Calendar of Events

A reception will take place on Friday, March 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities downtown to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork.

Kailey Leehans is a young, emerging artist whose preferred medium is watercolor. She enjoys experimenting with acrylic, mixed media and clay. She also creates jewelry, such as clay beads, resin with dried local flowers and bugs, and metal working. Leehans first realized her abilities in drawing when she was very young. She copied children's books covers and then online photographs with pencil. Eventually, she realized she could create original artwork from her imagination, which proved more satisfying and expressive.

This new exhibition includes a variety of styles. For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/oddysshopart/ or https://www.etsy.com/shop/OddysShop.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Closed Friday, Marhc 30. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.

A reception will take place on Friday, March 2, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities downtown to which the public is invited to meet the artists and view the artwork.

In this new exhibition, participants ranging from middle and high school students to professional artists were asked to reflect on what happens when mental illness and the criminal justice system collide and present an ethical dichotomy. This exhibition reflects the challenges faced by both the defendant and the judges, attorneys, law enforcement, and mental health professionals tasked with ensuring justice for all. These defendants are our nation's veterans, our next door neighbors, our families and our friends. Some are forgotten. Some are ignored. Some are never seen at all. And, while their actions thrust them into the spotlight of the criminal courts, their internal struggles often remain unseen. This collection of artwork is dedicated to ensuring justice for the unseen.

This installation includes artwork contributed from the community, students in the law school, as well as students from East Tennessee State University and Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate. These pieces are just a glimpse into the overall show which will also include many pieces and diverse mediums contributed by veterans, children, and others who have felt the effects of trauma and abuse.

On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Closed Friday, Marhc 30. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.

Opening reception Friday, March 2, 5-7pm free

Early years spent in design were further fostered by time spent working at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Renee Suich now resides in East Tennessee and enjoys experimenting with new media including encaustic work. Different mediums, like encaustic work, allow Suich to explore color and texture in a new way. Every piece becomes a new challenge. For more information, visit www.reneesuich.com.

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

Join us for the opening exhibition in First Friday, March 2, 5-9 PM

Gallery hours:
Wed & Fri - 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Thurs - 11:00am-1:00pm
or by appointment at 865-335-3358

HoLa Hora Latina, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: www.holahoralatina.org

Don't miss the opportunity to view the work of some of the community's most talented young artists!

The 2018 Farragut Intermediate School Art Show opens Friday, March 2, and will be on display through Friday, March 9. A reception to honor the artists is 5-6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6.

The 2018 Farragut Middle School Art Show opens Monday, March 19, and will be on display through Thursday, March 29. There will be a juried reception for artists from 5-6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27. First, second and third-place prizes will be awarded.

Both shows are sponsored by the Farragut Arts Council. For more information: ParksandRecInfo@townoffarragut.org.

Incorporated in 1980, the Town of Farragut has top schools, safe neighborhoods and high development standards, making it one of the best places to live in the Southeast. Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Dr, Farragut, TN 37934. Hours: M-F 10-4:30. Information: 865-966-7057, www.townoffarragut.org/museum

Details TBA!

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

By: christopher oscar peña

Transcending 20th-century notions of race and culture, peña’s work succeeds in simultaneously touching our hearts, stimulating our minds, and examining our society. Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang

In this CBT-commissioned World Premiere, Cris returns to a place he once used to know, only to find a world he no longer recognizes. As he connects with a new stranger tasked to show him around town, an unexpected spark challenges all of Cris' preconceived notions. the strangers is a modern day reimagining of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, depicting a contemporary American world thrown into chaos.
This production contains adult content and language.

Carousel 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

We have a full event calendar that grows by the day!

Monday - Singer/songwriter night (open sign-up)
Tuesday - Open mic night (open sign-up)
Wed through Sun - Various Americana/Folk artists from Knoxville and across the country

The Troubadour Roadhouse and Performance Hall located in Bearden, 4705 Old Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919
Information: 865-851-8650, www.troubadourroadhouse.com
www.facebook.com/troubadourroadhouse

Reception Friday, February 16, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.

Alyssa Johnson
There is a power in lines on maps, in three feet of fencing full of holes, in a velvet rope or a cement block. In this power, there are also rules. This wall is okay to climb over—that wall is not. You can paint on that wall, but you cannot touch this one. These are rules Johnson wants to define—to climb into, to push until she meets an edge, to make room for one or two or more people. She hopes to set the groundwork for this delineation by isolating the walls she interacts with daily, to draw them out of their repeated normalcy and question their necessity. There are two sides to every stance—therefore, she uses both realism and abstraction. Abolishing dividers leans toward naivety, yet holding all trust in borders rings with paranoia. Her primary hope is that a wide expression of style will allow for an exploration of both ends of the spectrum, prompting us to locate where our own feet stand in relation to either ignorance or distrust.

In December of 2017, Alyssa graduated from the University of Tennessee’s School of Art with a BFA in Studio Art and a psychology minor. Her past work has been featured in Phoenix Literary Magazine and included in group exhibitions in Tennessee; most recently, she has been displaying in New Jersey. While her focus is primarily on painting and drawing, Alyssa is also serving as studio manager to a local potter in Nashville while still maintaining her own practice in her studio at home.

Brandon McBath
McBath digs for treasure -- the images -- then makes the map to it. He compares this to viewing a cluster of clouds: the mind connects it with an image, and then one sees that image in the clouds. He wants viewers to discover hidden images and be observant of his clouds. He makes large-scale scroll-esque drawings that fill the field of vision from up close or afar. Intuitive gestural lines and ink-pours create a unique matrix or “sky.” Then, as he finds images, he reinforces them and makes them more readily available to the viewer.

Brandon McBath graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2016 with a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in drawing and a minor in art history. He was raised in East Tennessee by Tammy McBath, of Tammy’s Fish and Fried Green Tomatoes, and a loving older brother. After his father’s death in 1997, his mother worked hard to support her two children. During this time, Brandon was highly influenced by the art within television, anime, and video games. This later accompanied his faith in Jesus Christ which has shaped his worldview alongside his church family at Beech Grove Baptist Church. He teaches middle school art at Concord Christian School in Farragut.

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

Reception to be held March 16, 2018 from 5-7pm.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts announces Haiku / by Hand, a dual exhibition of works by Nicole Jacquard and Harlan W. Butt displayed in the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery.

Nicole Jacquard explores themes of memory, ornamentation, and the souvenir through her mixed-media jewelry work. She uses materials such as upcycled fabrics, thread, enamel and a variety of metals to reference the dichotomy of the handmade versus the mass-produced. Jacquard questions how an object with one supposed purpose can transcend its own function when nostalgia and personal meanings are attached.

Harlan W. Butt combines vessels with poetry as a way to explore humankind’s relationship with the natural world. His vessels, made from copper, silver, bronze and brass, reflect the sensory experience of the natural landscape. Butt conveys the beauty and mystery found in nature through his use of plant and animal imagery with a keen attention to color texture. The vessels are accompanied by haikus written by Butt, which record the unique human experience of being fully present in the wilderness.

Together, the works of Jacquard and Butt create a compelling dialog about what we choose to take away from our individual experiences. Be it a tangible memento with which we project a specific memory of place, or the memory itself, used as inspiration to create something new.
Nicole Jacquard is currently Area Head and an Associate Professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and was the President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths from 2015-2017. She received her first MFA from the University of Michigan in 1991, and her second in 1995 while on a Fullbright Scholarship to Australia at RMIT University in Melbourne. In 2004, Nicole returned to RMIT and completed her Ph.D. in Fine Arts. Nicole was awarded a second 2017-2018 Fullbright Scholarship to Scotland. See more of Jacquard’s work on her website, www.nicolejacquard.com.

Harlan W. Butt maintains a studio in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. He has been creating work for over 40 years in metals and enamel, specializing in vessels. Harlan was a Regents Professor of Art at the University of North Texas, where he retired in 2017 after teaching for 40 years. He served as Artist-in-Residence at Denali National Park in 2010 and at the Grand Canyon in 2014. He will be an Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park in the summer of 2018. See more of Harlan’s work on his website, harlanwbutt.com.

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

In 2015, Chicago collectors Helen and Russell Novak made the single largest and most important gift of art to the KMA’s contemporary print collection in the museum’s history. Press Ahead: Contemporary Prints Gifted by Helen and Russell Novak represents the official unveiling of this remarkable gift. The exhibition features 38 works by leading contemporary artists from around the world including Roger Brown, John Buck, Christo, Lesley Dill, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Red Grooms, Sol LeWitt, and Barbara Takenaga William T. Wiley, and by younger artists such as Brad Brown, Enrique Chagoya, Tom Huck, Jiha Moon, and Hans Schabus. Some artists are leading printmakers while others work primarily in other media, but became interested in collaborating with master printers in order to realize their ideas in print-based formats. The KMA’s selection includes great examples of each artist’s work, prints produced in small editions, and those representing a broad range of printmaking techniques and formats (including sculptural and book format prints).

The Novak’s collection includes thousands of contemporary prints acquired over a period of more than 30 years. The collection is noteworthy for its size and breadth, and because of Russell Novak’s close ties to such prominent master printers Jack Lemon and Bud Shark, who run two of the country’s premier print studios—Landfall Press and Shark’s Ink, respectively. Each year, Lemon and Shark would send the Novaks limited edition print portfolios, out of which the couple selected certain prints to be matted and framed for display. The collection has grown to a point at which framed works fill the walls of their home and of Russell’s corporate office space housing the accounting firm of Novak/Costello.

The Novaks chose to donate works to the KMA rather than area Chicago museums for several reasons. First, they became interested in the KMA thanks to Helen’s childhood friend, Knoxville educator Marilyn Liberman, who introduced Helen to the KMA. Marilyn also alerted the KMA about the Novaks and their collection, especially after learning that Helen had expressed interest in placing portions of the collection with suitable museums. The Novaks soon realized their gift to the KMA could eventually become a centerpiece for the museum’s works on paper collection. Their interest in placing the works at the KMA was heightened by the museum’s long association with contemporary printmaking (Dulin Gallery’s print competition ran from the early 1960s until the late 1980s), and the presence in Knoxville of the UTK School of Art’s Printmaking Program (ranked #2 in the country in 2017 by U.S. News & World Report). In this way, Press Ahead celebrates the Novak’s generosity, and underscores the important role of their gift in enabling KMA visitors to explore contemporary printmaking and the exciting range of expressive possibilities and technical approaches it encompasses.

For a full listing of the Novak’s gifts, please go to http://www.knoxart.org/info/files/Novak-collection-gift-2015.pdf

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

Join us for a show opening featuring the work of Kristen Wasik.
Opening - Fri Feb 2, 6-9 PM

She is a senior BFA candidate in the School of Art at the University of Tennessee. Her most recent work is informed by minimalism in which gesture and abstract forms construct a sense of meaning. When not in the studio, Kristen enjoys traveling, exploring the Smoky Mountains, and learning how to embrace being human.

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