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.

Join us for the opening reception, Friday, June 1, 5-9PM and Friday, July 6, 5-9PM at the UT Downtown Gallery

Kimberly D. Iles was known for her vivacity, generosity of spirit, and passion for the arts. She graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee in 1990, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a graphic designer, she poured her talent and energy into her work for clients ranging from Oak Ridge National Laboratories to the White House tech corps, and started her own very successful design firm, Ilesnet Design. She designed a web-based textbook – the first of its kind – for the Computational Science Education Project, a K-12 educational program to teach the principles of high-performance computing. She later transitioned into a full-time career in fine art, exhibiting her paintings and photographs in juried shows around the world.

Iles and her husband, Dr. James J. Hack, established the Kimberly D. Iles Art Scholarship Endowment in 2015. The endowment supports multiple scholarships awarded annually to undergraduate students in the School of Art.

This exhibition benefits the Kimberly D. Iles Scholarship Endowment for undergraduate students in the School of Art.

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

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

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

Wednesdays from 11 am – 2 pm
Saturdays from 9 am – 2 pm

The Market Square Farmers’ Market is an open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Everything at the MSFM is grown or made by the vendor in the East Tennessee region. Products vary by the seasons and include produce, eggs, honey, herbs, pasture-raised meat, bread, baked goods, salsas, coffee, artisan crafts, and more. With interactive fountains, delicious local food, and surrounded by shops and restaurants, the MSFM is a perfect family destination.

Free parking is available on Saturdays at several parking garages downtown including the Market Square, Locust Street, Walnut Street, and State Street Garages, as well as in commercial loading zones. Parking is $1 per hour on Wednesdays in all four garages. Short-term parking meters around Market Square are in effect Wednesday and Saturday, and are $1.50 per hour. See downtownknoxville.org for more information on downtown Knoxville parking options. https://www.nourishknoxville.org/market-square-farmers-market/

Grow with us! Pre-school kiddos are invited to Story Thyme in the Garden every Wednesday morning at 10:30am now through October! Participants will explore the garden, read a story book, and do a fun craft.

Story Thyme is located in our Every Child Outdoors Garden at the Center for Urban Agriculture, 2649 Boyds Bridge Pike.
For more information: 865-862-8717, www.knoxgarden.org

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

Tuesdays 3-6 PM: Ebenezer Road Farmers Market, 1001 Ebenezer Road, Knoxville
Wednesdays 3-6 PM: Oak Ridge Farmers Market, Jackson Square
Fridays 3-6 PM: Lakeshore Park Farmers Market, 5908 Lyons View Drive, Knoxville
Saturdays 8 AM-Noon: Oak Ridge Farmers Market, Jackson Square

We bring the farm to you! Since 1976, the East TN Farmers Association (FARM) has offered fresh, local food and farm-based crafts. We have three convenient farmers market locations. All three locations offer sustainably produced grass-fed meat, hand-picked produce, farm fresh eggs, artisan bread and cheese, local honey, flowers and farm-based crafts. We inspect our vendors to make sure they are 100 percent local, all the time. The market is open mid-April through late November. Join us this season for high-quality food and crafts, in a convenient location!
http://www.easttnfarmmarkets.org/index.asp

Dogwood Arts Art In Public Places - Temporary Sculpture Exhibition

Art in Public Places is a large-scale outdoor sculpture program showcased throughout Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and Alcoa, Tennessee. The annual rotating installation is one of many Dogwood Arts programs focused on providing access to the arts for everyone, promoting awareness of the strong visual arts community thriving in our region, and creating a vibrant and inspiring environment for residents and visitors to experience. Over the past eleven years, Dogwood Arts has curated and installed over 220 works of art, and the Art In Public Places program has gained national recognition as a platform for world-class artists. This year’s ambitious collection of sculptures created by artists from across the nation has been selected by Director of the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Justin Rabideau.

Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-637-4561, www.dogwoodarts.com

Meeting every Sunday from 11 AM - noon at Adair Park, 1807 Adair Drive, Knoxville, TN 37918, near the Gazebo and Playground.

Meeting every Wednesday from 6-7 PM at Good People, 4026 Chapman Hwy, Knoxville, TN 37920.

Beginning April 7, meeting on Saturdays from 11 AM - noon at Olde Mechanicsville Park on Arthur St. near the Firehouse and the Lotus Light Center.

Requested donation of $10 for each class, $17 for two classes/week, or $22 for 3 classes/week.

Information: Karl Hess, karlalanhess@gmail.com

Pick Your Poison examines how mind-altering drugs have been used throughout the history of America.

Featuring over forty medicines, advertisements, historic and popular culture documents and books, video footage, and paraphernalia, the exhibition explores why some drugs remain socially acceptable, while others are outlawed because of their toxic, and intoxicating, characteristics.

These classifications have shifted at different times in history because of social and historical factors, and will continue to change. The exhibition explores some of the factors that have shaped the changing definition of some of our most potent drugs––alcohol, tobacco, opium, cocaine, and marijuana––from medical miracle to social menace.

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