Calendar of Events

Local artist Carl Gombert is the featured artist of an upcoming free art exhibit at Pellissippi State Community College. Gombert will exhibit hand-stamped works that explore the complexity and pattern of dark and light, and positive and negative space, within the context of radial structures, mandalas and other patterns.

Explore the free exhibit in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. Gallery hours are 10 a.m-6:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

A reception to meet the artist is from 3-5 p.m., August 28.

The Gombert exhibit is part of The Arts at Pellissippi State, an annual arts series that includes music and theatre performances, cultural celebrations, lectures and fine arts exhibits. For more information about The Arts at Pellissippi State, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.

The Oak Ridge Chorus will kick off its 2017-2018 season with our first rehearsal on August 28. This season, we will be singing Poulenc's Gloria, Messiah, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Berlioz's Tristia anda whole lot more.

Check out our performance schedule at www.orcma.org, and come sing with us. You won't want to miss it!
At Oak Ridge High School, 1450 Oak Ridge Tpke
https://www.facebook.com/events/112770169385568

In the GEOFFREY A. WOLPERT GALLERY

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

A weekly event on Mondays, 7-9 PM. Sponsored by WDVX and hosted by Will Carter.

MAPLE HALL is a boutique 11-lane bowling alley located in the historic J.C. Penney building in the heart of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. We offer a full-service bar, small plates, cozy lounge areas, a live stage and a 2-lane private VIP room. We are a spirited bowling experience that can host every kind of party. Maple Hall, 414 S Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-249-8454, www.maplehallknox.com

The McClung Museum Store’s annual Summer Sale will be open to the public August 21–31st. Jewelry, books, and toys are just a few of the items that will be discounted. As always, tax is included, and all proceeds from the store sales go to support our free educational programming. Hurry in for back to school savings while supplies last.

The Store is open during regular museum hours:
Monday–Saturday: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00–5:00 p.m

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Free and open to the public

When: Opening reception August 18 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists’ talks at 6:30 p.m.

Carra Artis paints impressionistic landscapes in oil. She hopes the viewer, through her work, will appreciate the beauty of God’s creation and mankind’s mark on the landscape. She strives to capture the essence, time, light, and mood of the scene. Almost all of her paintings are “en plein air,” meaning painted on location, or plein air completed in the studio. After moving to East Tennessee in 2013, Artis was overjoyed to find a group of nurturing artists, “Tuesday Painters,” a weekly plein air painting group. She is currently their coordinator. A member of the Arts and Cultural Alliance, her work has hung in shows at the Emporium, winning an honorable mention at the Tennessee Artists Association show in 2016. She has continued her growth by studying with Kathie Odom, John Lasater IV, Jason Sacran, Dawn Whitelaw, and Peggy Root. She has been influenced by visits to major art museums in New York City, Washington, D.C., Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, and Dublin. Her paintings are in private collections in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Zach Searcy creates mixed media work with paint, resin, found materials, and inkjet pigment transfers. Compositions juke, push, and pull to create a visceral experience. More recently the works have started to move through all axes, with compositions that spill over the side or toward the viewer. Materials and textures have become fixed in a way that the paintings become something that could be held or touched. This show of new works and old explores the experience of art’s function to take us to a faraway place as well as remind us that we are, in fact, right here. Searcy is a self-trained artist from Knoxville, Tennessee. He has been featured throughout the Southeast; at the NEXT Gallery in Denver, Colorado; and at the William King Museum of Art. He has served as a juror of the Dogwood Arts Festival. Once obsessed with browsing art on his smart phone late at night, Searcy brought this vision to curating a physical space in Knoxville: Zach Searcy Projects. The shows ranged from contemporary painting to a computer-controlled xylophone, and the space hosted for the Big Ears Documentary Project. He resides in Knoxville and splits his time between his studio and throwing darts with his brother.

Gallery hours: 10 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Thursday and 10 AM – 1 PM, Sunday
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

Featuring new work by Bill Long
Opening reception: Friday, August 11, 5-7pm

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

Stories in Stitches: Quilts from the East Tennessee Historical Society’s Permanent Collection

East Tennessee families treasure quilts made by their ancestors. Besides warming and decorating the bed, quilts also serve as reminders of important events—births, weddings, service to our country, the death of loved ones. Often, these memories are preserved in notes attached to the quilts or through stories handed down to younger generations. Sometimes notes are lost and memories fade, leaving families with a "mystery quilt." Did Grandma Jones or Granny Smith make this quilt? Or, was it Aunt Jane? When did she make it? Why did she choose this pattern? What caused this stain or that tear? These are some of the mysteries that quilt historians try to address through genealogical research and technical analysis.

From histories handed down to mysteries that remain, the new feature exhibition at the Museum of East Tennessee History provides visitors the opportunity to learn the "stories in stitches" from the quilts that have been entrusted to the East Tennessee Historical Society. Stories in Stitches features more than two dozen quilts with dates ranging from c. 1820 to 2001. The exhibition will be on display in the Rogers-Claussen Feature Gallery of the East Tennessee History Center from August 7, 2017 - January 2, 2018. Stories in Stitches is dedicated to Linda Claussen and Ginny Rogers for their years of service and support of the East Tennessee Historical Society’s quilt collection.

When the East Tennessee Historical Society was founded in 1834, early collection efforts focused on books and manuscripts. In more recent decades, objects began to be added, and the idea of displaying them in a museum grew. The ETHS Permanent Collection acquired its first quilt in 1992, one year before the Museum of East Tennessee History opened on the first floor of the renovated Customs House. Now a part of the expanded East Tennessee History Center, the museum and its collection includes more than 100 quilts. The ETHS Permanent Collection focuses on quilts made or used in one of East Tennessee’s 35 counties. An acquisitions committee reviews potential additions, evaluating the quilt’s history, condition, and importance to the collection as a whole. Some quilts are displayed in the museum’s signature exhibition, Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee. Others are cared for in climate-controlled storage and are brought out for special events or exhibitions like this one. The exhibition highlights more than two dozen quilts in a variety of fabrics, and patterns, and highlights some of the families who have made and cherished them. Patterns include everything from Rose of Sharon and “Knoxville Crazy Quilt” to a Civil War memory quilt and one pieced together out of clothing labels. The quilters range from John Sevier’s wife Bonny Kate to the Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee.

East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org

A resident of Maryville, Jon Pemberton makes wildly creative pop culture art work featuring icons. A self-proclaimed nerd, Jon says "I used to hide the fact that I may or may not be a geek, but I have come to understand that being a geek means that you are passionate about something to an extreme point. These are images of my passion, and I accept that."

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

The Art Guild at Fairfield Glade presents its 8th Annual Judged and Juried Fine Arts Show. This exciting show will begin with an Awards Reception on Friday, August 4th, starting at 5:00 p.m.

In addition to wall art including pieces in photography, watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastel, pen, ink, and pencil, artists proficient in clay, sculpture, jewelry, wood-working, and mixed-media will be displayed. This year’s Juror-Judge is Joseph S. Mella, director of the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery. With almost 30 years of experience working in art museums, Joseph Mella manages, curates, and oversees the operations of the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery and its collections within the College of Fine Arts and Science.

Art Guild at Fairfield Glade at the Plateau Creative Arts Center, 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Hours: M-Sa 9-4. Information: 931-707-7249, www.artguildfairfieldglade.net

Peppered Paper by Lesley Eaton - Painted paper collage, dinosaurs, crustaceans, flowers, and more. https://www.etsy.com/shop/PepperedPaper
Distinctive Gourds by Marty McConnaughey - https://www.distinctivegourds.com/

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

The Art Gallery at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church (ORUUC) will present an exhibit of the work of Kathy Holland from July through September 8. A gallery opening talk and artist reception will be hosted at the church on Sunday July 16, at 12:30 p.m. The public is invited.

ORUUC is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For artists interested in a showing contact Nancy Starr at starroakridge@gmail.com or call 865-483-8684.