Calendar of Events

Imagine being surrounded by the handmade work of over 140 fine craft artisans! Designated as a TOP 20 EVENT by the Southeast Tourism Society for the second year in a row, the 51st annual Fine Craft Show is presented by the Foothills Craft Guild, the oldest nonprofit artisan guild in Tennessee.

Hours are Friday and Saturday, November 17-18, 10 AM - 6 PM and Sunday, November 19, 10 AM - 4 PM at the historic Jacob Building in Knoxville’s Chilhowee Park.

Participants have been juried into the Foothills Craft Guild according to the highest standards for quality workmanship… woodwork, pottery, jewelry, glass, fiber arts, metalwork, sculpture, basketry, and more! It's a great time to shop for unique gifts representing Tennessee at ALL PRICE RANGES and support your local fine craft artisans! Enjoy a free Make It & Take It Crafts booth for all ages, daily demonstrations of artisans making their crafts, and an Authors’ Corner where local favorites will be personally autographing books.

Admission is Adults $8, Seniors 65+ and military $7, Children 6-12 $4, Children 5 and under Free. www.foothillscraftguild.org.

I'm quite excited for this show, Mindless. The Theme of this show stems from a podcast that literally rocked me to my core. Manoush Zomorodi, Bored and Brilliant. This show is a reaction to that podcast, and I've become more aware of myself as a human and creative.

The idea behind the show is the art of spacing out. The freedom to create for arts sake. I recently experienced the largest artist block of my life. I couldn't create, I was swirling down a path of distraction and comparsion, of what if's and allowing my phone to consume any thought, moment, time. etc. My studio is now a unplugged zone.

This show has allowed me to just explore my creative process, through new textures, colors, and subjects.

The Gallery Hours/Events:
Tuesday November 14th: Opening Night - 6-10pm, kid-friendly, drinks and snacks
Wednesday November 15th: Gallery Hours 6-9pm
Tuesday November 21st: Gallery Hours 6-9pm
Wednesday November 22nd: Gallery Hours 6-9pm
Friday November 24th: Black Friday Open ALL day! 12-6pm, Meet the Artist //Demos // Print Sale
Closing Reception: 6-10pm, kid-friendly, drinks and snacks
Saturday November 25th: SHOP SMALL SATURDAY!, Gallery Hours: 10am-5pm
Print Sale// Final Chance to Grab ART!

A1LabArts @ the Center for Creative Minds, 23 Emory Place, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: www.a1labarts.org

Santa’s Wonderland returns to Bass Pro Shops and Knoxville-area families are invited to enjoy this magical Christmas village offering free photos with Santa and free family holiday activities including fun crafts and games.

Features include rustic Christmas cabins, holiday characters and live elves set amongst a dazzling backdrop of snow-covered hills and illuminated Christmas trees. The Santa’s Wonderland Christmas village offers remote control trucks, laser/ foam toy arcade, Lincoln Logs building area and much more. Kids can also spend time at one of the activity tables where they can write a letter to Santa, color and do fun crafts, all for free.

Families can enjoy the wonder of Christmas inside Bass Pro Shops with Santa’s Wonderland through December 24 including free photos with Santa. Guests can schedule their Santa time using the free Bass Pass system. Visit the Bass Pass Ticket Depot located at the entrance of Santa’s Wonderland to pick up a time-stamped pass.

Santa’s arrival coincides with Veteran’s Day and the start of a holiday round up program where customers can help support service members, military families and veterans through a donation program. Bass Pro Shops will donate 100 percent of customer contributions to USO Care Packages, which are shipped directly to active service members overseas, and AMVETS.

3629 Outdoor Sportsman Pl, Kodak, TN 37764. For hours and details visit www.BassPro.com/Santa.

Opening reception on Fri Nov 10, 6:30-8 PM. Free and open to the public.
Both exhibits will continue to be on view to the public, Nov. 10 - Dec. 15, 2017 and Jan. 3 - 4, 2018.

Every fall for the past 38 years, the Fountain City Art Guild holds its Holiday Show and Sale usually featuring 25 to 30 of the Guild's 40 members' original paintings, and sometimes handmade books, jewelry, pottery, and decorative gourds.This year, the Guild is honored to be sharing exhibit space with the Smoky Mountain Firecrackers. The Firecrackers are a group of about 25 artists who use lampwork (glass melting and shaping with a specially designed torch) to design intricate beads for jewelry and also to create amazing decorative glass marbles. Jo Marie Brotherton is one of the Firecrackers who is also a Guild member. It was her idea to have the Firecrackers exhibit their work at the Fountain City Art Center. The Firecrackers are involved in making special glass beads for children undergoing chemotherapy. The program is called "Beads of Courage."

FCAC Hours: Tu, Th 9 - 5; W, F 10 - 5; most Saturdays 9 -1

Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

The American South gave the world biscuits, jazz, and a literature that stands among the best of the 20th century. Knox County Public Library is pleased to present “Reading Close to Home,” a reading/discussion series that focuses on the short fiction of three Southern giants of American Literature. The series starts with William Faulkner at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 5 at Lawson McGhee Library. Future programs in the series will focus on Alice Walker and Eudora Welty. Edward Francisco, Professor of English at Pellissippi State College, will lead the discussions. Admission is free.

Edward Francisco is Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at Pellissippi State College. He is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and scholar. His poetry and fiction have appeared in more than seventy magazines and journals and a half dozen anthologies. He is the author of two novels and was the principal editor of The South in Perspective, an anthology of Southern literature, published by Prentice-Hall. Professor Francisco is also a member of the Oxford Roundtable at the University of Oxford, England.

Schedule:
Sunday, November 5, 2:00 pm
Introduction to Faulkner’s life and work with film screenings of Barn Burning and A Rose for Emily

Tuesday, November 7, 6:30 pm
Discussion of “A Rose for Emily”

Tuesday, November 14, 6:30 pm
Discussion of “Barn Burning”

Tuesday, November 21, 6:30 pm
Discussion of “Dry September”

“Reading Close to Home: William Faulkner” is sponsored by Friends of Knox County Public Library.

For more information about the series, email nhill@knoxlib.org or call 215-8729
Knox County Public Library: 500 West Church Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-215-8750, www.knoxlib.org

White Oak Gallery {inside Magpies} Presents the work of Lesley Eaton
Please visit White Oak Gallery inside Magpies TONIGHT November 3 at 846 Central St from 5-8 pm for First Friday and view work from featured artist & illustrator Lesley Eaton. Artwork by gallery manager Beth Meadows will also be on display. Refreshments provided by Magpies Bakery and With Bear Hands. Work will be on display through December.

ABOUT EATON
"My recent collage work incorporates my peppered paper, large sheets of paper that originally provided a surface to catch all of the spills, splatters, and brush strokes as I painted. The result is a collection of beautiful papers filled with vibrant color and energetic texture. Learn more about Eaton at http://pepperedpaper.wordpress.com.

White Oak Gallery, located inside Magpies Bakery, is generously made available by owner Peg Hambright and managed by Knoxville artist Beth Meadows of With Bear Hands. Meadows' artwork is always on display, and a different Knoxville artist is featured every other month. The public is invited to visit the gallery any time during Magpies' business hours and to consider buying artwork and/or cupcakes while there. For more information, visit withbearhands.com/gallery or contact beth@bethmeadows.com.

"Don't get so busy earning your salt that you forget the sugar."

Pioneer House, home of the original Knoxville Girl t-shirt and letterpress printmaking studio and gallery, will throw open the doors Nov. 3 to welcome five local artists. The Knoxville Girls show and sale brings together five fine women with ties to Knoxville and a flair for fiber, ceramics, letterpress printmaking, encaustic painting and mixed media. You'll love them better than biscuits.

Reception for Artists: 5 p.m.-9 p.m., First Friday, Nov. 3

The artists:
Knoxville native Amanda Humphreys occupies her time teaching pottery classes and making functional, whimsical pottery. Her work is inspired by her love of textures and colors borrowed from old, historic buildings, vintage maps and the 80s and 90s in general. She also revels in classic country music.

Peg Hambright is a former graphic designer and illustrator who has neglected her creative side for the past 25 years while nurturing her little bakery, Magpies. In an attempt to find balance in her life, she's found herself transitioning from food into art by making art that is food. It's a start.

A mixed media artist from Knoxville, Cara Pfennigwerth loves to draw, crochet, garden and try just about anything hands-on. Another favorite art form is relief block print. She draws most of her inspiration from the flora and fauna of East Tennessee and creates as a way to preserve and appreciate the beauty of local wildlife.

Laura Baisden runs a custom letterpress shop called Camp Nevernice in the same historical building that is home to Pioneer House. She crafts custom posters and invitations for clients and hand-carves linoleum illustrations. She has a labor of love in the works: writing and illustrating a children's book.

Julie Belcher is the proprietor of Pioneer House. An Appalachian artist, dedicated handmade advocate and restorer of vintage printing presses from way back, she adds bits of her Southern and mountain heritage to all her works. Letterpress monoprints and small encaustic mixed media are among the new works she has created for this show.

Pioneer House of Letterpress & Vintage, 413 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-200-8084, julie@pioneer-house.com, http://www.pioneer-house.com

Recent works by Marie Merritt and Nelson Ziegler will be on display at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists will begin at 5:30 p.m., Nov 3rd, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk, with complimentary refreshments.

Marie Merritt shares her experience from hiking all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains through her art. Interpreting the scenic vistas, babbling streams, lovely flora, and majestic animals she has encountered in her signature style of oil painting, she strives to give the viewer the feeling of awe that she has enjoyed. She develops a quality of depth and dimension in her paintings that is sensitive and expressive by using traditional time honored techniques of multiple layers of oil paints and glazes. Marie, a native of East Tennessee, has received numerous awards, designations and recognitions with her art, including Certified Decorative Artist and Teacher of Decorative Arts. Her original works hang in private and corporate collections throughout the region and her art has been featured on book covers and in magazines. She is represented by the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville, TN and her work can be seen at www.mariemerritt.com

Nelson Ziegler, of Sevierville, Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains, is a graduate of The Art Institute of Boston and Northwestern Academy of Watercolor. He has won many awards for both his painting and woodturning, both regionally and nationally. Among them, Gold Medal for watercolor at the American Artists Professional League, Honorable Mention-The Artist’s Magazine annual competition. He was chosen the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage artist of the year in 2016. He has participated in numerous juried exhibitions in New York including Allied Artists, American Artists Professional League, Salmagundi Club, Knickerbocker Artists, National Arts Club, Hudson Valley Arts Association, as well as Adirondack National Watercolor Exhibition, Faces of America (a national watercolor portrait show), Academic Artists Association, Springfield Arts League, Springfield, MA, Guild of Boston Artists, Copley Society, Boston, MA, North Shore Arts Association, Gloucester, MA, Tennessee Watercolor Society and Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. A member of the National Watercolor Society, New England Watercolor Society, The Oil Painters of America and the Northshore Art Association and the American Association of Woodturners. Nelson’s works are in many private and corporate collections throughout the country. www.nelsonzieglerstudio.com

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

The District Gallery is pleased to present Joe Parrott: Recent Works, opening Friday, November 3 from 5-8PM.

Sunny sidewalks, a shifting forest shadow, the daylight as it recedes into evening. Scenes of passerby, the twilit facade of a building- what could have gone unnoticed can be transformed by renewed attention to light and shadow, and what was one happenstance begins to feel like home. Recent Works gives a chance to revel in the present moment, caught in sparkling reflections and deep shadows, and offered to us through the attentive eyes of a longtime Knoxville native.

Please join us Friday, November 3 from 5-8 PM for an opening reception and to meet the artist. The show will be on display through November 25.

The District Gallery, 5113 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-F 10-5:30, Sa 10-4. Information: 865-200-4452, www.TheDistrictGallery.com

Hosted by Rala: Regional and Local Artisans

We are excited to announce our featured artists for the month of November! Please join us for a show opening with work by local artists, Cynthia Markert and Brian Scott Pittman

Opening reception November 3rd 6-9pm

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

This November, Broadway Studios and Gallery proudly presents one of Knoxville’s royalty of the arts, Eric Sublett. Eric Sublett will show a variety of work made during several decades in a show that is entitled: Portrayals.

As a child, Eric was the self-proclaimed mascot of the University of Tennessee Art Department where he helped his father Carl with his duties as a professor. Eric was unofficially mentored by his father by sitting with him after he had finished his paper route as his father sketched architectural structures around the area. Being given Carte Blanche to anything in his father’s studio, it turned out that Eric would become quite a talent in his own right. With connections made through Knoxville’s underground artistic culture, he witnessed the birth of fine art in Knoxville on the heels of the 1982 World’s Fair. It was at that moment that the “Scruffy Little City” could put a flag in the ground and declare that yes, like other cities, artists are here as well. With his good friend RB Morris, Eric helped contribute to this newfound celebration of the music and arts where he and his friends began to have art exhibits with parties in abandoned buildings in the Old City before there was an “Old City.” From there he opened a gallery in what would known as the Artist Colony, which was a group of Victorian houses across the street from the Candy Factory and the now Knoxville Museum of Art. With amazing stories, this colorful figure will present and eclectic grouping of artwork from over the decades.

The work will contain drawings, paintings, photography. There will also be time for old friends to come visit and for new friends to be made in a tiny re-celebration of birth of the arts in the town we all love. All are invited to participate: artists, enthusiasts, and the curious alike.

Opening is First Friday, November 3rd, in which the doors will open at 5pm.

This exhibit is free to the public. Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Thurs-Sat, 10-6 (and whenever the open light is on throughout the week). Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com.

Mixed media sculpture and paintings by Marga McBride (ceramic sculpture and paintings) and Jay McBride (new works in wood)

Reception Fri Nov 3, 5-7 PM

Bennett Galleries, 5308 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919
(865) 584-6791 | www.bennettgalleries.com