Calendar of Events

A reception will take place on Friday, August 3, 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.

Marty McConnaughey will display various sculptures that use gourds as a base with pine needle and sweet grass coiling, antlers, and other natural materials. She will also display giclees of other works.

Artist statement: There is an endless amount of inspiration throughout nature; it only takes a moment to see its real beauty. Using gourds as a foundation helps create a unique sculpture by incorporating objects that nature itself provides. I love the art of coiling pine needles and sweet grass in my work; it gives a subtle movement drawing the onlooker to a journey that is both captivating and soothing. I continue to pursue and discover new elements on a regular basis to incorporate into my endeavors. The simple use of driftwood, acorn tops and strips of copper that I call ‘nature’s treasures’ are found throughout my creations. Each piece I design is hand crafted to be distinctive and bring an element of drama to enhance a wide range of decors. My appreciation and love of our Creator with all the patterns, texture and colors He give us draws me to make unique pieces of art that will bring joy and inspiration to others. For more information, please visit www.distinctivegourds.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, August 3, 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.

Anthony M. Donaldson lives in Knoxville and is a Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) bus driver. He studied art heavily in high school and continued taking some classes in college. As a writer expresses in a book, an artist expresses in art. “I ask myself: does art imitate life or does life imitate art?” says Donaldson. “I think sometimes it’s both. For me, God is the master artist, and He created everything. I find drawing easy, yet creativity requires deep thinking and studying.”

Donaldson aims to tell a story with his art, and the recent work he will display features many subjects such as climate change, human trafficking, Harlem Renaissance culture, political and social issues, racism & classism, and more.

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.

Recent works by artist Eun-Sook Kim and jewelry artist Jennifer Lyndsay will be featured throughout August at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception, including complimentary refreshments and live music performed by Maddie Carpenter and Jordan McCullough, will begin at 5:30 p.m. on August 3rd, during Downtown Knoxville's monthly First Friday Art Walk.

The show will feature Jennifer's one-of-a-kind beaded jewelry, as well as Eun-Sook's multi-culturally influenced paintings.

Other highlights throughout August: The Marjorie Horne Retrospective in the Art Market Gallery foyer, featuring works by the late Marjorie Horne; and the New Members Show, focusing on the work of the gallery's newest artists, Sandy Hoeft, Luke Proffitt, Lindsay Kromer, Terri Swaggerty, Roger Hankins and Lynne Straka.

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

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

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/

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

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