Calendar of Events

The first thing to know about Ocean Starr Cline is that that is her given name. The second important thing to know is that, despite the invariable interest that her name excites, she’s not much concerned with what others think. In fact, it’s an essential part of how she lives:

“My parents had me in San Francisco, named me, and immediately moved me to Clay County, Alabama where everybody was Jeremy, Jason, Sarah and Amanda. I fit in like a purple giraffe on the farm. I complained bitterly about my name for years and years and I was going to change it when I got old enough, but, by that point, I had gotten used to it – because there’s always somebody who’s going to stare or has a comment. It really fortified me to be able to put any kind of art on the wall. Some people are going to like it some people are not. And I just don’t care.”

But Cline’s life and art is very much about caring for other people though not in an intrusive or interfering way. Cline’s paintings evince a sense of that magic – although she often works in a similar palate, her paintings each carry a unique voice, you might even detect an aura. Her approach to art leaves her open to whatever magic or inspiration comes to her in the moment.

Starr Cline’s exhibit will be on view at the downtown Knoxville Tomato Head on Market Square from June 4th through July 1st. Her exhibit will move to the West Knoxville Tomato Head from July 3rd through August 6th. http://thetomatohead.com/ocean-starr-cline/

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

The Dogwood Arts Regional Art Exhibition returns to showcase work from leading progressive and emerging artists from a seven stage region. The exhibition will encompass fine art of all styles and genres, with 28 selections made by juror, Leigh Suggs, who currently is the curator at LIGHT Art + Design in Richmond, Virginia. Leigh Suggs received her BFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2003 and her MFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Craft and Material Studies in 2015. Gaining recognition throughout the area, her work has been shown in multiple group exhibitions across North Carolina and in Richmond, VA. Her recent shows include her solo at Reynolds Gallery Double Vision (2016); In Visible Light (2015) at LIGHT Art + Design in Chapel Hill, NC; Trying to Exit Here (2015), Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA; and her notable group shows include the NCAC Fellowship Exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC (2014), and Art on Paper (2012) at the Weatherspoon Museum in Greensboro, NC. Suggs has been awarded several grants and honors, including the North Carolina Fellowship Award, a city of Richmond CultureWorks Grant, and a residency at the Quirk Hotel & Gallery in Richmond, VA. Her work is part of several corporate collections including the Federal Reserve Bank, Capital One, Markel Corporation and Fidelity Investments.

Opening Reception: Friday, June 1, 5:30 – 8:30pm
Award Ceremony: Friday, June 1, 7:00 pm

On display at the office of Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Viewing hours: M-F 10-5. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

Recent works by ceramicist Amber Anne Palo and woodturner Janis Proffit will be on display through the month of June at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the featured artists, with complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Jim Myers, will begin at 5:30 p.m. on June 1, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk.

The show represents a first-time-ever collaboration between two of the gallery’s 3-Dimensional artists. Janis and Amber Anne will combine their mediums of clay and wood, creating sculptural 3-D pieces, as well as 2-D hanging works.

Amber Anne Palo: Amber Anne hand-builds her ceramic figurative sculptures using layers of underglazes to create her surfaces. She blends many pieces with antique items that carry the scars from years of use or neglect to impart a sense of time-worn history. She creates her figures with the intent that each transmit meaning while allowing the viewer to establish their own personal connection.
Amber Anne is a self-taught artist who has been involved with clay for over 20 years, with more recent years focusing on a professional level. She has won several awards of distinction and participates in several national juried art shows each year. Her work is also carried in several galleries throughout the United States. Amber Anne seeks to open a dialogue between the viewer and the artwork to convey the common human experience. The language of the conversation is two-fold, with her part being expressed through the subtle nuances of facial expressions, body language, and layers of meaning through worn and weathered surfaces. She then strives to create the moment when a person moves past the artwork itself to their own personal experiences - the response to her artistic statement. This is a moment for her that is humbling and a reaffirmation that the work she creates is not just for her but those who experience, internalize, and digest her art.

Janis Proffit: Woodworking has been in Janis's family for several generations, dating back to the first settlers in Sevier County. She grew up helping her father in his woodshop and learned her woodworking skills from him. In the 1980's she taught herself pyrography, incorporating it into her woodturnings. Many of her pieces are created from both fallen logs and branches while others are formed from logs that have been sawn into slabs. Many times characteristics unique to an individual piece of wood,will influence the design. For over 25 years, she has been a full-time craft artist. Her work is a mixture of traditional Appalachia turning along with contemporary designs.
Janis has both studied and assisted at Arrowmont. She has been featured on "The Heartland Series," and is a member of the Foothills Craft Guild. Her work has won numerous awards from Tennessee Craft, Arrowmont Juried Biennial Shows, and Oak Ridge Art Center Open Shows. In 2009, Janis was invited to be a demonstrator in the Utah Woodturning Symposium. There were over 8 countries represented at the Symposium.

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

Check out June's colorful mixed media exhibit by Tina Brunetti of Brunetti Confetti Art!
She combines acrylics, oil, sand and glue for a beautiful, stained glass effect.

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

A reception will take place on Friday, June 1, 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.

The Arts & Culture Alliance presents the sixth annual Knoxville Photo exhibition featuring selected works from 34 artists throughout the region. Knoxville Photo was developed to provide a forum for photographers to compete on a national scale and display their work. The exhibition encompasses photographs depicting all subjects and genres, including streetscapes, cityscapes, landscapes, environmental portraiture, portraits, abstracts, and more.

Leigh Mitchell served as juror for the exhibition and viewed images from 78 artists to select the exhibition. Mitchell is a fine art photographer and educator. She was a college instructor for over ten years, teaching Film Photography I and II, Digital Photography I and II, and Photography Appreciation. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Human Studies from Warren Wilson College and a master’s degree in Studio Art from Western Carolina University. Her work has been in galleries locally and nationally, including The Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), Rochester Contemporary Art Center (Rochester, NY), Five Spot (Atlanta, GA), The Asheville Art Museum, and The Asheville Area Arts Council.

The following artists’ works will be shown:
+ Dave Edens of Madison, AL
+ Leon Bell of Owens Cross Roads, AL
+ Adam Hutsell of Los Angeles, CA
+ Samuel Brown of Dacula, GA
+ Caroline Dockery of Asheville, NC
+ Sam Hill of Matthews, NC
+ Ken Van Dyne of Cincinnati, OH
+ Karen Partridge of Dandridge, TN
+ David Boruff, Jamar Coach, Bobbie Crews Thurston, Khoa Dinh, Katharine Emlen, Nevin Freeman, Richard Jansen, Hei Park, Lennie Robertson, Caitlin Ryan, and Karla Tucker of Knoxville, TN
+ Brooke Craig of Lookout Mountain, TN
+ Cat Griffith-Benson of Maryville, TN
+ Bobbie J. Hinton of Morristown, TN
+ Paula Campbell, Yvonne Dalschen, Lela Moore, Anna Rykaczewska and Jill Vandagriff of Oak Ridge, TN
+ Eric Buechel of Pleasant Hill, TN
+ Phil Savage and AngelaDawn of Powell, TN
+ Julie Oglesby of Seymour, TN
+ Spears McAllester of Signal Mountain, TN
+ Billie Wheeler of Meadowview, VA
+ James E. Meldrum of Beloit, WI

For more information, please visit http://www.knoxalliance.com/knoxville-photo/

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

A reception will take place on Friday, June 1, 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.

Judi Gaston will display two series as part of the exhibition with her son, Robert Gaston, who will display metal art furniture pieces, small pottery/metal works, and photography.

Each year in the spring, Ijams Nature Center invites volunteers to help clean-up the Tennessee River. Judi Gaston enjoys being part of the environmentally-important event and is intrigued by the beauty of objects she finds during the clean-up. The objects form the basis for pieces in a series entitled “Recycle: The Tennessee River Rescue”, which are handwoven with recycled materials, used plastic bags, retired bed linens, packing materials, and more. Her second series, “Recycle: The Study”, results from her husband’s participation in a medical study. Each piece contains some of the used paraphernalia from the study, including cut-up hospital gowns handwoven into a lookalike hospital gown. With other works, plastic newspaper sleeves become the handwoven bodies. Judi Gaston is a fiber artist, designing and weaving wearables that reflect her passion for travel and witnessing various cultures. Her wearables often incorporate vintage or found pieces, linking past with present. She is a member of the Tennessee Crafts Association, The Southern Highlands Guild, and the Piedmont Crafts Guild. Gaston has received many awards, and her work appears in numerous collections. In 2011, she was inducted into the Tennessee State Museum Fashion and Textile Institute in Nashville.

Robert Gaston’s influences and interests include nature and insects, machines, Meso-American and ancient world ceramics, Japanese Sci-fi models, northern European renaissance painting, and African ceramics and architecture, to name a few. His work is simply a reflection of his interests. Robert Gaston grew up in Knoxville and graduated from the University of Tennessee (BFA) in 1989. Since graduation, he has spent most of his time living in Colorado where he runs a business restoring fossil skeletons (dinosaurs, extinct mammals, etc.). For more information, please visit www.gastondesign.com.

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

A reception will take place on Friday, June 1, 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.

The alphabet series was inspired by Bruce Bunting’s desire to program an exhibition and create a larger body of coherent work. He typically works on a small scale, on individual pieces, and he selected the alphabet as the basis for his new series. He scoured the dictionary for inspiring words and antique shops and his attic for parts and pieces. Each of the works incorporate his handmade paper, newly-purchased parts and antiques, and some personal objects more than 20 years old. This exhibition represents the largest body of work Bunting has ever made.

Bruce Bunting is a retired automotive engineer and cancer survivor. He has dabbled in art most of his life in the form of jewelry and small sculptures. After retirement, he became more involved in developing his personal style, which combines his enjoyment of building things with his whimsical/macabre outlook. His art also provided an outlet for expression as he went through cancer treatment and recovery. For more information, please visit https://brucebuntingart.com/.

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

A reception will take place on Friday, June 1, 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.

Since the early 20th century, women have been a strong presence in both the American art-pottery movement and the studio movement of artists working alone. This exhibition pays homage to the aesthetic ideals of that era and the women who made it possible. Amanda Bonar’s work focuses on combining intense surface decorations that are inspired by nature and combined with classic vessel forms. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes somber – all the pieces pay homage to the women gone before who painstakingly balanced life, work, and motherhood while creating something useful and beautiful to behold. Bonar’s pieces are rendered on the potter’s wheel or slab-built by hand with texture and alterations. All pieces are water tight, non-toxic and oven proof.

Amanda Bonar is a former art educator trained at the Pennsylvania State University. She learned ceramics from Dr. Kenneth Beittel, and after many years teaching at all levels of education in both public and private settings, she is now focusing on her own creative processes. She has a private studio in Loudon and is a member of the Foothills Craft Guild and Terra Madre consortium of women ceramicists. She has received several accolades including the 2017 Award for ceramic excellence at the Open Show at the Oak Ridge Art Center. Her work is in several collections in the area and the Northeast. For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/ArtifaxArtPottery/.

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

A reception will take place on Friday, June 1, 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.

Barbara West Portrait Group in the Atrium
The original group formed in 2001 by Barbara West, and after her death, they continued meeting in her name. Members have come from a variety of places including the Knoxville area, other parts of the state, various parts of the US, and even other countries. Their list of occupations is diverse: photographers, teachers, architects, doctors, nurses, scientists, homemakers, and artists. The group’s members range from those who are just starting to explore art to professional artists; all use a variety of media. Although the common thread is art, the group tries to provide a strong sense of community - an important gift as they move through life.

The Barbara West Portrait Group has exhibited at the Farragut Town Hall, Peace Lutheran Church, Ball Camp Baptist, and Candoro Marble. They meet every Wednesday & Saturday from 2:00-4:00 PM in Knoxville-area churches. The open studio is $5 to attend with a live model; no instruction is provided. For more information, please contact Debbie Barnes at 865-661-1213 or visit https://www.facebook.com/TheBarbaraWestPortraitGroup.

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

The project, inspired by a similar exhibit at Rotary Botanical Garden in Janesville, Wisconsin, is designed to promote community participation and artist collaboration at the UT Gardens, Knoxville, as well as to raise awareness and support for the Gardens. 27 local professional and amateur artists have created unique interpretations of a wooden hummingbird silhouette. The pieces will be displayed throughout the summer of 2018 for Gardens visitors to enjoy. The Hummingbirds will then be sold at a live auction on September 8, 2018 with all proceeds benefiting the UT Gardens, Knoxville.

UT Gardens, Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-7151, https://ag.tennessee.edu/utg/Pages/default.aspx

Reception date TBA

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