Calendar of Events

A reception will be held on Aug. 31 from 6-8 p.m. in the Blackberry Farm gallery.

Blackberry Farm Gallery, Clayton Center for the Arts. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Information: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

The public is invited to attend and enjoy the opening reception of the Art Guild’s 9th Annual Judged and Juried Fine Arts Show on Friday, August 3, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. Participants can view the show entries and watch the presentation of ribbons and cash awards to the winning artists. The First National Bank of Tennessee is once again sponsoring the Judged & Juried Fine Arts Show. Cash prizes will be awarded to Best of Show, 1st Place, 2nd Place, and 3rd Place.

The opening reception is free and open to the public. At the reception, there will be an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and beverages. The Judged & Juried show will feature all genres of art.

Art Guild at Fairfield Glade at the Plateau Creative Arts Center, 451 Lakeview Drive, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558. Hours: M-Sa 9-4. Information: 931-707-7249, www.artguildfairfieldglade.net

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

This show is coordinated by the Simulations + Gaming + Role-Playing (SGR) Community of Scholars. This multi-disciplinary group brings together members of the UT community who share an interest in researching the development and use of simulations, gaming, role-playing, and similar strategies for teaching and learning. Such strategies are among the latest developments in higher education, and have been shown to create interactivity and collaboration, increase engagement and retention, deepen reflection and understanding, engender positive values and thoughtful behavior, and open authentic spaces for real-world problem-solving. Games and Simulations provide players/users with the opportunity to not only visualize, but to experience the world of a problem from a variety of perspectives.

Featured Games:
Marrying Mr. Darcy is a strategy card game for 2-6 players based on Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice.”

Walden, a game is an exploratory narrative and open world simulation of the life of American philosopher Henry David Thoreau during his experiment in self-reliant living at Walden Pond. The game begins in the summer of 1845 when Thoreau moved to the Pond and built his cabin there.

Embodied Labs works at the intersection of healthcare training and virtual reality storytelling to provide a culture shift solution that empowers every member of the care team to share their expertise and value one another.

The Cat and the Coup is a documentary videogame in which you play the cat of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. During the summer of 1953, the CIA engineered a coup to bring about his downfall. As a player, you coax Mossadegh back through significant events of his life by knocking objects off of shelves, scattering his papers, jumping on his lap and scratching him.

Abbreviated Summer Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 12 – 4 PM. Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Reception: July 13, 6:30 – 8:00 PM - Free and open to the public. Juried by Clay Thurston and featuring photography in categories such as Wildlife, Human Interest, Landscape, Still Life, Architecture, and Digitally Altered.

Exhibit viewing hours: Hours: Tu & Th 9-5, W & F 10-5, 2nd-4th Sa 10-1. Fountain City Art Center, 213 Hotel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37918. Information: 865-357-2787, www.fountaincityartcenter.com

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

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 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