Calendar of Events
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Art Market Gallery: Featuring Lynn Straka and Sandy Hoeft
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
Opening for the new exhibit will be First Friday, May 3, 5-9 PM
Sandy Hoeft is a landscape artist who lived in Alaska for many years. She recently retired to the Cumberland Plateau in beautiful Tennessee. Sandy gets her inspiration for her paintings from hiking and traveling the back roads. She loves the ever changing skies and enjoys painting large clouds. The barns and farmland in Tennessee have been her focus since retiring.
Lynn Straka, DVM, is a mixed media jewelry artist and practicing small animal veterinarian. "I began making natural and glass crystal beaded jewelry in about 2000—helping me through a tumultuous time. Jewelry-making quickly became a second vocation and I began selling my jewelry at craft shows. Ten years later, I expanded my work and began to transition from stringing beads to creating my jewelry by letter and word stamping on sterling silver and copper. I opened an Etsy shop, making and selling personalized pendant necklaces, bridal gifts and other unique pieces. At that time, I was self-taught, researching and learning technique and materials use on my own. I’ve always felt comfortable using small hand tools in these techniques, because the tools are similar to the tools I use in my veterinary surgical practice. In 2008, my husband and I moved to East Tennessee. I discovered Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and began taking yearly classes to develop my skills as an artist and metalworker. Having personal instruction reinforced my base knowledge and encouraged me to ask questions and trouble shoot subjects that have challenged me. The jewelry I make is adornment – created to produce joy to the wearer. Designs influenced by nature, they may evoke a memory, affirm a belief, or be an extension of the wearer’s personality."
The Art Market Gallery features two artists every month. These exhibits are new works by the artists, and they are often present to talk about their work and inspirations.
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
Broadway Studios and Gallery: Walt Fieldsa - Past and Present
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Walt Fieldsa - Past and Present
Opening May 3rd 5:00-9:00
MAY 3 2019 – JUNE 1 2019
Silent Auction May 3rd-May 31st
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
The Emporium Center: Grace and Grandeur by Sam Stapleton and John Vavruska
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
A reception will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities.
Two photographers born in 1951, Sam Stapleton and John Vavruska, grew up in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains: Sam, on the western side in the town of Kingsport, TN and John, on the eastern slopes in Waynesville, NC. Both were heavily influenced by the culture and natural beauty of the southern Appalachians, both subsequently obtained professional degrees from the University of Tennessee (Sam in accounting and John in engineering), and both began their serious pursuit of photography in the early 1970’s. When they met in 1976, it was their shared love of photography that provided the foundation for their friendship, and for two years, they shared a house and a darkroom they built themselves. Time separated them: Vavruska was drawn to the American west in the early 1980’s, served in the Peace Corps in Nepal, and then settled in Santa Fe where he now resides with his wife of 30+ years; Stapleton remained close to his roots in Knoxville, where he too resides with his wife of 30+ years.
Yet with all of their similarities, the two have drifted apart in their photographic vision and now occupy virtual opposite ends of the photographic spectrum. Vavruska has remained primarily in the analog (film) world and has grown in the direction of large (4 x 5 inch) format black and white photography, capturing the grandeur of the natural landscape through hand-crafted gelatin silver prints. Conversely, Stapleton remained with small (35mm) format photography but converted whole-heartedly to digital technology where he continues to focus on the intimate color imagery of the East Tennessee landscape. While one’s images convey a high level of detail and tonal gradation, another’s use the spontaneity of the smaller format to explore the abstract and impressionistic capabilities of the medium. Hence the exhibit, Grace and Grandeur, is presented to share their story – the story of two men with a common photographic grounding that has matured into expressions of widely divergent visions. For more information, please visit www.johnvavruska.com and www.samstapletonphotography.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. CLOSED Monday May 27. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.
The Emporium Center: Pairs: Work by the New Image Artists
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Fine Crafts and Free event
A reception will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities.
This fiber and mixed media exhibition, curated by Trudi Van Dyke, features thirteen contemporary fiber artists who are juried members of the New Image Artists group. New Image is a group of artists from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC who come together to share their art and ideas. Members are active studio artists who work primarily with cloth, paper, and alternative materials.
The concept of “pairs” challenged the artists to consider their work as it developed in theme or concept and how one piece could influence the artist to create a companion piece. Unlike a diptych, each new work stands alone, and yet its voice is more fully developed when viewed as a pair that evolved from the subject, materials or some other element of the initial work. When conceiving work for Pairs, the artists experimented with relationships between subject, media and techniques. The artists began in a creative dimension without boundaries and chose a concept or subject without limits. The first work was planned and sometimes completed when the artist found a way to morph the idea, media or subject into a complementary piece. The resulting pair effectively enables viewers a more in-depth appreciation than a solitary work. For more information on New Image Artists, visit www.newimageartists.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. CLOSED Monday May 27. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.
The Emporium Center: Knoxville: Special Light by Allen Monsarrat
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
A reception will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities.
In college, Allen Monsarrat first studied architecture but graduated with a BFA with a concentration in pottery. His first art career was as a studio potter in Friendsville, TN for 25 years, followed by a career in decorative wall finishes, faux painting, cabinetry finishing and the occasional mural project. Never one to sit still, he turned to fine art painting which has developed into a concentration on representational work, including photorealism (paintings intended to look like photographs).
Monsarrat’s source material comes from photographs he has taken, which allows him to carefully design a composition and have plenty of information to include as much detail as he chooses. More importantly, as his reference source, a photograph allows him to study the nuances of color, light and reflection and how they change across a seemingly uniformly colored surface. Monsarrat uses translucent layers of paint to build depth unachievable with ink on paper. He began working in pastels in 2018, and for this exhibition, he will display oil paintings and pastels that depict iconic Knoxville scenes. For more information, please visit www.monsarratart.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. CLOSED Monday May 27. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.
The Emporium Center: Anna Halliwell Boyd: Forget Me Not (Really)
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
A reception will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities.
My thesis work explores lost connections and the distortion of my personal history. Personal photographs and old school notes are some of the visible remains of relationships I have made in my lifetime. These photographs display specific moments with other people, many of whom are no longer in my life. By distorting the individuals and places pictured, I am regarding the erosion of these memories and addressing the disconnect from that moment to present day. The original analog photographs are sanded, erased, and painted on with the intent of creating separation between the figures and the viewer, just as they are now separated from me. Forget Me Not (Really) is about the ghosts of our pasts that follow us into the present, no matter how much time has gone by, and no matter how much we may want to forget.
Anna Halliwell Boyd is a mixed media artist and arts educator from Oak Ridge. She earned her MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018 and her Masters in Teacher Education from the University of Tennessee in 2013. Her BFA in the 2D Arts with a concentration in Drawing was also earned at UT in 2008. During her undergraduate years and first graduate program, she made watercolors, ceramic sculptures, oil paintings, and drawings that alluded to the bizarre, sad nature of witnessing the decay of her grandmother’s mind with Alzheimer’s. Her recent works use mixed media to convey themes of loss and how the past is recollected. The photographs she took growing up are often resurrected in her work to convey lost connections with others and the distorted nature of memory. Boyd is currently an adjunct instructor at several institutions and exhibits work from her MFA thesis. For more information, please visit www.annahalliwellboyd.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. CLOSED Monday May 27. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.
The Emporium Center: Rodney Yardley: Barns, Beer Joints, and Baptist Churches
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
A reception will take place on Friday, May 3, from 5:00-9:00 PM as part of First Friday activities.
Barns, Beer Joints, and Baptist Churches… those are three words that likely mean something to everyone in the South – a ubiquitous phrase that Southern folk know, love, and understand. I was raised in those three places, and still inhabit them with a great degree of regularity. They are places that make me feel at home. They are places that hold many warm and fond memories. They are often places that show up in my favorite dreams, and always in my favorite memories.
Rodney Yardley is a self-taught photographer and part-time flaneur from Knoxville. Much of his time is spent trying to capture the feeling of memories and dreams using tools from antique film cameras to modern digital cameras and cell phones.
On display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. CLOSED Monday May 27. Information: (865) 523-7543 or www.knoxalliance.com.
HoLa Hora Latina: Work by Delia Flores
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Opening Fri May 3, 5-9 PM
Call for gallery hours. HoLa Hora Latina, 100 S. Gay Street, Suite 112, Knoxville, TN 37902. Information: 865-335-3358, www.holahoralatina.org
Dogwood Arts: Epiphone Student Guitar Design Exhibition
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event, Fundraisers and Music
Friday, May 3rd | 5:30PM-7:30PM
Awaken Coffee | 125 W. Jackson Avenue
Join us at Awaken Coffee on First Friday for the opening of the 2019 Epiphone Student Guitar Design Exhibition!
Dogwood Arts partnered with the Songbirds Foundation in Chattanooga to give 20 high school and middle school students the chance to design guitars provided by Epiphone. The guitars were on exhibition in Chattanooga at Songbirds during the month of April and are moving to Awaken Coffee where they will be on display May 3rd-19th!
The guitars are being auctioned online to benefit Dogwood Arts and the Songbirds Foundation’s youth art programs. Check out all of the amazing designs and place your bid by clicking the link below!
https://www.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/guitar-auction-7483
Dogwood Arts, 123 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902. Viewing hours: M-F 9-5.
Information: 865-637-4561, https://www.dogwoodarts.com/guitar-contest/
FREE Concerts on the Square - Jazz Tuesdays & Variety Thursdays
Category: Free event, Kids, family and Music
The City of Knoxville’s Office of Special Events is excited to announce the lineup of performers for this year’s Concerts on the Square, presented by First Century Bank. The live music series begins Thursday, May 2, 2019 on Market Square.
Kicking off the season of Variety Thursdays on May 2, 2019 will be Karns Middle School Jazz Band at 7 p.m. and Karns High School Jazz Band at 8 p.m., followed on May 9, 2019 by Symphony on the Square, sponsored by Home Federal Bank, from 7:30-9 p.m.
Variety Thursdays continue through June 27, 2019 from 7-9 p.m. with the following performers:
• May 16: Katie Pruitt, a Rhythm N’ Blooms Festival preview
• May 23: Ensemble Swing Time Band
• May 30: Bary Jolly’s Jimmy Buffett Tribute
• June 6: Mike Snodgrass
• June 13: Frontier Band
• June 20: Uptown Moonlighting
• June 27: Square on the Square
Jazz Tuesdays begin with the University of Tennessee Saxophone Ensemble on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 from 7-9 p.m.
Tuesday, May 14th
6:30-7:30pm - Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra
8-10pm - Knoxville Jazz Orchestra
Tuesday, May 21st
8-10pm Vance Thompson Quartet
Tuesday, May 28th
8-10pm Larry Vincent Group
Tuesday, June 4th
8-10pm Mark Boling Trio
Tuesday, June 11th
8-10pm Vance Thompson Quintet
On Tuesdays, May 21 - Aug. 27, 2019, Jazz on the Square concerts will feature some of the Southeast’s finest jazz musicians including Vance Thompson and Friends, the Greg Tardy Quartet and many more. Show times are 8-10 p.m. For a full calendar and details about the bands visit www.KnoxvilleTN.gov/concerts.
Concerts on the Square events are free, including parking for motorists entering City-owned garages after 6 p.m. Attendees should bring their own chairs or blankets for seating. No food or beer is being sold on Market Square by outside vendors during these events. Food is available from restaurants for take-out, but alcohol can only be consumed inside establishments or on their patios.
Interested in finding some free parking? No search needed. We have over 5,500 spaces free after 6pm on weeknights. You can also find free parking all weekend. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...it's free all year. Find a spot and come enjoy the fun! http://knoxvilletn.gov/news/2019/concerts_on_the_square_series_begins_may_2
WDVX: Blue Plate Special

Category: Free event and Music
Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.
The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey Monday through Friday and Doug Lauderdale on Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor Center. It’s always free to join in so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.
Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/
Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com
The Venue at Lenoir City: Steven McQuilkin Exhibition
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Featuring recent works by local artist Steven McQuilkin
Address: 7690 Creekwood Park Blvd, Lenoir City, TN 37772
Viewing hours: Tue-Fri 8:30 AM - 5 PM
www.venuelc.com