Calendar of Events

Dragon Lights, Knoxville’s first-ever Chinese lantern festival, will take place at Chilhowee Park and Exposition Center and will be open every night from 5:30pm until 10:00pm.

Featuring over 40 larger-than-life lantern displays, Dragon Lights is the largest Chinese lantern festival in the Eastern Unites States. Thousands of sculptural and light components make this event a true visual treat. Dozens of Chinese artisans travel the world to keep this century-old tradition alive, and they will be constructing the displays on site at Chilhowee as the festival draws near. Dragon Lights also will feature performances by Chinese acrobats and Chinese folk art demonstrations, as well as children's activities.

Don't miss this unique experience. Tickets ($16 per adult, or $10 for children) are on sale now. Call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or stop by the Civic Coliseum Box Office. (Group tickets for 15 or more are only available at the Coliseum Box Office, 865-215-8999.) http://www.chilhoweepark.org/dragon-lights-festival/

For his film installation at The University of Tennessee Knoxville's Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902, in conjunction with the 2018 Big Ears Festival, Los Angeles based collage film artist Lewis Klahr will present a looped, rotating selection of his films that explore the vicissitudes of time and memory. Many of the films included will be from his ongoing, open-ended series of digital films Prolix Satori. Also included will be a special sequence assembled to be screened only under the following weather conditions — severe overcast or rain lasting at least 60 minutes.

About the Artist
Lewis Klahr uses found images and sound to explore the intersection of memory and history. He is primarily known for his uniquely idiosyncratic films, which he began creating in 1977 and has screened extensively in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Lewis Klahr teaches in the Theater School of the California Institute of the Arts and is represented by The Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London.

Lewis Klahr is currently at work on a new feature length series of collage films titled Circumstantial Pleasures and Porcelain Gods, a retelling of Jean Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt as a collage novel.

EXTENDED HOURS DURING THE BIG EARS MUSIC FESTIVAL
Thursday, March 22: 2:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.
Friday, March 23: 11:00 A.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Saturday, March 24: 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Sunday, March 25: 1:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture announces the Museum Store Spring Sale March 15 through March 31.

Shake off winter and enjoy blooming flowers with handmade garden art by local artisans, seeds, and beautiful botanical items in the Museum Store’s Spring Sale.

UT Students and Museum Members always enjoy 10% off all purchases, and all Store proceeds benefit the museum’s free educational programming.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: M-Sa 9-5, Su 1-5. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

"The Knoxville Book Arts Guild: and The Southern Appalachian Nature Photography"
Also showing: Watercolors by the students of Mary Baumgartner

Reception for both: March 16, 2018, 6:30 – 8:00 PM. Free and open to the public.

Exhibit viewing hours: Hours: Tu & Th 9-6, F 10-1, 3rd-4th Sa 9-1. Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

Please join us for the reception on Saturday, April 7th in the Blain Gallery for light refreshments.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts announces Alternative Bodies, a group exhibition showcasing new work by the 2017-2018 Arrowmont Artists-in-Residence: Xia Zhang, Paige Ward, Elyse-Krista Mische, Emily Culver, and Max Adrian. In vulnerable ways, these artists touch on a variety of topics related to the body such as queerness, sexuality, faith, race, and death. These artists are playful and inventive with their processes in order to start conversations that may otherwise be difficult to digest.

Works such as those by Zhang, Culver, and Adrian focus on matters of flesh and bone: what it means to touch bodies, to express ourselves through our bodies and the objects we interact with, to be celebrated, stigmatized, or separated because of our bodies. Tactility is a key element for these works which span a breadth of materials like faux-fur, orange peels, and rubber. Works by Mische and Ward, on the other hand, consider spiritual existences in pursuit of greater understanding of our mortality and what lies in wait beyond the body. Objects like concrete pillows and monumental papier-mâché vessels reference the body through its absence. Metaphors for faith and self-preservation speak to multiple possibilities of seeking and finding comfort.

Collectively, all five artists encourage the viewer to contemplate other perspectives and expressions of humanness at a time when the world feels more divided than unified. Alternative Bodies aspires to a level of empathy and compassion for the hopes, hardships, and successes we all have within our physical forms.

The Artists-in-Residence Program is an 11-month program which provides early career, self-directed artists time, space and support to experiment and develop a new body of work in a creative community environment. Each year, five artists of different media are selected for the eleven-month program, which begins mid-June and continues through late May of the following year. Participants receive exhibition opportunities, teaching experience, professional development and a private studio.

In the Sandra J. Blain Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

The exhibition will open on March 10 from 7 to 9 pm with a gallery talk at 6:30

Featuring local artists whose work is composed of reused or re-imagined materials, ephemera, or found objects.

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

Playwright Edward Albee famously decried the efforts of critics and scholars to identify too much “connective tissue” in his work. Albee said he didn’t control characters – they act the way they act because that’s who they are, and they do what they do because that’s what they want to do. For Albee, writing, art if you will, isn’t limited or necessarily driven by what happens to the creator of the work. Albee might have opined that in art, like life, the artist starts something, somewhere for reasons known or unknown, but once started that creation careens off in its own direction. Artist Kimberly Pack, whose exhibit currently hangs in our Market Square location, isn’t exactly sure where the characters in her work came from, but she does know that they have taken up residence in her imagination where they seem to have heard and heeded a call to be fruitful and multiply.

A quick look at her collection of drawings (ink on watercolor paper) is enough to tempt an observer into wondering if these strange little people have some connection to the artist’s life: Are they personal demons trying to get out? Are they unkind caricatures of unpleasant characters from her past? Are they born of some great sadness or a little touch of madness?

Kimberly Pack will be on view at the Market Square Tomato Head thru March 4th, 2018. She will exhibit at the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from March 6th thru April 2nd, 2018.

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

Love is in the air. And it’s on our walls. It’s hanging there, mostly in bold colors, as a clear statement that photographer Ric Brooks loves music makers almost as much as he loves their music. For years, Brooks has been the official unofficial photographer of Big Ears. And it’s a role he loves. He’s a straightforward guy, I suspect he wouldn’t tell you any lies. So when he repeats that he isn’t a professional photographer, you believe that he believes it. Yet when you look at his work, you’ll recognize that he is a passionate shutterbug – which, in many ways, is exactly what you want for a festival that touches the very heart of passion.

His collection of work now hanging on our Market Square walls spans 2009 – 2017 and is mostly comprised of artists in action shots. Each one is a studied photo in its way. Brooks says, “I’m in the audience, listening, and I see a photograph that I want to take. Say, I see this look on the artist’s face, and I know I want to photograph it. I’ll have to take 3 or 4 just to get that expression. Lots of musicians will do certain things, make a move or something to get that high note; you know it – it’s what people call the guitar face. But you can see that happening in the song so you know it’s going to come back on the chorus or somewhere. I’m waiting for it. I know what photo I want.”

The exhibit represents just a fraction of his search for the images he likes and an extensive association with musicians. Brooks and Big Ears founder Ashley Capps have a long and continuous friendship that dates back to Kindergarten. When Capps started doing concerts at the Laurel Theatre way back when, Brooks was there with a camera and, sometimes, catering too. When Capps opened Ella Guru’s, Brooks was there, managing, taking tickets, and meeting, hearing and watching.

“Big Ears Big Eyes – Big Ears photos from 2009-2017”, an exhibit of photographs by Ric Brooks will be on view at the downtown Tomato Head on Market Square from March 5th thru April 1st. The exhibit will then be on view at the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from April 3rd thru May 7th.

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

Stop by for local art that will put a smile on your face! March's exhibit features Gayla D. Seale's bright watercolor paintings and Mtn. Girl Design's adorable pebble collages. Both capture the charm and magic of everyday life.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Recent works by photographer Pamela Salyer and Hugh Bailey will be on display through the month of March at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists with complimentary refreshments will begin at 5:30 p.m. on March 2 during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk.

Pamela Salyer: Nature inspires my artwork in so many ways, but I find myself continuously intrigued by trees. Whether the subject is a single tree, a group of trees, a knot of branches, or a mass of leaves, my paintings and collages are my attempts to describe and capture the ephemeral beauty that I find outdoors. The results are usually somewhere between direct representation and abstraction, transforming trees into pattern, color, light and texture. I use color and shape to try to communicate some of the mystery and beauty that I see in the shifting moods and landscapes of the natural world: nature can be lush or sparse, sinister or comforting. These aspects may be conveyed in different ways, i.e., through a beautiful color combination, a somewhat surreal image, or in a scene that’s almost in focus but remains slightly out of reach. Regardless, I strive to create something that will hopefully draw the viewer in, and evoke a moment of connection with the natural world.

Hugh Bailey received a B.A. in fine arts from Berea College in Berea, KY in 1956 and a Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics and painting from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana in 1959. He has extensively taught extension courses for the University of Virginia from its Bristol division and filled in for his pottery teacher for one year at Berea College. Bailey worked as a graphic designer for the University of Tennessee beginning in 1960, and retiring in 2001. Bailey divides his time between painting and ceramics and has always been fascinated by animals and this certainly reflects in his art. When he first started doing craft shows he noticed that most of the work was utilitarian and thought that there might be an opportunity for more sculptural work. This has worked out. The first examples were small solid figures mounted on wood blocks, but they eventually developed into wheel thrown shapes assembled into one whole form. A woman at a pottery festival once asked him what his pieces were good for. He replied, “They are dust catchers with a 100% chance to catch dust.”

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

Opening March 2, 5-9 PM

Pop Art was an art movement in the 60’s. A lot of its art was large, graphic, and brightly colored images of popular cultural themes. Andy Worhol was the most famous of the Pop Artists, with his large repetitive prints of Campbell Soup Cans and of this neon colored pictures of Marilyn Monroe.

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Thurs-Sat, 10-6; Sun-Wed by appointment (or when the "open" sign is turned on). Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com

Join us on March 2, 5-9 PM for our second First Friday Art Show EVER in our newly updated gallery space! This month we're excited to be featuring the work of #Knoxville's Adam Pernell Deal!

Adam Pernell Deal is an illustrator and performance artist working in Knoxville's underground art scene. His art is influenced by Albrecht Durer's detailed woodcuts, Austin Spare's esoteric symbolism, and a pleasant childhood spent in the woods and abandoned buildings of rural Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Adam's illustration work is primarily in ink and watercolor, generated through surrealist automatism. His guided hand reproduces worlds and their inhabitants beyond the veil, whether they may be on the far side of the universe, or as near as the empty lot next door. Adam is currently working on fantasy- based children's literature, gothic rock n' roll, and his biceps. You'll often find him in DIY studio spaces or corner tables of coffee shops. He crafted his technique in the moonlight.

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-522-0832, https://knoxbijou.org/art-gallery/