Calendar of Events

The 98th annual Tennessee Valley Fair is set to debut a variety of new and noteworthy attractions for East Tennesseans! From culinary arts to crafts, livestock shows to action sports, headline concerts and special events, there are thousands of ways to enjoy a little Homegrown Happiness at this year's Tennessee Valley Fair. 2017 concert lineup:
• Friday, September 8 - LOCASH
• Sunday, September 10 - Michael Ray with Drew Baldridge
• Monday, September 11 - Matthew West
• Tuesday, September 12 - Josh Turner
• Wednesday, September 13 - Cheap Trick
• Thursday, September 14 - Jagged Edge
• Friday, September 15 - Kool & the Gang
• Saturday, September 16 - Con Hunley
• Sunday, September 17 - John Michael Montgomery

To see a full list of attractions and activities, visit www.tnvalleyfair.org. Tennessee Valley Fair: 865-215-1471 or tickets@tnvalleyfair.org

Visitors to the Museum of East Tennessee History will have an opportunity to view special items associated with the “Freedom Engine,” a tribute gift from East Tennesseans to New York City following the events of September 11, 2001. East Tennesseans contributed more than $940,000 to purchase and equip a 95-foot tower ladder truck for Harlem-based Ladder Company 14, helping the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) replenish the largest vehicles in the city's firefighting fleet. The so-called "Freedom Engine," went into service during March 2002 and was dedicated on September 11th of that year.

FDNY typically retires their trucks from regular service after about 10 years. The Freedom Engine went into reserve status in 2013. Upon retirement, several artifacts associated with the truck, including a bucket door, captain's helmet, memorial plaque from the people of East Tennessee, and a presentation plaque containing a piece of World Trade Center metal, were returned to East Tennessee and donated to the East Tennessee Historical Society. These items will be on display through September 8-17, 2017, at the Museum of East Tennessee History, along with a video about the project. You may view the exhibit and artifacts online at the ETHS website at www.easttnhistory.org/exhibits/freedom-engine.

The Museum of East Tennessee History is open 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday; 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday; and 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, Sunday. The Museum is located in the East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37901. There is an admission charge, Monday-Saturday, with each Sunday being Family Day and free to the public. For more information call (865) 215-8830, email eths@eastTNhistory.org, or visit www.easttnhistory.org.

Recent artwork in a variety of media by current C-N Art Dept faculty: Chad Airhart, Lisa Flanary, Heather Hartman, Cody Leihgeber, Julie Rabun, Raquel Roy, David Underwood, and Mark Wankel.

Opening Thur Sep 7, 3-5 PM

Gallery hours: M-F 8-4. Warren Art Bldg, corner of Branner Ave & Ken Sparks Way, Jefferson City, TN 37760. Info: 865-471-4985.

Featuring abstracts by Marty Elmer
South Knoxville Library, 4500 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920. (865) 573-1772

Recent works by painter Kate McCullough and glass artist Johnny Glass will be on display Sept 1st to the end of September at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists will begin at 5:30 p.m., Sept 1st, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk, with complimentary refreshments.

Kate McCullough says about her work, " The theme for my Featured Artist wall is called “The Ale Trail of Scruffy City”. You may have noticed that we now have a plethora of breweries and beer merchants popping up around town. The old diner is now a beer merchant, the old gas station is now a brewery. Some have taken a chance in areas that are desperately awaiting renewal. I chose the ones that had interesting architecture and/or signage. Very often the goal of my work is to capture a slice of life around town."

About Johnny Glass: Johnny Glass began his glass career in Los Angeles, CA, where he was first introduced to glass at Santa Monica College. He has spent multiple summers studying at Dale Chihuly’s world renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA, where he studied with master glassblowers from around the world. His interests range from fine Italian cane and murrine work to the abstract arts of some of Japan’s most crafted masters.

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

Hosted by Rala: Regional and Local Artisans

Join us for the opening of "Black Velvet," a print series by Jarred Elrod. Opening night will be held on First Friday of September, so come see the show and rub elbows with the artist! September 1, 6-9 PM

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

Josef Albers, Matthew Deleget, Peter Dudek, Cris Gianakos, Michelle Grabner, Lynne Harlow, Changha Hwang, Russell Maltz, Rossana Martinez, Kristine Marx, Manfred Mohr

Dual Current: Inseparable Elements in Painting and Architecture, curated by Gabriele Evertz, examines the relationship between painting and architecture in a contemporary context through color, shape, and theory.

The artists whose works are featured in this exhibition are: Josef Albers (American, born Germany, 1888–1976), Matthew Deleget (American, born 1972), Peter Dudek (American, born 1952), Cris Gianakos (Greek-American, born 1934), Michelle Grabner (American, born 1962), Lynne Harlow (American, born 1968), Changha Hwang (Korean, born 1969), Russell Maltz (American, born 1952), Rossana Martinez (Puerto Rican, born 1969), Kristine Marx (American, born 1969), and Manfred Mohr (German, born 1938). Their works link three-dimensional space and the picture plane to create radical new forms. Dual Current explores the relationship between painting and architecture, closely intertwined since the Renaissance.

Reception: Thursday, August 31, 8:30 - 9:30PM

*The gallery is closed in observance of holidays and university closures
M: 10-5
T-TR: 10 - 7:30
F: 10-5
SUN: 1-4

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Flying Anvil Theatre gets Shipwrecked! Following the smash success of The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Flying Anvil Theatre’s second production in their new space is Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself) by Donald Margulies.

An amazing tale of bravery, survival and celebrity that left nineteenth-century England spellbound, this breathless story of a Victorian gentleman and seafaring wanderer springs to life like a theatrical pop-up book. The show features all the magic of a high seas adventure, populated by exotic islanders, flying wombats, giant sea turtles and a monstrous man-eating octopus. The audience is left to judge whether de Rougemont is an inspirational figure touched by genius or a mere con man. Audiences can also consider the possibility that the hero of this (possibly) true story is a little of each. This fast-paced, rollicking show examines how far we're willing to blur the line between fact and fiction to leave our mark on the world.

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself) opens Friday, September 1 and runs for four weeks. Pre-opening previews are Wednesday, August 30 (Pay What You Can Night) and Thursday, August 31. The show is recommended for adults and children over the age of eight.

Performances are Wed-Sat at 7:30 PM and Sun at 2 PM.

Flying Anvil Theatre, 1300 Rocky Hill Road, Knoxville. Information: 865-357-1309, www.flyinganviltheatre.com

By: Rick Elice, based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

“Absurdly entertaining!” Entertainment Weekly

In this multiple Tony Award-winning play with music, a dozen actors portraying more than 100 unforgettable roles take to the high seas to answer the century-old question: How did Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up? This magical evening of madcap fun is suitable for younger audiences but most enjoyable for ages 10 and up.

Clarence Brown 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

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

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

Drawn from the extensive collection of the Reading Public Museum, this vibrant exhibition examines the key role played by artists’ colonies in the development of American Impressionism. It features more than 50 paintings and works on paper by Frank W. Benson, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, William Paxton, Robert Reid, Chauncey Ryder, John Twachtman, Julian Alden Weir, and many others.

Many of the nationally prominent artists represented in this exhibition have ties to East Tennessee and the KMA’s ongoing display Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee. More than a dozen participated in large art exhibitions held in conjunction with Knoxville’s 1910 and 1911 Appalachian Expositions, and the 1913 National Conservation Exposition. Their paintings appeared alongside those of several East Tennessee artists represented in Higher Ground, such as Catherine Wiley, Lloyd Branson, Adelia Lutz, Charles Krutch, and Hugh Tyler, to name a few. These sprawling and ambitious exhibitions were designed with the goal of bringing the “best contemporary art in America” to people of the region. The displays highlighted art currents of the day, and allowed East Tennessee artists to demonstrate their proficiency in a national context.

Among other ties, John F. Carlson served as a juror for the 1913 Expo art exhibition along with Knoxville impressionist painter Catherine Wiley. Robert Reid was one of Wiley’s art instructors during her studies in New York, and Mary Cassatt’s intimate domestic scenes inspired Wiley’s career-long interest in depicting women and children. As a result of these and other connections, this exhibition offers a broader national lens through which viewers can assess the work of Wiley, Branson, Lutz, Krutch, Tyler and other Higher Ground artists who also experimented with Impressionism.

Organized by the Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania. The museum is holding an opening reception Thursday, August 10 from 5:30 to 7:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.

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