consist of works from KMQG members. For more information, please visit http://knoxvillemqg.blogspot.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.