Calendar of Events

For a First Friday Reception, Friday, January 4th, 5-9pm at the UT Downtown Gallery

The Violins of Hope are a collection of restored violins that were played by Jewish musicians during The Holocaust. These instruments have survived concentration camps, pogroms and many long journeys to tell remarkable stories of injustice, suffering, resilience, and survival. The collection was assembled and restored by Israeli master violin maker and restorer, Amnon Weinstein.

In some cases, the ability to play the violin spared Jewish musicians from more grueling labors or even death. Nearly 50 years ago, Amnon heard such a story from a customer who brought in an instrument for restoration. The customer survived the Holocaust because his job was to play the violin while Nazi soldiers marched others to their deaths. When Amnon opened the violin’s case, he saw ashes. He thought of his own relatives who had perished and was overwhelmed. He could not bring himself to begin the project.

By 1996, Amnon was ready. He put out a call for violins from the Holocaust that he would restore in hopes that the instruments would sound again.

Amnon started locating violins that were played by Jews in the camps and ghettos, painstakingly piecing them back together so they could be brought to life again on the concert stage. Although most of the musicians who originally played the instruments were silenced by the Holocaust, their voices and spirits live on through the violins that Amnon has lovingly restored. He calls these 50 instruments the Violins of Hope.

There will be extended hours for this special exhibition. The UT Downtown Gallery will be open M-F from 11am – 6pm, Saturdays from 10am – 3pm, and Sundays from 1-4pm.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

On display throughout January at Post Modern Spirits, 205 W. Jackson Ave, downtown Knoxville. https://postmodernspirits.com/

Monday-Friday 3pm-11pm
Saturday 12pm-11pm
Sunday 12pm-7pm

https://atol-solutions.com/ArtMarket/artists/terri-swaggerty/marshland
Info: 865-382-5708

Recent works by Julia A. Malia and Linn Stilwell will be featured throughout January at the Art Market Gallery. An opening reception for the artists, including complimentary refreshments and live music performed by “Pistol Creek Catch of the Day”. will begin at 5:30 p.m. on January 4th, during Downtown Knoxville’s monthly First Friday Art Walk.

The show will highlight wearable art, rich in texture and color by Julia Malia, as well as a series of paintings by Linn Stillwell which focus on nature’s colors, rhythms, and playfulness of light in her creatures of feathers.

Julia A. Malia, Fiber Artist
I am a fiber, jewelry, and stained glass craftswoman as well as a watercolorist and musician. As a fiber artist specializing in wearable art, I use a variety of fibers and techniques. The styles of my original designs are usually either classical or folk-style in nature, drawing inspiration from historic or ancient themes. For instance, I often base garment designs on our family’s Irish and Scottish roots, and I also favor Japanese kimono garment shapes. Rich textures and colors are central to my life and my work, and I utilize techniques that combine and enhance color variegations.
I am a juried member of the Foothills Craft Guild as both a fiber artist (specializing in knitting and crocheting) and a jewelry maker. I also am a member of the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild, the Precious Metal Clay Guild of East Tennessee, and the Fountain City Art Center. I am drawn to fabrics and, as a child, used to play at sewing garments and piecing quilt squares for my grandmother, eventually learning standard clothing construction techniques as a teen. My mother taught me how to knit when I was a young child, and I learned to crochet from a friend when I was in my early 20s. In 1977, I won second place in the state of Iowa for my original design and creation of a hand-hooked rug entitled “Sarah’s Fantasy Rug.” In 2013, I had two of my original fiber designs selected for runway appearances at the Dogwood Arts Festival Diva Luncheon Fashion Show in Knoxville. In 2014, I was the invited featured artist for the month of July in a one-woman fiber art exhibit at the Charles City Art Center in Charles City, Iowa. My exhibit, entitled “Wearable Art: Themes and Variations,” was a retrospective of my craftwork in fibers and jewelry over the decades.

Linn Stilwell
Born in 1948, Linn spent her early years in the rolling hills of New Jersey and the bayous of Louisiana. College years were spent in Oklahoma and California. After their son was born in Oklahoma her family moved to California, but they ultimately chose to settle into an 1830’s farm in New Hampshire and became involved in 4-H, FFA and the New England Lamb Promotion Council. She pursued a career with Converse/Nike in footwear global supply chain planning while raising sheep, chickens and herbs at the farm with her husband and son. Linn is a clinical aromatherapy and herbal medicine practitioner, teaching for over 17 years at Misty Meadows Herbal Center.
Nature is where Linn feels most engaged, ready to capture beautiful light filtering through the trees, slanting over water and illuminating landscapes and animals. She brings these beautiful scenes to life in watercolor paintings. Inspired to follow the naturalist’s path of artistic expression she brings behaviors and environments to bear on paintings of creatures of feathers and fur.
Linn enjoys traveling and taking photographs that inform and influence her paintings. You will often find her behind the camera with the tripod set up in a swamp at a wildlife refuge or national park. She takes advantage of art workshops in Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Maine and Vermont and has been fortunate to study with Mike Bailey, Lee Edge, Robert O’Brien, Soon Y Warren, Alan Shuptrine, Kim Eng Yeo and Kate McCullough. Serving as the 2017-18 President of Knoxville Watercolor Society, she’s also a member of Tennessee Watercolor Society and the Southern Watercolor Society. Her work was juried into the 2018 Tennessee Watercolor Society show at the Customs House Museum in Clarksburg and the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville. Linn can be reached at linn.stilwell@comcast.net or call her at 603-531-2454. She resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Art Market Gallery, 422 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Tu-Sa 11-6, Su 1-5. Information: 865-525-5265, www.artmarketgallery.net

The opening reception is First Friday 1/4 from 5-9pm

Tina Brunetti’s intense love of animals and nature literally shines through her work! Tina works on upcycled pieces of aluminum, steel, and copper, adding texture to the sheets with grinding tools, using a torch on the copper to produce vibrantly intricate colors, or chemically treating it to create an "aged" blue-green patina. Her processes create stunning patterns that vividly refract light through the alcohol inks on the surface of the work. Tina also works in acrylic and mixed media on canvas.

Broadway Studios and Gallery, 1127 Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Hours: Fri-Sat, 10-6, by appointment, or when the "open" sign is illuminated. Information: 865-556-8676, www.BroadwayStudiosAndGallery.com

By Ernest Thompson

An elderly couple enjoy their latest summer in a cottage on a Maine lake, as they come to terms with the husband's advancing age and his ongoing estrangement from his newly engaged daughter.

"On Golden Pond is a work of rare simplicity and beauty, and in Thompson our theatre has found a fresh new voice."
— NY Daily News

"…a rare and memorable theatrical experience…"
— Variety

"What courage it must have taken for Mr. Thompson in the 1970s to write a play with so much affection in it!"
— The New Yorker

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

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

In this season full of holidays, family and remembrance, our collection serves as a line (connection point?) between our current Art Center family and those who worked to sustain and preserve our program in the past. Among them are artists, collectors, and family of both. We will have three great shows to represent the individuals who created, those who collected, and those who contributed to our ability to share with our community the amazing variety and diversity of art. This show was inspired by the work of Joan O’Steen, artist and long-time supporter of the Art Center and creative work in our community.

Joan O’Steen has been a creative force for many years. She has been a painter, designer and fiber artist for many years. Her work, like many women, was woven through her life as a business woman; helpmate to husband, Tom Hill, as they sustained his family business, The Oak Ridger; loving Mother as she raised her children, and coach who worked with teams of young women. Her life-long pursuit of the creative and interest in fashion lead her to new and unexpected areas in which she could explore and experiment. The result is a fascinating combination of more traditional visual arts techniques like painting and more contemporary work with wearable art and basketry.

Retrospective: Artists will be a collection of work by artists who have been members of or have been associated with the Art Center during our history. Many of them have been instructors at the Art Center and/or have shown with us in their careers.

Retrospective: Collectors will showcase some of the wonderful pieces contributed to the Art Center for us to share with future generations. This grouping will include pieces that were lovingly collected by both members and individuals from the region who wished to leave a lasting impact on local cultural assets.

Watch our Facebook page for more information about the show and options for extended evening viewing during the exhibition. Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tu-F 9-5, Sa-M 1-4. Information: 865-482-1441, www.oakridgeartcenter.org

Zoo Knoxville is offering $5 off admission tickets during Kroger Discount Days. Guests can discover why winter is an enjoyable time to visit the zoo. Many animals, including red pandas, river otters, elephants, gorillas, red wolves, lions and tigers, enjoy the cooler temperatures. On days when the temperature drops below 40 degrees, some animals will be moved indoors, but visitors can still see most in their indoor viewing areas. The Pilot Flying J Wee Play Adventure is a popular indoor area that’s a warm stop for creative play and reptile viewing during visits as well.

A December trip to the zoo can even include a visit to Santa’s Village, a special holiday encounter and photo opportunity with Santa Claus. Santa’s Village will be open for holiday photos and Christmas wishes Thursday, Dec. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 16 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day in the heated Kids Cove Tent. Santa’s Village is included with general admission. Discounted tickets can be purchased at the zoo ticket window during regular zoo hours and online at zooknoxville.org. Discounted admission tickets must be used by Feb. 28, 2019, and cannot be combined with any other promotion, discount, or coupon.

Zoo Knoxville, 3500 Knoxville Zoo Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914. Open every day except Christmas. Information: 865-637-5331, www.zooknoxville.org

Reception on Dec 11, 6-8 PM - open to the public! Awards begin at 6:45 PM with a welcome by Tennessee State Senator Becky Duncan Massey.

Now in its 13th year, the exhibition offers middle and high school students from around East Tennessee the opportunity to participate in a juried exhibition and to display their talents and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment.

The East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition is open to students in grades 6-12, attending public, private, or home schools in 32 counties across East Tennessee. Fewer than a third of the more than 950 entries in this highly competitive show made it through a rigorous jury process. The best-in-show winner will receive a purchase award of $500, and the artwork will become a permanent part of the collection of Mr. James Dodson, on loan to the Knoxville Museum of Art's Education Collection.

Since 2005, the East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition has presented the work of nearly 4,000 students who have competed for a total of $7 million in scholarships made available to eligible juniors and seniors by colleges and universities from around the nation.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

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

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/