Calendar of Events

The Maker City Summit 2018 will bring together a host of experts in a variety of business disciplines to help local artists, craftspeople and small entrepreneurs earn a living doing what they love.

Chase Reeves, co-founder and creative director of Fizzle.co, will give the keynote address about how to design a business that will stay afloat.

Marianne Canada, executive producer for Discovery Inc.’s digital team and head of the HGTV Handmade YouTube channel, and Eric Meyerson, chief marketing officer of Sensai, will discuss how to reach your audience with online marketing and social media.

The event will bring in panelists to address topics including finding your target customer, being smart about strategic growth, maintaining work-life balance and making the most of rejection. Workshop leaders will discuss legal issues and wholesaling. Knoxville-area entrepreneurs also will share their successes and challenges throughout the day.

In addition, makers may spend one-on-one time with experts in a variety of fields, work with local photographers to improve their photography skills and consult with Etsy entrepreneurs to learn ways to optimize their Etsy shops. Dana Walsh, brand marketing manager with Weebly, will help makers with e-commerce tools and guidance.

“Knoxville is The Maker City, and we were a city of makers a long time before we started calling ourselves The Maker City. We come out of an Appalachian heritage where everything from furniture to food was made from scratch,” said Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero. “But now we have a new explosion of modern makers. Makers represent our future as much as they reflect our past.”

"Knoxville is lucky to have so many talented makers. It's my dream that The Maker City Summit will continue to draw those people out so we can build a supportive, strong, fun community that can have a real effect on our local economy." said Alaina Smith, chair of The Maker City’s Summit committee.

Registration is $44, which includes coffee and donuts, lunch, evening cocktails and a T-shirt. Participants also may sign up in advance for free 15-minute Ask the Experts consultations, and a complete schedule of programs and presenters is available at http://themakercity.org/

The summit is presented by the City of Knoxville Mayor’s Maker Council in partnership with the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center and Launch TN. The 3rd annual summit will once again be held at The Mill and Mine. http://themakercity.org/maker-city-summit/

StoryMaking is a special event that allows children to explore the materials in the art MakeSpace and other exhibits to help them imagine stories to write and play out. Your little ones will enjoy an engaging lesson on the stage, create with craft materials to help them unleash their imagination, and share stories with an audience.

September 2nd & September 23rd 2:00-3:30pm.

This activity is FREE with museum admission! All ages are welcome!

Please note that the Muse will be CLOSED September 6th-16th for the TN Valley Fair.

Note: We do NOT schedule large school groups during this time. The Muse Knoxville, 516 N. Beaman Street, Knoxville, TN 37914. Information: 865-594-1494, http://themuseknoxville.org/calendar

Opening Reception: Sunday, September 16th, 2-4PM

The Ewing Gallery is pleased to partner with UTK Sculpture and the Mid South Sculpture Alliance Conference to present the work of 25 alumni of the UT Sculpture program. Exhibiting artists are:

Jessica Brooke Anderson, MFA 2013
Leticia Bajuyo, MFA 2001
Robmet Butler, MFA 2009
Mike Calway-Fagen, BFA 2006
Dan DeZarn, MFA 2013
Richard Ensor, BFA 2015
Preston Farabow, BFA 1992
Cassidy Frye, MFA 2018
Brian Jobe, BFA 2004
David Jones, MFA 2004
Noah Kirby, 1998
Alison Ouellette-Kirby, MFA 1996
Candice Lewis, MFA 2004
Erica Mendoza, MFA 2018
Marisa Mitchell, BFA 2016
Lauren Sanders, BFA 2015
Joshua Shorey, MFA 2017
Jacob Stanley, MFA 2010
Thomas Sturgill, BFA 2003
Durant Thompson, BFA 1997
John Truex, BFA 2004
Kevin Varney, MFA 2014
Taylor Wallace, BFA 2005
AC Wilson, BFA 2012
Ronda Wright, BFA 2009

This exhibition was curated by Bill FitzGibbons, UT School of Art Alum.

The Ewing Gallery will be open M-F 10am - 5PM and will have extended hours until 7:30PM on Thursday nights. We are open from 1-4PM on Sundays. Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

Recent works by painter George Rothery and woodturner Gordon Fowler will be featured throughout September at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the artists, including complimentary refreshments and live music by The Accidentals, will begin at 5:30 p.m. on September 7th, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk. The show will feature George’s marine-themed acrylic paintings, and Gordon’s wooden bowls, platters and hollow forms.

George Rothery: THE ARTIST AND NOW A WRITER—George Rothery is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a major in Marketing. After serving in the US Air Force, discharged with the rank of Captain, George became professionally involved with art when he opened galleries in Knoxville, Tennessee that became art exhibition centers for the surrounding area for the next 22 years.
After another career in manufacturer representation (Rothery Associates), George became a professional maritime artist. He picked up brush and canvas to create oils and acrylics reminiscent of the sailing and boating he loved growing up on the New Jersey shore, and later on the South Carolina coast. His paintings are in private and corporate collections from Massachusetts to Florida and from the Carolinas to Texas. He has been in many national juried shows, and his work has appeared in: American Artist, The Complete Painters Handbook, Workshop, Life on the Water, Homes and Living, and a number of newspaper articles.

Gordon Fowler: I make bowls, platters, and hollow forms from wood using a woodturning lathe. I find the wood on roadsides or friends tell me about a tree they cut down. I get a kick out of “recycling” these logs that would otherwise go to a landfill or a fireplace. Most of my work is twice-turned. That means I cut the logs with a chainsaw, rough turn it, let it dry for at least six months, then turn it again to its final thickness. Making round things is inherent to the lathe, and I’m inspired by the symbolism and symmetry of circles. I’m influenced by texture, patterns, and contrasts found in nature. I strive to create pleasing forms combined with exquisite grain patterns.

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

Transcendent Silk...Beyond the Ordinary
At SPIN Festival 2018
Sandra Blain Gallery - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Opening Art Reception, Dinner and Awards October 6th from 5:30pm to 8pm

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

Turnabout: Women at the Lathe is the first exhibition organized and funded by the Women in Turning (WIT) committee of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW). Reflecting our membership, we created a blended invitational and juried show that celebrates both known and unknown voices in our field. The twenty-seven sculptural pieces in the exhibition were created by women artists from the United States, England, Wales, Canada, and Taiwan, ranging in age from their early twenties to their 80s. The work in the show is created all or in part on the lathe, a specialized woodworking machine that holds and spins material while it is carved with sharp tools. The exhibition features work by women with anything from a few years of experience to more than three decades of turning.

A traveling show, Turnabout: Women at the Lathe will be featured at three distinctly different venues: the Appalachian Center for Craft, part of the School of Art, Craft & Design at Tennessee Tech University; the American Association of Woodturners’ Gallery of Wood Art; and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

It is our hope that through this exhibition more women will think of turning as possible for themselves, and discover the many pleasures of this extraordinary craft and art form.

Participating artists: Katie Adams, Donna Zils Banfield, Dixie Biggs, Kailee Bosch, Sally Burnett, Marilyn Campbell, Martha Collins, Barbara Dill, Sharon Doughtie, Jeanne Douphrate, Ena Dubnoff, Melissa Engler, Diana Friend, Louise Hibbert, Liz Kent, Janice Levi, Kristin LeVier, Grace Parliman, Tania Radda, Betty Scarpino, Hayley Smith, Janine Wang, Kimberly Winkle, Helga Winter, Andi Wolfe, Cindy Pei-Si Young

At JERRY DROWN WOOD STUDIO GALLERY at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org