Calendar of Events

The WordPlayers of Knoxville will tour the World Premiere production of “Jackie Robinson Steals Home” to schools, community colleges and churches during February. This one-act play by Peter Manos chronicles the life story and achievements of Jackie Robinson, who, in 1947, became the first African-American athlete to break the color barrier in Major League baseball. His ability to avoid conflict and simply perform to the best of his ability, despite struggling with an instinct to fight back, provided an example for everyone of how one can rise above negative circumstances with grace and humility.

Schedule of Free Public Performances

Feb. 5, Walters State – Sevierville, 2:30 PM
Feb. 10, Walters State – Morristown, 6:15 PM
Feb. 13, Johnson University (Gymnasium), 7900 Johnson Dr., 7:00 PM
Feb. 15, Oak Valley Baptist, 194 Hampton Rd., Oak Ridge – 4:00 PM
Feb. 16, Fifth Ave. Baptist, 2500 E. 5 th Ave. – 4:00 PM
Feb. 19, Walters State – Greeneville, 9:40 AM
Feb. 20, Vine Middle, 1807 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. – 6:30 PM
Feb 21, Pellissippi State- Magnolia – 11:50 AM
Feb. 24, Walters State – Tazewell, 2:00 PM
Feb. 25, Roane State – Harriman, 11:00 AM

Supported by an Arts Builds Communities Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Arts and Culture Alliance, The WordPlayers’ 13th Annual Black History Show Tour will have 22 performances in 17 different venues across 9 TN counties For more information about The WordPlayers, please see www.wordplayers.org or call 865-539-2490.

With psychic mediums, séances gone awry and celestial visitors, Noël Coward’s comedy “Blithe Spirit” will run on the Clarence Brown mainstage February 5-23, 2020. UT Faculty/Staff receive 20% off ticket prices. UT Students see the previews for FREE and the rest of the performances for $5, excluding Opening Night. Free and convenient parking is available in the McClung Tower Garage on Volunteer Boulevard.

The Pay What You Wish Preview performance, where patrons can name their own price, will be held Wednesday, February 5th. Behind the Scenes Sunday will take place following the Sunday, February 9th matinee with Prop Master, Christy Fogarty, and Technical Director, Jason Fogarty, discussing some of the special effects in the production. A Talk Back with the actors will take place Sunday, February 16th following the matinee. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, February 23rd at 2:00 pm.

Hoping to gather material for his novel, writer Charles Condomine invites psychic Madame Arcati to his home to conduct a séance and gets far more than he bargains for in Coward’s Tony Award winning comedy. An English playwright, actor, and composer Coward was known for his likable sophistication and sharp sense of humor. Although he wrote some of the most popular plays of his time, he was also known for his entertaining personality and his abilities as a witty storyteller. It is interesting to note that “Blithe Spirit” was first performed in 1941 at the end of the London Blitz (1940-1941). It was the final play in what is now considered Coward’s great comic trilogy about marriage and infidelity which included “Private Lives” and “Hay Fever.”

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

Greensky Bluegrass with Ghost Light comes to the Mill and Mine Wednesday, Feb. 5.
8:00 PM (Doors 7:00 PM)

$27.50
Ages 18+

The Mill & Mine, 227 W. Depot Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917. Tickets/information: http://themillandmine.com

Wednesday at 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
UT College of Architecture and Design, 1715 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Join us for a public lecture by Mitchell Squire, our 2020 BarberMcMurry Endowed Professor. The lecture will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 5:30 p.m., Rm. 109 in the Art + Architecture building, 1715 Volunteer Blvd. The lecture is funded by the BarberMcMurry Endowed Professorship. All are welcome.

Squire, an artist and educator whose practice encompasses architecture, visual art and the study of material culture, is a nationally recognized educator in the field of architecture. He currently is a professor of architecture at Iowa State University and served a three-year term as external examiner at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2014 to 2016.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1309530109230857/

Wednesday at 8 PM – 9 PM
1741 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

Please join us for an evening of performances of music by black composers, including two of our own members!

https://www.facebook.com/events/322269965344564/

The purpose of the Black Musicians Alliance (BMA) is to provide an equitable, non-elitist, and safe space for minority musicians at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Pellissippi State Community College will celebrate the music and poetry of outstanding African-American artists by hosting the chamber music theatre work "Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance" as one of its Black History Month events.

The work, which features one actor accompanied on stage by an instrumental trio, will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, at the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the college's Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. The performance is free and open to the public. "Of Ebony Embers," written by Akin Babatunde and performed by the Core Ensemble of Florida, examines the lives of African-American poets Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay as seen through the eyes of the African-American painter and muralist Aaron Douglas.

"Black history is America's history," said Pellissippi State Access and Diversity Director Gayle E. Wood. "February allows us to highlight the numerous contributions African Americans have made to American history. We celebrate the diversity of this history through music, art, displays, literature, theatre, food and much more."

All events Pellissippi State has planned for Black History Month are free and open to the public:
• The Tom Johnson Jazz Combo and Knoxville's Soulful Sounds Revue will perform on the Hardin Valley Campus on Friday, Feb. 28 - the jazz combo at noon and the Celebration of the Music of Motown 6-9 p.m., both in the Goins Building College Center.
• The WordPlayers, a Knoxville-based company of Christian theatre artists, will present the one-act play "Jackie Robinson Steals Home" at 11:50 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21, on Pellissippi State's Magnolia Avenue Campus. The play should end at 12:45 p.m.
• African-American Read-Ins will be held on all campuses, celebrating the work of black authors: 8:45 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Feb. 18 at Division Street; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 19 at Hardin Valley; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 19 at Blount County; times to be determined Feb. 19 at Strawberry Plains; and 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at Magnolia Avenue.
• Four "Monday Movies" will be shown on the Hardin Valley Campus, followed by discussions: "Mississippi Burning" on Feb. 3, "Selma" on Feb. 10, "The Hate U Give" on Feb. 17 and "Harriet" on Feb. 24. Each movie will be shown beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Goins Building Auditorium with a discussion following in the Goins Building Cafeteria Annex.

Other Black History Month events include lunch with guest speaker Vrondelia (Ronni) Chandler, a Pellissippi State alumna and chief executive officer for Project GRAD Knoxville; opportunities to chat about "hot topics" with the Active Black Student Association; and student poetry displays. For more information about any of Pellissippi State's upcoming Black History Month events, visit www.pstcc.edu/events/black-history, or contact Wood at 865.539.7160 or gwood@pstcc.edu.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932

DENSO Gallery, 502 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804

Artist Statement: In college I first studied architecture, but graduated with a BFA with a concentration in pottery. My first art career was as a studio potter in Friendsville, Tn for 25 years. That was followed by a career in decorative wall finishes, faux painting, cabinetry finishing and the occasional mural project. Never one to sit still, I turned my attention to fine art painting which has developed into a concentration on representational work, including photorealism, paintings intended to look like photographs.

My source material is from photographs I have taken. This allows me to carefully design my composition and have plenty of information to include as much detailed information as I chose. More importantly, as my reference source, it allows me to study the nuances of color, light and reflection and how it changes across a seemingly uniformly colored surface. But the image in paint can go beyond a printed image. Using translucent layers of paint I am able to build depth unachievable with ink on paper.

To counter my tendency towards too much realism I began working in pastels in 2018. Still representational work, but much more graphic, as the pastel pigments lie on top of the paper and on top of one another. They don’t mix like paint. It is the eye and brain that do the blending.

There will be an artist reception February 28 from 6-8 pm
https://www.claytonartscenter.com/event/allen-monsarrat-exhibit/

This solo show displays the intricately detailed mixed media sculptural work of Mindy Michelle Herrin, an East Tennessee State University professor. Herrin’s work incorporates metalwork, ceramics and painting into figurative sculpture.

Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Bagwell Center Gallery hours: M-F 9 AM - 9 PM. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu/arts

The 2020 New Play Festival includes three table readings, two staged readings and two full productions. Each table reading will include a discussion session afterwards with the cast, director and audience – and when possible - the playwright.

Christmas Reunion by Dennis Duff - A holiday story of a family struggling to reconnect and stay together despite themselves.
2/1 10:30 am Fountain City Library
2/29 1:00 pm Bearden Branch Library
3/1 2:30 pm Lawson McGhee Library

Goodbye Cruel World by John Babcock and Ted Westby - A black comedy of unrequited love and unexpected outcomes.
2/15 2:00 pm Bearden Branch Library
2/22 10:30 am Fountain City Library
2/29 2:30 pm Lawson McGhee Library

X’s And O’s by Taylor James Foster - A sci-fi tinged story of memory and reconnections set in an unknown future – or is a too well known past?
2/15 10:30 am Fountain City Library
2/29 10:30 am Lawson McGhee Library

Tennessee Stage Company: 865-546-4280 or visit http://tennesseestage.com/.

The 2020 AIR Biennial will be a showcase of the work of our past 4 Artists in Residence at the UT School of Art.

Dana Lok - https://www.danalok.com/
Fox Hysen - https://foxhysen.net/
Tracy Thomason - https://www.marinaro.biz/tracy-thomason-2017
Caitlin MacBride - https://caitlinmacbride.com/index.html

Receptions will be Friday, February 7th and Friday, March 6th from 5-9pm at the Gallery.

The Artist-in-Residence Program was initiated in 1982. Each semester an invited resident artist teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses in the Painting & Drawing curriculum. The AIR program is highly successful in making a direct connection to the marketplace of ideas that surrounds art centers such as New York City, Chicago, and LA. The AIR invited to campus represent a spectrum of current sensibilities in painting and drawing holding sway in the art world today.

UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: W-F 11-6, Sa 10-3. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

Incremental Signals is a two-person exhibit featuring the ceramic work of Shanna Fliegel and handwoven 2D pieces of Kim Mirus.

The works on view in Incremental Signals are keeping track of things: our rapidly changing climate, moments in our daily lives, damage, and memory.

With every stitch, Kim Mirus uses weaving to show us the data of what is happening near the North Pole due to climate change. Shanna Fliegel’s narrative vessels tell us stories made from memory fragments, pieced together in an attempt at preservation.

These works demand our attention. They ask us to slow down and look, to consider the weight of our choices, and to notice what we remember. Individually, the works are showing us data, statistics, and information. Together, they are sending us signals.

For more information, visit arrowmont.org/incremental-signals-shanna-fliegel-kim-mirus/

Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Gallery hours: M-R 8:30-5, Fri 8:30-4, Saturdays call ahead. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Information: 865-436-5860

West African dance classes with live drumming! Classes taught by Alaba Mitchum with beats by Indigenous Vibes.

Wednesdays, 7:15-8:15 PM

Weekly class fee: $10, $7 for students

Hosted by Knoxville African Dance at Broadway Academy of Performing Arts, 706 N. Broadway St., Knoxville, TN
www.facebook.com/KnoxvilleAfricanDance
https://www.facebook.com/events/2628654577379487/