Calendar of Events

Stop by to see Kathy Thacker's colorful, textural paintings this August! Her work, which also includes murals and illustrations for children's books, explores everything from still life and portraits to whimsical depictions of animals and food.

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

"Newer Things" will view at the downtown Knoxville Tomato Head on Market Square thru August 5th. He will then exhibit from the West Knoxville Gallery Tomato Head from August 7th thru September 3rd.

Carl Gombert is the featured artist, and while you probably won’t catch him there to share his personal magic, the works in his exhibit have a magic all their own. The exhibit consists of rubber stamped decorative pieces that have been Gombert’s focus for the last five years...

Read his bio from a previous TH show here: http://thetomatohead.com/carl-gombert/

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

Every Monday, Jul 30 - Aug 20, 7:00 PM at the Phoenix Pharmacy and Fountain, 418 S Gay St, Knoxville.

Join us and learn about Argentine Tango in a fun, relaxed environment. No experience needed, no partner needed.
7:00 - 8:00 pm - Class
8:00 - 9:00 pm - Practice

This series closes out with a party (called a Milonga) on Monday 8/20.

Cost? Donations only
https://www.facebook.com/events/224601654834978/

The Town's July/August 2018 Featured Artist is Sheri Burns, a home-school mom of four. She became an accomplished basket maker after studying Appalachian culture with her children. In an effort to add a hands-on element to her teaching, she signed up for a basket-making class and was immediately "hooked," she says. "I loved making baskets, and soon had a house full of them, and generously gifted them to all my relatives and friends!"

She is now a juried crafter at the Appalachian Arts Craft Center in Norris and teaches classes there and at Pellissippi State Community College. She is a member of the Tennessee Basket Association.

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. 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. 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 865-218-3378.

On July 2, the Farragut Museum will unveil a very special exhibit which will showcase paintings by local artist Alexander Dumas. Visitors will also be able to view artifacts from various branches of the military and numerous wars, including the Korean War, Vietnam War, World War I and II, and Desert Storm. This exhibit will be on display through January 4, 2019.

Dumas was born in Detroit, Mich., and started painting on his 27th birthday. Serving in the U.S. Navy from 1945-1949 and as a Hospital Corpsman at the University of Virginia from 1949-1953 gave Alex a unique perspective on war. As a WWII veteran, the images of young men suffering from the wounds of war have stayed with the artist for a lifetime. While he did not see combat, many of his patients came back to the States with wounds that would be considered horrific under any circumstance. His wartime paintings are based on combat photographs.

Dumas spent 16 years as a member of the Tennessee State Guard, retiring with the rank of Major. His paintings are on exhibit at the Tennessee Theatre, the East Tennessee Historical Society and the USS Tennessee Battleship Museum, among other places. He currently teaches a painting class at Strang Senior Center in Knoxville.

Farragut Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Dr, Farragut, TN 37934. Hours: M-F 10-4:30. Information: 865-966-7057, www.townoffarragut.org/museum

Hosted by Maple Hall, 414 South Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902
Maple Hall Mondays presented by Eleanor Studios

8pm EVERY MONDAY through September 24th featuring Will Carter with Special Guests:

7/2 - Caleb Caudle
7/9 - Jubal
7/16 - Grassically Trained
7/23 - Daniel Markham (Second Bell Soiree Show)
7/30 - Evelyn Jack
8/6 - Ashley Campbell
8/13 - Wil Wright
8/20 - Travis Bigwood
8/27 - Secret Show
9/3 - Catie Offerman
9/10 - Night Colors
9/17 - Ryan Sheley
9/24 - Will Carter and Friends

No cover. 21+. All seating is first to come, first served. https://www.facebook.com/events/1472814892820360/

Meet the Artist, Esther Sitver, and Solo Art Show
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Arnstein Jewish Community Center, 6800 Deane Hill Dr, Knoxville, TN

Please come to meet Ringling College of Art & Design illustration major, Esther Sitver, at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center. Light refreshments and art sale of cards, prints, and original art. 30 pieces from Esther's sophomore year featuring illustrations, figure drawings, and paintings are on exhibit Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm through August 10. Esther is a 2016 BHS grad and West Hills resident. Commission inquiries and Esther's latest work can be seen at http://esthersitver.wixsite.com/portfolio.

Art Exhibit at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church - Free and open to the public.
Reception Friday, June 15, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.

Bobbie Crews
This collection of portraits was done in oil on canvas, quickly capturing personalities and revealing information about that person in a quick and concise manner. Some of the portraits are fleshed out with color pushing the image off the canvas, while others are capture the essence with burnt umber over a toned canvas. Both have their charms.

A self-taught artist who later earned a BFA in 2007 as an adult at the University of Tennessee, Crews has done portraits of people all her life. In 2009 she began creating “Intimate Portraits of Automobiles.” She has earned awards at several “Concours d”Elegance” car shows around the country and has shown in art museums in El Dorado and Topeka, Kansas; Biloxi; Indianapolis; and Midland, Michigan. She’s currently exhibiting at Carlock Motorcar Company in Brentwood, Tennessee. The Knoxville Family Justice Center houses a permanent exhibit of her work about women’s issues. I’ve participated in many other group and solo exhibitions and her murals are scattered around East Tennessee. Published by PBS television, American Art Collector, Hemmings and other magazines, and a member of the OPA and Portrait Society of America, Crews works on commission, especially in portraiture; teaches; critiques; and gives workshops and presentations.

Clay Thurston
Thurston says, “Wildlife and nature are gifts that should be enjoyed and protected by all of us. Patience is the number one element of capturing my subject, and I will spend weeks, months and years learning animal behaviors, studying the environment and finally getting the photo.”

Born in New Hampshire and raised in Maine, Thurston finished his undergraduate degree in education at Sam Houston State and his Masters in Education and Biology at the University of Tennessee. He taught in Oak Ridge Schools for 33 years, retiring from teaching in 2005. Since then, he has worked full time in nature and wildlife photography. He has traveled the world and shared his experiences through his work with other nature enthusiasts. He was honored to present his work to the North American Nature Photographers Association a few years back and exhibits all over the eastern half of the United States. www.claythurston.com

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

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 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

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