Calendar of Events
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
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
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
Nourish Knoxville: Market Square Farmers' Market
Category: Culinary arts, food, Exhibitions, visual art, Festivals, special events, Fine Crafts, Free event, Kids, family and Science, nature
Hours: Wednesdays from 11 am – 2 pm
Saturdays from 9 am – 2 pm
The Market Square Farmers’ Market is an open-air farmers’ market located on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Everything at the MSFM is grown or made by the vendor in the East Tennessee region. Products vary by the seasons and include produce, eggs, honey, herbs, pasture-raised meat, bread, baked goods, salsas, coffee, artisan crafts, and more. With interactive fountains, delicious local food, and surrounded by shops and restaurants, the MSFM is a perfect family destination.
Free parking is available on Saturdays at several parking garages downtown including the Market Square, Locust Street, Walnut Street, and State Street Garages, as well as in commercial loading zones. Parking is $1 per hour on Wednesdays in all four garages. Short-term parking meters around Market Square are in effect Wednesday and Saturday, and are $1.50 per hour. See downtownknoxville.org for more information on downtown Knoxville parking options. https://www.nourishknoxville.org/market-square-farmers-market/
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
Knoxville Argentine Tango Society: Guided Practica
Category: Classes, workshops, Dance, movement and Free event
Wednesday Class/Guided Practica
7-9pm at the Double S Wine Bar (129 South Gay St)
We have a weekly drills/practica and a monthly milonga along with workshops by regional and international teachers several times a year. We can also point you toward regular group lessons in Knoxville, workshops across the region, and the the entire wonderful world of Argentine tango. So what are you waiting for? Come dance with us! There are no excuses.
Contact us (tangoknoxville@gmail.com) with your questions or drop in on one of our events! http://www.knoxvilletango.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/KnoxvilleArgentineTangoSociety/
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church: Exhibit by Robert H. Thompson and Anita DeAngelis
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Free and open to the public
Reception Friday, April 19, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Artists’ talks at 6:30 pm.
Robert H. Thompson
Robert H. Thompson paints words -- ideas and phrases -- which appear as realistic physical objects existing in landscape settings. The landscape settings are reproductions of paintings by other artists, which Thompson modifies by adding words painted with acrylic paint. (This practice was extensively developed by artist and Chattanooga-area native Wayne White.) Describing the resulting images as "something like illustrated fragments of haiku," Thompson tries to create modestly benign dreamlike (surrealistic) images that might lead viewers to experience modestly benign creative responses as the left sides of their brains (verbal processing) and right sides (visual processing) try to work together to sort things out.
Anita M. DeAngelis
In Repose is a collection of drawings of retired racing greyhounds. While the dogs are known for running at great speeds in short burst upwards of 45 miles per hours, the dogs represented in this work are now adopted into homes and intentionally depicted in a resting state. Greyhounds are one of the oldest breeds of dogs, and they are the only breed named in the Bible (Proverbs 30:29-31, King James Version). Racing greyhounds are often misunderstood. While their racing lives are greatly scheduled, transitioning from an athlete to a pet is a significant change in lifestyle requiring adjustment to new families and living in a home. They are typically gentle, quiet, and loyal dogs, and most find pet homes upon retirement from the racing industry.
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: M-Th 10-5, Su 10-1. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org
Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum: Story Thyme
Category: Free event, Kids, family and Literature, spoken word, writing
Grow with us! Pre-school age children are invited to join the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum for Story Thyme in the Garden. Every week we’ll learn a new theme as we explore the garden, read a story book, and do a fun craft. Remember: Story Thyme is rain or shine!
When: Every Wednesday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. from April through October
Where: Outdoor Explorer Classroom, located at 2649 Boyd’s Bridge Pike, Knoxville, TN 37914
Cost: FREE for Garden members and 37914-37915 neighbors; $5 suggested donation for participating non-members
Questions? Call us at 865-862-8717 or email info@knoxgarden.org
Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum, 2743 Wimpole Ave, Knoxville, TN 37914. Hours: Gardens open daily from dawn to dusk. Information: 865-862-8717, www.knoxgarden.org
East Tennessee Historical Society: A Home for Our Past

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and History, heritage
When the Museum of East Tennessee History opened in 1993, it fulfilled a shared vision to preserve and interpret the region’s rich history for the benefit of all, a vision first articulated a century and a half earlier. On May 5, 1834, Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey addressed a group of a historically-minded citizens gathered for the first annual meeting of the East Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society. Concerned that many of the participants in Tennessee’s early history were passing away and with them their memories, Ramsey issued a call to action: “Let us hasten to redeem the time that is lost.”
Today, 185 years later, Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey’s plea to save Tennessee’s past continues to reverberate in the galleries of the East Tennessee Historical Society’s museum, a permanent home for our region’s cherished stories, traditions, and artifacts. The East Tennessee Historical Society actively began collecting artifacts and producing award-winning interpretive exhibits in 1993, which has now grown to more than 15,000 artifacts housed within the East Tennessee History Center. In this special exhibition, ETHS is excited to highlight East Tennessee’s unique history through a variety of artifacts, with at least one exhibited item from each year of ETHS’s active 25 years of collections, most of which are on display for the first time.
The exhibition, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Museum of East Tennessee History and the tenth of the signature exhibition “Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee,” includes more than thirty-five artifacts and numerous photographs and illustrations representative of East Tennessee’s unique history. Some of the items include an 1883 Springfield penny-farthing, the first apparatus to be called a “bicycle”; an 1822 artificial hand that belonged to a teacher from Union County; a silver coffee and tea service from the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad presented to Superintendent James Baker Hoxsie upon his retirement in 1866; a coverlet woven by one of the famed Walker sisters of Greenbrier; a shirt stating “Healing in the name of Jesus. Take up serpents, Acts 2:38” worn during religious services practicing snake handling in Cocke County; an 1817 bead necklace belonging to Eliza Sevier, the wife of Templin Ross and the granddaughter of both John Sevier and Cherokee Chief Oconostota; a 1907 baseball uniform from a coal town’s team in Marrion County; and the distinctive backdrop and wall clock from WBIR-TV variety program "The Cas Walker Farm & Home Show." The exhibit also features a brilliant display of East Tennessee furniture, textiles, folk art, instruments, and vintage toys.
New artifacts have been added to the exhibition for its extension, including a flag of the 39th Tennessee Regiment from the Battle of Horseshoe Bend; Civil War field drum, drumsticks, and daguerreotype that belonged to Martin E. Parmelle, Knoxville's last Civil War veteran; a Tennessee muzzle-loading percussion rifle; a “Pots of Flowers” quilt attributed to Mary Jane Spangler Green that is said to have been hidden under her dress in Civil War raids to prevent being taken by Union soldiers; a wood-fired face jug by local potter Peter Rose; an 1825-1850 pie safe from the border of Greene and Hawkins Counties; a 1902 oak basket from the Riverdale Community of East Knoxville; a 1930s roadside sign for Indian Cave, the Grainger County tourist attraction; and paintings by Charles Krutch, Jim Gray, and Lucile Smith.
East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org