Calendar of Events

This group painting show, titled By Candle Or By Bulb, features a trio of Knoxville-based painters including Eleanor Aldrich, Heather Hartman, and David Wolff. The show continues through May 25.

Fluorescent Gallery, 627 N. Central Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: https://www.facebook.com/fluorescentknoxville/

Stop by Ijams' Hallway Gallery to see May's photography exhibit by Chuck Cooper! His beautiful shots of historic Knoxville and wildlife will inspire you to get outside to see these sights for yourself.

More events at http://ijams.org/events/. 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

Jim Joyce takes a lot of pictures. He captures images of landscapes, flowers, big cats, all sorts of images from the great outdoors, but one subject that doesn’t catch his eye is people. At least not anymore.

Our featured artist in our Market Square location, Joyce spent a lot of his adult life trying to capture perfect moments of people interacting for PR shots and the like. But the challenges of blinking eyes, crooked smiles, funny faces, and even hair mussing gusts, finally got to him: “I got over the people pictures and so the only ones I take now are of my 7-year-old granddaughter.”

Although he didn’t include his family shots, Joyce did manage to bring a wide variety that includes dogwoods, tigers, flowers and more. For this exhibit Joyce selected some of his favorites from a large collection that now takes up considerable space in his home. He’s learned how to maximize every square inch of space from closest shelves to the space beneath beds in order to house his growing collection.

Joyce takes his camera along wherever he goes because, he says, “one morning I was walking my dog and there was a bald eagle right in the tree right above me. I didn’t have my camera on me so I took a picture with my cell phone. Of course, it was a minute detail on my camera screen, and it was a minute detail on my camera screen when I got back home to edit. I blew it up so I could show people. It was bigger than a speck, but you still couldn’t tell what it was. And I don’t think anybody believed me. Since then I take my camera with me everywhere.”

Joyce’s eye for the unexpected often gives his photography a fresh kind of realism, but the exhibit has more than a few shots that will make you stop for a second glance to check just what you saw. The striking color of a bird’s nest or the tendrils of a fern have an extra, alluring dimension, and the photo of a dance studio seems somehow slightly surreal. The dance studio shot is actually a photo of mural that he caught in some particularly serendipitous light, but even so, it captures the spirit of Joyce’s work – an eye for on the spot composition and a little bit of luck.

Jim Joyce’s photography will be on view at the downtown Knoxville Tomato Head on Market Square from May 7th thru June 3rd, 2018. Mr. Joyce will then display his work at the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from June 4th thru July 2nd, 2018.

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

The Appalachian Arts Craft Center will hold its annual Plant Sale starting Saturday, May 5, and running for about 2 weeks during shop hours.

Appalachian Arts Craft Center: 2716 Andersonville Highway, Clinton, TN. Hours: M-Sa 10-6, Su 1-5. Information: 865-494-9854, www.appalachianarts.net

The opening reception on Thursday, May 3 from 5:30-7:30pm is free and open to the public.

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection, featuring more than 40 paintings from the extensive holdings of the Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Scenic Impressions examines the influence of the Impressionist movement on art created in and about the American South. Artists represented in the exhibition include Kate Freeman Clark, Elliott Daingerfield, Gilbert Gaul, Alfred Hutty, Rudolph Ingerle, Willie Betty Newman, Alice Huger Smith, William Posey Silva, and Catherine Wiley, many of whom exhibited their work in Knoxville in the early twentieth century. The exhibition enables KMA viewers to appreciate the accomplishments of East Tennessee Impressionists such as Catherine Wiley within the larger context of her peers from around the Southeast.

Scenic Impressions is organized by the Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Johnson Collection is one of the premier collections of Southern painting in the country. Scenic Impressions underscores the Johnsons’ commitment to illuminating the rich cultural history of the American South and advancing scholarship in the field.

“The artists in Scenic Impressions were inspired by the beauty and variety of Southeastern landforms, especially along the extensive coastline and in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina,” said KMA Executive Director David Butler. “The vision of these painters stimulated a new appreciation of the Appalachian landscape that eventually led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They showed us how to value what’s in our own backyard. The Johnson Collection has done us all a tremendous service by gathering so many first-rate examples of this rich and creative period.”

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

An artistic exploration of water & environment
EXHIBITION: MAY 4TH – MAY 30, 2018
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY MAY 4TH, 5:00-8:30 PM

Modern Studio is pleased to announce Just Add Water, a collaborative art exhibition exploring water and the environment. The Just Add Water exhibition references the plants, people, animals, forests, and water crafts that require water to fully inhabit this world. The show features paintings and prints, and the opening reception includes dazzling parade-size fish puppets and hip-hop sound recordings highlighting our connection to water and the environment.

Knoxville-based collaborating artists include Betsy Hobkirk, Hawa Ware, Jennifer Willard, Martha Robbins, Suzanne Wedekind, and members of the Cattywampus Puppet Council. Fish puppets designed by Cattywampus and students at West Hills Elementary School.

Modern Studio, 109 W Anderson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-323-2425, www.modernstudio.org

Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present 14 live performances of the popular coming-of-age story, “Anne Of Green Gables.” This beloved tale of how an unwanted orphan makes her way in Avonlea, Nova Scotia has been adapted for film, television, and the stage.

The live stage play will be performed May 4 through 20:
Fri., May 4 at 7 PM, Sat., May 5 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sun., May 6 at 3 PM
Thurs., May 10 at 7 PM, Fri., May 11 at 7 PM, Sat., May 12 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sun., May 13 at 3 PM,
Thurs., May 17 at 7 PM, Fri., May 18 at 7 PM, Sat., May 19 at 1 PM & 5 PM, Sun., May 20 at 3 PM.

All the tragedies and triumphs that mark Anne's coming-of-age are here: her friendship with Diana, her feuds with Gilbert, her adoration of Matthew, the mistaken wine bottle, the cake disaster, the broken leg, and ultimately, the saving of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book has sold more than 50 million copies and is read around the world in over 35 languages.

The play is performed by 24 talented young actors, from ages 9 to 16. Averi Waller, a 13-year-old veteran of over a dozen KCT plays, plays Anne. Two teens from south Knoxville, Charlotte Stark and Boone Sommers, play the Cuthberts, and Bella Patterson and Logan Bell play Anne’s stalwart friends, Diana and Gilbert.

Knoxville Children's Theatre, 109 E. Churchwell Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-208-3677, www.knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com

You are invited to view more than 20 examples of southern mountain rifles and pistols at an upcoming temporary exhibit at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend, Tennessee, from May 1 to October 25, presented by the Kentucky Rifle Foundation. These 18th and 19th century tools were essential for the survival of pioneers in the frontiers of Eastern Tennessee and Western Carolina.

These southern mountain rifles fully evolved in the last quarter of the 18th and the first quarter of the 19th centuries, as pioneers and settlers moved into what is now Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. In the original colonies during this time, the Kentucky rifle was becoming an art piece in its “Golden Age,” while on the frontier, the southern mountain rifle had become an unadorned, iron-mounted utilitarian piece.

Baxter Bean, whose work exemplified the typical southern mountain rifle, was a third-generation gunsmith who worked in the Jonesboro, Tennessee, area. One of Baxter’s rifles, which will be on exhibit, was brought into Cades Cove by Wilson “Wilse” Birchfield, who named the rifle “Old Bean.” Wilse chose to live high in the mountains just under Gregory’s Bald. When he moved out of the Cove into the mountains, the old timers told him the bears would eat him alive. Wilse’s response to this was, “Old Wilson may eat some, too.”

For more details and to learn about special programming, call 865-448-0044 or visit www.gsmheritagecenter.org. This exhibit is included in the cost of daily admission to the Heritage Center or FREE to GSMHC members.

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: M-Sa 10-5. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

The Town's May/June 2018 Featured Artist is Quebec native Jill Crociata. Her colorful textile art is influenced by 1930s cottage and garden design, but with a contemporary twist.

Jill emphasizes texture through techniques of layered fabric and hand stitch. Using hand-dyed fabrics and threads, she creates engaging red-roofed cottages, forested landscapes and gardens that sparkle with beads and combinations of unusual threads. She is a member of the FreeStyle interest group of the Knoxville Chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild.

Each month, the work of an artist or group of artists is featured in specially-designed cases on the second floor of the rotunda in Farragut Town Hall. For more information about this exhibit or to access a Featured Artist application, visit townoffarragut.org/artsandculture or

contact Brittany Spencer at ParksandRecInfo@townoffarragut.org or 218-3378.
Farragut Town Hall, located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive directly across from the Farragut Branch Post Office, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Reception June 28th 5-7pm

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

Paintings by Inna Nasanova Knox (2 - D)
Inna's paintings reflect a lot of sunshine, with the use of bold color and clear hues. She prefers painting cityscapes, but also paints seascapes, and landscapes, where she accentuates the local culture of an area. “I truly believe that every city and place has its own character and individuality.”
Inna grew up in several Russian cities with over a million people, living in Kazan, St. Petersburg, Litvenia Kaunas, and Ukraine Krivoy Rog. She immigrated to the USA in 2000, and in 2005 became a US citizen. Currently, she is a dual citizen of Russia and the USA. “My life experience and art educational background has broadened my visual art approach. My work is included in different private collections in different countries around the world and has been displayed in different countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Litvenia, and Aruba, as well as the United States in Wisconsin, Florida, and Tennessee.”

Harriet Howell (3 - D)
Harriet Howell's scarfs capes are inspired by nature and expressed through color and texture. Some are funky fun and others elegant, but all reveal something about being feminine and feeling wonderful.

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

April 20 will mark the opening night of another world premiere by national playwright Lisa Soland. This time she also sits in the director’s chair, directing local actor Greg Helton in her new one-person play, SERGEANT YORK: THE PLAY.

Sergeant York: The Play depicts the life and times of Pall Mall, Tennessee resident, Alvin C. York, also known as Sergeant York, the most decorated Army soldier of WWI. York received the Medal of Honor for killing 28 German soldiers and singlehandedly capturing 132 others in the battle of the Argonne forest, France. Gary Cooper won an Academy Award for best actor portraying York in the beloved 1941 film, Sergeant York. Ms. Soland’s live stage version also dramatizes what York accomplished in his community following the war. He built roads into Pall Mall and constructed the Alvin C. York Institute, which forever changed the lives of the people of The Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf.

Ms. Soland presently teaches playwriting at Maryville College where her drama The Sniper’s Nest premiered, as well as her hit comedy Waiting, both also directed by the playwright. She moved to Eastern Tennessee nine years ago from Hollywood, where she had directed and produced over 80 shows, 55 of which were original. Ms. Soland received a Tennessee Arts Commission Grant for her work on SERGEANT YORK: THE PLAY and has received full support from York’s descendants making themselves available for interviews.

SERGEANT YORK: THE PLAY opens in the HUB student center, on the campus of West Park church, 8833 Middlebrook Pike, April 20 and April 21 at 7:30 pm. The play will then run Thursday through Saturday nights at 7:30 pm, as well as Saturday afternoons at 2 pm, with an additional performance on Memorial Day, May 28, 2018, at 7:30 pm.

Tickets are free. Secure your seat online at: http://www.westparkbaptist.org/sergeantyork/