Calendar of Events

Twenty-two pieces by art students from community colleges across Tennessee will be on display. Community college students from across the state will have their art work displayed at Pellissippi State Community College in the first show of its kind. Current and former students at Tennessee's 13 community colleges were invited to enter works generated the past two years in studio art classes. There was no cost to enter.

Seven community colleges had students participate, with 103 works submitted. Peter Hoffecker Mejia, a visiting assistant professor of art at the University of Memphis and a former Pellissippi State student, served as juror, choosing 22 works for the exhibition.

"There's a little bit of everything we were allowing: photography, painting, drawing, design, sculpture, blacksmith, print making, collage. It's quite a survey."

A closing reception and awards ceremony will be held 3-5 p.m. Dec. 7. Three places and two honorable mentions will be awarded, with gifts donated by David Lusk Gallery, located in Memphis and Nashville, and Jerry's Artarama in Knoxville. Pellissippi State also will purchase the winning art work for $500, which the student will receive. The art work then will go on display at that student's community college.

Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 10 AM - 6 PM.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

November 16 through December 22, Wed through Sat at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm.
One pay-what-you-can preview on November 15 at 7:30 pm.

By Betsy Kelso and David Nehls

They’re baaack! It’s holiday time down in Armadillo Acres (North Florida’s premier mobile-living community), and everyone’s filled with warmth and beer. But when a freak bout of amnesia strikes the trailer park Scrooge, neighborly love is put to the test. Be on hand as Betty, Lin, and Pickles jingle all the way with some new neighbors in an all-new, all-trailer-park musical! You don’t have to have seen our 2017 summer production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical to enjoy this sequel, but if you did, you know it’s a cat-fightin’, sun-worshippin’, chair-throwin’ good time...but with tinsel and Keg Nog! Definitely for mature audiences. *The show has some mature language & may not be suitable for children. Parental discretion advised.

TICKET PRICES: Wed, Thu, & Sun $22 ($16 for students); Fri & Sat $24 ($16 for students)
Get your tickets now! https://www.ticketpeak.com/res/FlyingAnvil or you can call our box office at 865-357-1309.
Flying Anvil Theatre, 1300 Rocky Hill Road, Knoxville. Information: www.flyinganviltheatre.com

The Ewing Gallery is pleased to present two exhibitions for the months of November and December. We will be having an opening reception on Thursday November 15 from 5-7:30 PM in the Ewing Gallery. Some of the artists whose work is featured in Blurring Boundaries will be in attendance.

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of AAA from 1936 – Present
Curated by Rebecca DiGiovanna - More than 80 years after its founding, AAA continues to nurture and support a vibrant community of artists with diverse identities and approaches to abstraction. In celebration of this tradition, Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists traces the work of the female artists within AAA from the founders to contemporary, practicing members. Included are works by historic members Perle Fine, Esphyr Slobodkina, Charmion von Wiegand, Irene Rice Pereira, Alice Trumbull Mason, and Gertrude Greene, as well as works by current members, such as Ce Roser, Irene Rousseau, Judith Murray, Alice Adams, Merrill Wagner and Katinka Mann. Through fifty-four works, the exhibition explores the stylistic variations and individual approaches to guiding principles of abstraction: color, space, light, material and process.

Mutual Muses: James Seawright and Mimi Garrard
Curated by: T. Michael Martin - Mutual Muses is a two-person exhibition showcasing works by James Seawright and Mimi Garrard, who have been working together as well as individually since the 1960s. Their lives and practice have inspired each other throughout their careers. This exhibition is an interwoven love story featuring individual works by Seawright and Garrard as well as ones inspired by the other and those created collaboratively. Their life of interconnectivity as mutual muses is beautifully explored and presented in this survey exhibition.

The Ewing Gallery will be closed from November 22- 25 in Observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and from December 13, 2018 - January 10, 2019.

Ewing Gallery, 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Information: 865-974-3200, www.ewing-gallery.utk.edu

After a three-year hiatus, the cult holiday classic, “The Santaland Diaries,” adapted by Joe Mantello from the essay by humorist and best- selling author David Sedaris, and starring David Brian Alley as Crumpet, returns to the Clarence Brown Theatre’s Carousel Theatre November 14 – December 9, 2018.

A Pay What You Can Preview performance will be held Wednesday, Nov. 14. At the Friday, Nov. 23rd performance patrons wearing an Ugly Sweater will have the opportunity to be selected for a picture with Crumpet on Santa’s chair. A talk back will take place Sunday, Nov. 25 following the matinee, and the Open Captioned performance is Sunday, December 2. The production, which is for mature elves only, will have start times of 2:30 pm for the matinees and 8:00 pm for the evening performances. It will be performed without an intermission and will include smoke.

Based loosely on Sedaris’ real life experience, “The Santaland Diaries” tells the tale of a struggling actor in New York City who out of necessity takes seasonal work as Crumpet the Elf in Macy’s Department Store’s Santaland Village. The comic holiday adventure chronicles Sedaris’ humiliation, frustrations and ultimately his hopefulness all told though his masterful sardonic wit.

David Sedaris made his National Public Radio debut on December 23, 1992 when he read his essay titled “Santaland Diaries” on the show “Morning Edition.” Since his successful debut, Sedaris has gone on to publish multiple bestselling books including “Barrel Fever,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Let’s Talk Diabetes with Owls.” He also has been a frequent contributor on NPR’s popular radio show “This American Life,” all of which has contributed to his reputation as one of America’s preeminent humorists. Sedaris’ story was adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello and premiered on November 7, 1996 at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City.

The 2015 production was directed by Jeff Stanley. Calvin MacLean will direct this year’s remount.
Clarence Brown Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Reception: November 9, 6:30 – 8:00 PM - Free and open to the public.

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

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra string quartets are visiting our libraries this fall! Each performance combines children's literature with classical music, sound effects, and hands-on learning. Free and open to the public.

Schedule:

November 6 @ 4 p.m. | Farragut Branch
November 28 @ 11 a.m. | Karns Branch
November 30 @ 10:30 a.m. | Powell Branch
December 4 @ 10:30 a.m. | Sequoyah Branch
December 5 @ 10:15 a.m. | Bearden Branch
December 12 @ 11 a.m. | Halls Branch

https://www.knoxvillesymphony.com/education-community/story-time-performances/

Solo exhibition of recent artworks by Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart, an artist based in Morristown. www.stoneking-stewart.com

Opening reception Mon Nov 5, 4-6 PM

Closed Nov 21-25 for Thanksgiving break

Omega Gallery at Carson-Newman University, Warren Art Building, corner of Branner & S. College Streets, Jefferson City, TN 37760. Gallery hours: M-F 8-4. Information: www.cn.edu

Beck presents the exhibition, I Have a Voice: Tennessee’s African American Musical Heritage, opening November 2, 2018. The exhibition, organized by the Tennessee State Museum, gives a snapshot of Tennessee’s rich African American musical heritage and its influence on worldwide musical genres.

The Volunteer State has been the birthplace of some of the most influential music in the world, from the Beale Street blues clubs in Memphis, to the R&B scene on Nashville’s Jefferson Street and the jazz in Knoxville’s Gem Theatre. The history of African American music follows the hardship of slavery in America. American slaves adapted their African ancestors’ music to hand clapping, singing, the fiddle and the African–derived banjo.

Expressing their sorrows from bondage, and joy for their ultimate deliverance, these enslaved persons found an original, musical voice sung in their spirituals and folk music. This voice has left a monumental cultural stamp on American music, including blues, ragtime, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and soul music. In turn, this music has influenced and enriched music around the world.

The exhibit introduces viewers to many famous Tennessee music legends — Bessie Smith, who was nicknamed the “Empress of the Blues;” B.B. King, often referred to as the “King of the Blues;” Grand Ole Opry star DeFord Bailey; and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Tina Turner. The exhibit gives visitors a chance to hear the voices of the many Tennessee African American men and women who made their mark on American music from ragtime to Motown.

Visitors can view YouTube videos of various performers and musicians featured in the exhibition on their smart phones or tablets through the use of QR-coded links. Educators who are interested in teaching about Tennessee’s African American musical heritage will be provided with curriculum-based educational lesson activities.

http://www.beckcenter.net/museum-exhibit-s/

Beck Cultural Exchange Center: 1927 Dandridge Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37915. Hours: Tu-Sa 10-6. Information: 865-524-8461, www.beckcenter.net

Paintings and Relief Constructions by Joe Letitia

Hours: Monday thru Thursday, 9 AM to 4 PM, Friday 9 AM to Noon.
6500 Northshore Drive
865-584-3957
www.wpcknox.org

Coming to Happy Holler this November, it'll be open for just five months, so we're going to put as much awesome stuff in there as we can before it's gone forever! You can read more about how this came about in this article in the Knoxville News Sentinel as well as this article in Inside Of Knoxville.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/10/03/new-knoxville-popup-music-venue-outpost-announced/1511021002/

https://insideofknoxville.com/2018/10/new-pop-up-concert-series-announced/

With the new venue, we are already off and running announcing shows. We already have tickets on sale for our first five shows plus, you can register (for free) to come to our grand opening event!
• firekid on Thursday, November 1st
• Strung Like a Horse on Friday, November 2nd
• Hardcastle on Saturday, November 3rd
• Free Grand Opening Event With Music From Jubal on Friday, November 9th
• William Wild on Friday, November 16th
• Vacation Manor on Thursday, November 29th

And more! Open through March 2019 at 109 W. Anderson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. http://knoxvillemusicwarehouse.com/the-outpost

"Sacred and Profane" exhibition the Frieson Black Cultural Center (extended)

The art gallery at the Frieson Black Cultural Center is featuring "Sacred and Profane," a retrospective exhibition of mixed-media prints by Marc Z. DeBose. DeBose, who received his MFA in Studio Art (printmaking) in 2002, died unexpectedly on Monday April 2, 2018 from a ruptured aorta. Marc’s father Frank DeBose, who loaned most of the works for this exhibition, is Professor Emeritus in Visual Communication Design at the School of Art Institute of Chicago where Marc completed his BFA in printmaking, electronic art and photography in 1996. The exhibition is an opportunity to celebrate his creative spirit. The exhibition will run through February 28, 2019.

Several of the works in the exhibition are from Marc’s MFA thesis, which examined the African-American experience in relationship to community police-work. These works also express the influences of his synthesis of Catholic and Pentecostal roots on family and community interactions. Following his MFA degree, Marc Z, DeBose continued his studio practice while also pursuing a career as a Chicago policeman.

1800 Melrose Ave., Knoxville. https://art.utk.edu/mixed-media-prints-by-utk-alumnus-marc-z-debose-at-the-frieson-black-cultural-centerr/

Reception date TBA

In the Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org